On the occasion of the opening round of the E4 Championship at Vallelunga, Niccolò Maccagnani, the Rome-born driver born in 2010, reflects on his journey in motorsport, his Formula 4 season and his ambitions for the future. Since 1 January 2026, he has been a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and this year competes with Prema Racing in both the Italian F4 Championship and the E4 Championship.
Ahead of his debut in his second single-seater championship, Maccagnani is in a positive frame of mind.
"More races are always a good thing. We're all starting from zero again, so everyone has the same opportunities."
Vallelunga had left him with mixed feelings after the Italian F4 round: plenty of speed, but also a lot of bad luck.
"The Italian Championship weekend was positive in terms of pace. We were always among the quickest, but two incidents took away our chance of making the Final."
So far, the season has been a mix of encouraging performances and setbacks, highlighting the Roman driver's speed while also bringing its share of misfortune.
"There have been a few unlucky moments and maybe a few too many mistakes, but the pace is there, so I'm not too worried."
Maccagnani says he approaches racing with a calm mindset, while admitting that the pressure inevitably builds during the most intense moments.
"I'm quite relaxed.
I'm not someone who gets too nervous. Of course, there's always pressure and the desire to do well. The adrenaline really kicks in during qualifying, because that's where the whole weekend is built."
Like every young driver, he has also experienced difficult moments along the way.
"There are moments when you think about giving up, but in the end the love for motorsport always wins. There are ups and downs, but I love what I do and I just keep giving it my best."
His path into racing has been different from that of many of his rivals: instead of spending years in karting, he moved almost straight into racing cars.
"I started quite late, when I was 12, because nobody in my family knew this world. By then there wasn't really enough time to go through karting, so we started testing in cars straight away. I first became passionate about Formula 1, then my very first experience was driving a kart at a track near Latina, and that's where it all started about three and a half years ago."
Even racing in front of his home crowd does not change his approach.
"For me every race weekend is the same. I approach this one just like all the others."
Asked about his favourite circuits, he picks Imola in the Italian F4 Championship and Paul Ricard in the E4 Championship.
Away from the racetrack, he enjoys the life of a normal student.
"I'm in the third year of an English scientific high school. I've still got a few years left before finishing school and, in the end, I'm just a normal guy. My friends often don't really understand what I do, and they ask if they can come and watch me race."
Looking ahead, his goal is crystal clear.
"I hope to be in Formula 1. If I needed a Plan B, I'd still like to stay in this world, maybe as an engineer, but always at the racetrack."