Frederik Vesti

Frederik Vesti Bio

Frederik Vesti Stamm (born 13 January 2002) is a Danish racing driver who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Cadillac Whelen and serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Mercedes. He rose through the junior single-seater ranks with Prema Racing and ART Grand Prix, capturing the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship in 2019 and finishing as runner-up in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship. After his junior career, Vesti transitioned to endurance sports car racing while maintaining a development role with Mercedes in Formula One.

Early Life and Background

Frederik Vesti was born on 13 January 2002 in Vejle, Denmark. Growing up in Denmark, he discovered karting at a young age and began competing nationally in 2012 at the age of ten. He quickly established himself as a talent to watch by winning the Danish karting championship in the KFJ category in 2014 and representing his country at the Karting World Championship in 2015.

His father, Peter Vesti, runs a car sales company called Vesti El Biler, and the family name became closely tied to Frederik’s early racing efforts. As a teenager, Frederik balanced school with an increasingly serious motorsport schedule, and his family provided the foundation for his single-seater ambitions.

Path to NASCAR

Vesti’s career has been built entirely through European open-wheel and endurance racing, with no recorded involvement in the NASCAR ladder series. He progressed from karting into Danish Formula Ford at the age of fourteen, before moving through Formula 4 championships in Denmark, Germany, and the United States. His climb through the junior formulae ultimately led him to FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3, and there is no public record of a transition to NASCAR competition.

Frederik Vesti Career

Early Career (2016-2018)

Vesti made his car racing debut in 2016 in Danish Formula Ford, finishing fourth overall as a fourteen-year-old. The following year, he stepped up to Formula 4, contesting both the ADAC F4 Championship in Germany and the Danish F4 Championship with his family-run Vesti Motorsport. He finished second in the Danish championship despite missing two events, claiming the team title for Vesti Motorsport, and added a podium at Lausitzring in Germany.

In 2018, Vesti moved to Van Amersfoort Racing for a full ADAC F4 campaign. He collected two wins, at Hockenheimring and the Nürburgring, along with six additional podiums to finish fourth in the standings. He also made one-off appearances in the Italian F4 Championship at Circuit Paul Ricard, winning two of three races, and took part in a round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

Formula Regional European Championship Breakthrough (2019)

Prema Powerteam signed Vesti for the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship in 2019, and the Dane delivered one of the most dominant junior campaigns of the decade. He won the title with 467 points, claiming 13 victories, including six consecutive, and 20 podium finishes, finishing 131 points clear of teammate Enzo Fittipaldi. Prema also secured the teams’ championship, aided by fellow contributor Olli Caldwell.

His performances drew international attention, and Motorsport.com ranked him 13th in their top 20 junior single-seater drivers of 2019. Vesti also returned to the Macau Grand Prix, this time stepping in for the injured Jehan Daruvala at Prema, and brought the car home in tenth place.

FIA Formula 3 Championship (2020-2021)

Vesti progressed to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Prema in 2020, partnering Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant. He opened his account with a controlled victory at the Red Bull Ring in the second round, charging through difficult weather to claim pole and the win. Later in the season, he added further wins at Monza and Mugello, helping Prema secure the teams’ championship and finishing fourth overall with 146.5 points.

In 2021, Vesti switched to ART Grand Prix alongside Aleksandr Smolyar and Juan Manuel Correa. He won once, at the Red Bull Ring, and added one pole and four further podiums to repeat his fourth-place championship finish. Across his two F3 seasons, Vesti became the all-time leading points scorer in the category with 284.5 points, a record he still holds.

FIA Formula 2 Championship (2022-2023)

ART Grand Prix promoted Vesti to FIA Formula 2 for 2022 alongside Théo Pourchaire. After a slow start to the season, he scored his first victory in dramatic fashion in Baku, seizing the lead from Jehan Daruvala after a safety car restart. He added another podium in Paul Ricard and finished ninth overall with one win, one pole, and five podiums.

For 2023, Vesti joined Prema Racing and emerged as the title favorite. He won the feature race in Jeddah after inheriting the lead and followed it with commanding lights-to-flag wins in Monaco and Barcelona. He added further victories in Silverstone and Monza, and capped the year with a last-lap pass at Yas Marina to take his sixth win of the season. Despite scoring more wins than any other driver, he missed the championship by eleven points to Pourchaire, finishing second with six wins, ten podiums, and one pole.

Cadillac Whelen Era (2024-Present)

Vesti began his transition to endurance racing in 2024, contesting the European Le Mans Series in LMP2 with Cool Racing. He added podiums at Paul Ricard and Portimão, finishing ninth in class, and made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut that same year with Cool Racing. He also completed his first 24 Hours of Daytona with Tower Motorsports.

In 2025, Vesti joined Whelen Cadillac Racing for the endurance rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, partnering Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken in the Cadillac V-Series.R. After early setbacks, including a crash at Daytona caused by rear suspension failure, the team secured victories at Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans, finishing second in both the overall standings and the Michelin Endurance Cup. Vesti also returned to Le Mans with the team, forming the youngest Hypercar lineup in terms of average age alongside Aitken and Felipe Drugovich.

Driving Style and Strengths

Vesti is widely regarded as a consistent, methodical racer with a particular strength in tyre management and alternate-strategy races. His ability to deliver under safety car restarts was a hallmark of his 2023 Formula 2 campaign, and his calm approach to long-distance events has translated well to sports car racing. He has also shown a strong ability to learn complex machinery quickly, comparing the Cadillac V-Series.R to a Formula One car after his first IMSA season.

Notable Races and Milestones

Signature moments include his Baku victory in 2022, his Monaco lights-to-flag win in 2023, and his Indianapolis IMSA victory in 2025, where he built a ten-second gap before handing the car over to teammate Jack Aitken for the finish. He also holds the FIA Formula 3 record for most career points, a mark that underscores his consistency through the junior ranks.

Frederik Vesti Career Wins

Frederik Vesti has accumulated race wins across Formula 4, Formula Regional, FIA Formula 3, FIA Formula 2, and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. His most prolific season came in 2023, when he scored six victories in FIA Formula 2, more than any other driver that year.

FIA Formula 2 Highlights

Vesti won six races in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 season, with feature race victories at Jeddah and Monaco complemented by sprint and feature wins at Barcelona, Silverstone, Monza, and Yas Marina. His Baku win in 2022 marked his first in the category, and he ended 2023 with ten podiums and one pole position alongside three fastest laps.

Other Wins and Performances

Beyond Formula 2, Vesti scored four FIA Formula 3 wins across 2020 and 2021, including his maiden victory at the Red Bull Ring in 2020. He also captured two ADAC Formula 4 wins in 2018, two Italian Formula 4 wins, and thirteen victories on his way to the 2019 Formula Regional European Championship title. In 2025, he added two IMSA GTP victories with Cadillac Whelen at Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans.

Frederik Vesti Family

Family Background and Racing Lineage

Frederik Vesti comes from a Danish family with strong ties to the automotive world. His father, Peter Vesti, owns a car sales company called Vesti El Biler, and the family name was carried into the early racing team Vesti Motorsport, for which Frederik drove during his 2017 Danish Formula 4 campaign.

Personal Life

As of 2023, Vesti resides in Oxford, England, where he lives with fellow racing driver Olli Caldwell. He continues to keep a relatively low public profile outside of motorsport, focusing his time between his Formula One duties with Mercedes and his sports car commitments with Cadillac Whelen.

2025 Season Performance

Vesti’s 2025 season has centered on a dual programme with Whelen Cadillac Racing in IMSA and Mercedes in Formula One. In IMSA, the trio of Vesti, Earl Bamber, and Jack Aitken secured their first GTP victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after Vesti built a commanding lead in the middle stint, before adding a second win at Petit Le Mans to finish second in both the overall standings and the Michelin Endurance Cup.

Outside the United States, Vesti paired with Aitken and Felipe Drugovich for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, forming the youngest Hypercar lineup in terms of average age. The team finished outside the top positions but gained valuable experience in preparation for 2026. Earlier in the year, Vesti also participated in the Formula E Berlin rookie test with Andretti.

In his Formula One role, Vesti served as Mercedes reserve driver alongside Valtteri Bottas and completed free practice sessions at the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Mexico City Grand Prix, before driving the Mercedes W16 at the Abu Dhabi young drivers’ test. With Bottas moving to Cadillac for 2026, Mercedes is expected to elevate Vesti into a third driver role for the following season.