Recent Red Bull Junior inductee Oliver Goethe shared his FIA Formula 3 title ambitions with Motorsport Week in an exclusive interview charting the young driver’s recent step up to international competition, goals for the future and where his passion for motorsport began.
The German-Danish driver, just 19 years of age is set to compete in his second FIA F3 campaign in 2024, having made the switch to Campos from Trident in the offseason and credits his family for inspiring him to take up a career in racing.
“My dad did some amateur racing and my older brother liked karting as well,” Goethe said. “So it kind of just built up from there. The level got higher and higher. I started doing harder competitions in karting. And then, yeah, I’ve loved it more and more ever since I started. And it’s my dream to make a career out of it.”
Goethe’s dream has seen him acquit himself well in single-seater racing. He made his single-seater debut with a one-round appearance in Spanish Formula 4 in 2019, returning to the series for a full campaign a year later to claim one victory, six podiums and clinch fifth in the Drivers’ standings.
From Spain, he graduated to the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2021 and after starting the 2022 season competing in the Formula Regional Asian Championship, Goethe went on a title charge in the EuroFormula Open Championship, winning 11 races and scoring an additional seven podiums to emerge as champion.
His EuroFormula exploits earned him an FIA F3 debut for two rounds with Campos in 2022, whereupon he scored a reverse-grid pole in his first outing at the Hungaroring and scored two points finishes and a best result of fourth (Spa-Francorchamps) across four races in Hungary and Belgium.
So, when embarking on his first full FIA F3 campaign with Trident last year, Goethe was rightfully confident, proved by a second-place finish in the season-opener in Bahrain.
“The confidence was high,” Goethe said. “After winning a championship and having a few good results in F3 in 2022 as well in the two races that I did. So I knew I could do it. The confidence was really high, especially after Bahrain.”
After a promising start to 2023 in Bahrain, scoring sixth and second-place finishes, Goethe’s form dipped and top-10 results became elusive.
“The middle of the season didn’t really go to plan,” he said. “Many down moments, but I like to think I sort of came back from it quite well in the second half of the season.”
Come back well he did, achieving a maiden victory at Silverstone and scoring three more top-five finishes to end the season eighth in the standings and he recalls his first victory on the world stage fondly.
“I felt amazing,” he said of taking top honours at the British Grand Prix circuit. “Silverstone’s such a nice track to do it as well. I just really enjoyed the weekend there, racing around that track for the first time. But yeah, it felt special when I was on the podium, when the checkered flag came out, everyone celebrating it, it felt unreal. I had no words in the moment.”
Goethe said: “The goal this year [2024] is to avoid the downfall and be more consistent when I’m at my best so I can fight for the championship.” To do that, he has reunited with Campos, who gave him his first two rounds in F3 back in 2022 and he believes he’s in the right environment to succeed.
“It feels good first of all to be back with Campos,” he said. “I have nothing against Trident, they’re an amazing team, really really good in F3 throughout the last few years. But I believe the Campos car is very good as well and I believe I can still win it with them and fight for the championship with them, which is the goal.”
After post-season testing in 2023, Goethe got his first race back with Campos under his belt in the chaotic Macau GP – a historic and highly sought-after prize in Formula 3 racing, won by the likes of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher and run on one of the most gruelling street circuits in motorsport.
Suffering a setback in the Qualifying Race, finishing 21st, Goethe was able to fight through the field to finish inside the top 10 with a ninth-place finish in the main event.
“It was an unreal experience,” he said. “The weekend went well overall, but could have been a lot better. Unfortunately, with the qualifying race, I got hit at the start and that dropped me to the back and made me start from the back for the main race. And I did my best to go to the top 10. But I really believe a podium was possible or even a win.
“So yeah, just the experience driving in Macau was unreal. It’s for sure one of the most crazy tracks in the world.”
With a podium or even a win left on the table at Macau, Goethe said he’d “love to” return to the race in 2024.
“There’s a long time till then, nothing’s confirmed yet, but I’d love to do it again for sure,” he added.
Between now and a potential return to Macau there’s a season of FIA F3 to compete in and Goethe will have the support of the Red Bull Junior Academy on his side, whose colours he ran with in Macau.
The Red Bull Junior programme has produced two World Champions, race winners and podium finishers in Formula 1 including Goethe’s idols Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
It’s regarded to be a high-pressure environment, but Goethe feels that being part of the Red Bull setup is cause for excitement and that pressure just comes from being a racing driver chasing results.
“For me it’s more excitement rather than pressure,” he relayed. “I believe whether I’m with an academy or not, the pressure is always there. I always need to get results, you know, every driver has to have that.
“Yeah, for me they’re being really supportive and it’s an exciting opportunity for me. Yeah, it’s more excitement than pressure in my eyes.
“When joining them of course I had a meeting with Dr Marko and also with Christian [Horner]. But yeah, also Rocky [Guillaume Rocquelin], one of the previous chief engineers is running, mainly running the Academy programme and he’s been a lot of help. He helps with the simulator work and when I got started, he was the guy telling me the things I can learn.
“So yeah, so far, they’ve been really supportive.”
With a year of FIA F3 under his belt along with a maiden victory and now with Campos and Red Bull in his corner, the goal for Goethe in 2024 is clear.
“I’d like to win the championship, of course,” he declared. “Every year is very competitive. I understand that. But already last year in my first year, I felt like I could have done it. With more consistency and this year I feel stronger and there’s no reason why I can’t do it. So that’s the goal.”
A title win in FIA F3 would be the perfect way to progress for Goethe, with success in the category and a potential succession in Formula 2 in between him and a place on the coveted Formula 1 grid and like most young drivers, Grand Prix racing and F1 titles are Goethe’s end goal. So when asked where he sees himself in five years, there was an unsurprising answer.
“That’s the big dream at the end of the day, to be World Champion in F1,” he admitted. “Five years is a long time in motorsport years, so I’d like to see myself in F1 for sure.”
Goethe’s FIA F3 campaign gets underway with pre-season testing on February 11 – 13 in Bahrain, which will also play host to Round 1 on February 29 – March 02.
