Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography

Ever since 15-year-old Floridian Teddy Musella hopped into a Formula 4 car for the first time in July 2023, the once nationally-competitive karter has been on a steady path forward.

Now, the young driver has found himself in a near deadlock with Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport’s Kekai Hauanio, trailing by 4.5 points heading into the final race weekend of the Ligier JS F4 Series at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas next month. 

The chance to win a championship there – and a scholarship to compete in the Formula 4 United States Championship next year – is up for grabs as an energetic Musella prepares for what is to come on Halloween weekend.

Specifically, he discussed how the track favors his strengths. Places where he’s strong on the brakes and lots of overtaking spots at the end of straights are areas at CotA where Musella believes he can make an impact.

“I’ll probably have the advantage of those types of turns,” Musella said. “After New Jersey and realizing (my opponents) are stronger in the high speed turns, I definitely still have confidence but I also know where I need to improve.”

The New Jersey weekend that the series just came off of added two more podiums to Musella’s tally of eight throughout the first twelve races of the season. He has complimented those strong results with three wins, two of which came in the first weekend of the season.

Musella was the inaugural winner in Ligier JS F4, a racing series which was created to provide a more cost-friendly solution to run the first-generation Formula 4 cars as F4 US moved to a new chassis to comply with the FIA’s homologization requirements. 

The creation of a nationally-traveling category running those cars allowed for drivers like Musella to have much more flexibility in their budgets to continue open-wheel racing.

“It’s definitely opened a lot of passageways,” Musella said. “It’s affordable compared to USF Juniors or USF2000 and I think it is a good jump for people who have a limited budget for those series who can’t do it and want to jump from karts to cars.”

Musella has still gotten the chance to experience driving in USF Juniors this year at Barber Motorsports Park, an opportunity he credits to the budget flexibility that Ligier JS F4 allows him to have. Musella impressed in that debut, scoring top 10s in both races with Zanella Racing.

That Barber weekend had allowed for Musella to compete, and succeed, against dozens of drivers on a national scale. It’s something that he had gotten used to during his half-decade karting career where the young driver went from starting at tracks around Orlando and South Florida to eventually competing at the national level through the United States Pro Kart Series and SuperKartsUSA.

Now, Musella drives in Ligier JS F4 for Scuderia Buell, the team that gave him the chance to test a F4 car for the first time at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia last July. Despite the team’s small size, they’ve continuously punched above their weight in both Ligier JS F4 and the Florida-based Formula FARA series, which also runs Gen-1 Formula 4 cars.

Scuderia Buell, a team with Argentinian roots, provided a convenient option to Musella with their stateside operations being based in Musella’s home state.

Musella emphasized how much Scuderia Buell is a family environment but also detailed the challenges for being a part of a small team as well. Compared to some of the larger teams in the paddock, Scuderia Buell often doesn’t have as much data and setup information to share amongst each other.

“It’s harder with data and having data to compare from driver to driver,” Musella said. “But with how small the team is compared to others, it’s more of a family feeling and the culture is a great feeling.”

However, the team has rose above the challenges to put Musella in the fight for a title.

With one race weekend to go next month, Musella said his main focus once he reaches CotA will be to think too much about the circumstances.

“You can have a plan, but most of the time it doesn’t go to plan,” Musella said. “So it’s just stay calm and pick your way as the race comes to you and be able to adapt to the different situations.”