Lirim Zendeli

Lirim Zendeli
Lirim Zendeli
	Zendeli in 2019
Nationality	German
Born	18 October 1999 (age 25); Bochum, Germany
FIA Formula 2 Championship career
Debut season	2021
Current team	Campos Racing
Car number	14
Former teams	MP Motorsport
Starts	19 (20 entries)
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	17th in 2021
Previous series
2020; 2016-18	Toyota Racing Series; ADAC Formula 4
Championship titles
2018	ADAC Formula 4

Lirim Zendeli (born 18 October 1999 in Bochum) is a German racing driver of Macedonian-Albanian descent^[1]^[2] who currently competes for Campos Racing in Formula 2. He competed in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Charouz Racing System in 2019 as the reigning German Formula 4 champion.^[3] After the 2019 F3 season, Zendeli competed in the 2020 Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand before joining Trident for the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship, where he won a race at Spa. He made the step up to Formula 2 in 2021 with MP Motorsport.

Racing career

Karting

Zendeli began his motorsport career in karting in 2010. In his home country, he finished third in the KF3 class of the ADAC Kart Masters in 2013 and won the KFJ class of the series in 2014. That year he also made the switch to European championships and competed in the CIK-FIA World Championship in the KF Junior class, among other categories. In 2015, he concluded his karting career in the KF class of the South Garda Winter Cup, where he finished 11th.

ADAC Formula 4

2016

2016 was Zendeli's first season in single-seaters, racing in ADAC Formula 4 with ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg. He regularly finished in the top 10 and achieved a podium finish with a second position in the penultimate race weekend at Zandvoort. With 74 points he finished in 13th place in the championship, whilst he ended up fifth in the rookie class.

2017

The following year Zendeli contested a double programme in both the ADAC and Italian Formula 4 Championships with the same outfit. In the German series he took three wins at Oschersleben, the Nürburgring and the Hockenheimring, and two further podium finishes propelled him up to fourth in the standings. In the Italian championship, the German scored two podium finishes, but was not included in the final standings as he did not take part in the final race weekend at Monza.

2018

2018 turned out to be his breakout year. Having moved to the US Racing-CHRS team, partnering David Schumacher, Mick Wishofer and Tom Beckhäuser, Zendeli dominated throughout the campaign. He secured the ADAC F4 title by taking eight pole positions of a possible 14, winning 10 races out of 21 and finishing over 100 points ahead of nearest rival Liam Lawson.^[4]^[5]

FIA Formula 3 Championship

2019

Zendeli progressed to Formula 3 in 2019, continuing with Charouz and alongside Fabio Scherer and Raoul Hyman. The team finished eighth of ten teams in the championship and Zendeli scored six points, one less than Scherer but ahead of Hyman. Zendeli's best race result was seventh place at the Red Bull Ring and he finished 18th in the drivers' championship.

2020

Zendeli signed for Trident Racing to partner David Beckmann and Olli Caldwell in the 2020 season. He scored his first Formula 3 podium finish at the rain-shortened first race of the second Red Bull Ring round. At the final Silverstone race, Zendeli led for most of the race but battled for the win with Bent Viscaal on the final lap. Zendeli crossed the finish line second, only 0.189 seconds behind Viscaal.^[6] Zendeli took his first Formula 3 pole position at Spa-Francorchamps and led every lap to take his first victory.^[7] He took a second pole position at the season finale at Mugello, but fell to fourth place in the first race before being eliminated on the opening lap of the second race after colliding with Logan Sargeant.^[8] Zendeli ended the season eighth in the championship with 104 points – behind Beckmann but considerably ahead of Caldwell – and helped his Trident team to achieve second place in the teams' championship.

2022

Zendeli returned to Charouz Racing System for a cameo appearance for the 2022 Barcelona Formula 3 round, taking over David Schumacher's seat.^[9] Starting 22nd, in both races, Zendeli managed to progress up in both races, taking 20th and 15th in the sprint and feature races respecitvely.^[10] Zendeli was replaced by Zdeněk Chovanec for the Silverstone onwards.^[11]

FIA Formula 2 Championship

2021

In December 2020 it was announced that Zendeli would graduate to the FIA Formula 2 Championship for the 2021 season, driving for MP Motorsport alongside Richard Verschoor.^[12] He scored his first points in his first race, thanks to a fastest lap. The following weekend the German would score his best result of the season, finishing seventh in the second Monaco sprint race. He would equal that result in the feature race at Monza, having finished in the points in each of the two previous rounds, however due to financial reasons Zendeli left the team in early November and was replaced by Clément Novalak.^[13] After missing the final two rounds of the championship Zendeli would finish 17th overall, six places behind teammate Verschoor.

2022

In 2022, Zendeli will make a cameo appearance at Spa-Francorchamps, replacing the banned Olli Caldwell at Campos Racing, which will be his first F2 round since he left MP Motorsport in 2021.^[14]

Personal life

His father Jauni, who had fled from North Macedonia before settling in Germany, founded a drywall works company in Bochum.^[15]

Karting record

Karting career summary

Season	Series	Team	Position
2011	DMV Kart Championship — KF3		39th
2011	Ciao Thomas Knopper Memorial — KF3		14th
2012	Euro Wintercup — KF3	KSM Motorsport	11th
	Bridgestone Cup Europe — KF3		5th
	ADAC Kart Masters — KF3		11th
	German Karting Championship — Junior		42nd
	DMV Kart Championship — KF3		10th
2013	ADAC Kart Masters — KF3	KSM Racing Team	3rd
	WSK Euro Series — KFJ		24th
	German Karting Championship — Junior		5th
	WSK Final Cup — KFJ		NC
2014	South Garda Winter Cup — KF3	KSM Racing Team	21st
	Trofeo Andrea Margutti — KFJ		6th
	German Karting Championship — Junior		8th
	ADAC Kart Masters — KFJ		1st
	CIK-FIA World Championship — KFJ		27th
2015	South Garda Winter Cup — KF	KSM Racing Team	11th

Racing record

Racing career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2016	ADAC Formula 4 Championship	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.	24	0	0	2	1	84	13th
2017	ADAC Formula 4 Championship	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.	21	3	3	1	5	164	4th
2017	Italian F4 Championship	BWT Mücke Motorsport	18	0	0	1	2	114	NC†
2018	ADAC Formula 4 Championship	US Racing - CHRS	21	10	7	8	13	348	1st
2019	FIA Formula 3 Championship	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	14	0	0	0	0	6	18th
2019	Formula Regional European Championship	US Racing	3	0	0	0	2	42	14th
2020	FIA Formula 3 Championship	Trident	18	1	2	1	3	104	8th
2020	Toyota Racing Series	Giles Motorsport	15	0	0	0	4	200	8th
2021	FIA Formula 2 Championship	MP Motorsport	17	0	0	1	0	13	17th
2021	DTM Trophy	T3 Motorsport	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC‡
2022	FIA Formula 3 Championship	Charouz Racing System	2	0	0	0	0	0	31st
2022	FIA Formula 2 Championship	Campos Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	26th*

^† As Zendeli had not competed in the required number of rounds he was ineligible for a championship position.
^‡ As Zendeli was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos	Points
2016	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.	OSC1 1 Ret	OSC1 2 16	OSC1 3 Ret	SAC 1 18	SAC 2 11	SAC 3 11	LAU 1 21	LAU 2 6	LAU 3 5	OSC2 1 25	OSC2 2 5	OSC2 3 13	RBR 1 27	RBR 2 10	RBR 3 14	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 12	NÜR 3 31	ZAN 1 4	ZAN 2 2	ZAN 3 7	HOC 1 4	HOC 2 5	HOC 3 24	13th	74
2017	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.	OSC1 1 7	OSC1 2 9	OSC1 3 1	LAU 1 7	LAU 2 9	LAU 3 Ret	RBR 1 7	RBR 2 Ret	RBR 3 5	OSC2 1 11	OSC2 2 11	OSC2 3 7	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 2	NÜR 3 6	SAC 1 20	SAC 2 6	SAC 3 8	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 1	HOC 3 Ret				4th	164
2018	US Racing - CHRS	OSC 1 1	OSC 2 1	OSC 3 Ret	HOC1 1 1	HOC1 2 1	HOC1 3 3	LAU 1 11	LAU 2 1	LAU 3 4	RBR 1 4	RBR 2 1	RBR 3 5	HOC2 1 3	HOC2 2 1	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 2	NÜR 3 5	HOC3 1 7	HOC3 2 1	HOC3 3 1					1st	348

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	Points
2019	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	CAT FEA 14	CAT SPR 11	LEC FEA Ret	LEC SPR 16	RBR FEA 8	RBR SPR 7	SIL FEA 15	SIL SPR 9	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 20	SPA FEA 22	SPA SPR 22†	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 18	SOC FEA WD	SOC SPR WD			18th	6
2020	Trident	RBR FEA 5	RBR SPR 5	RBR FEA 2‡	RBR SPR 10	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 16	SIL FEA 13	SIL SPR 11	SIL FEA 9	SIL SPR 2	CAT FEA 12	CAT SPR 16	SPA FEA 1	SPA SPR 8	MNZ FEA 7	MNZ SPR 4	MUG FEA 4	MUG SPR Ret	8th	104
2022	Charouz Racing System	BHR SPR	BHR FEA	IMO SPR	IMO FEA	CAT SPR 20	CAT FEA 15	SIL SPR	SIL FEA	RBR SPR	RBR FEA	HUN SPR	HUN FEA	SPA SPR	SPA FEA	ZAN SPR	ZAN FEA	MNZ SPR	MNZ SPR	31st	0

^† Driver did not finish the race but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete Toyota Racing Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	DC	Points
2020	Giles Motorsport	HIG 1 3	HIG 2 3	HIG 3 8	TER 1 7	TER 2 2	TER 3 12	HMP 1 10	HMP 2 7	HMP 3 5	PUK 1 12	PUK 2 Ret	PUK 3 3	MAN 1 13	MAN 2 15	MAN 3 13	8th	200

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	DC	Points
2021	MP Motorsport	BHR SP1 9	BHR SP2 Ret	BHR FEA 18	MCO SP1 15	MCO SP2 7	MCO FEA Ret	BAK SP1 13	BAK SP2 Ret	BAK FEA 10	SIL SP1 11	SIL SP2 9	SIL FEA 9	MNZ SP1 15†	MNZ SP2 12	MNZ FEA 7	SOC SP1 10	SOC SP2 C	SOC FEA 16	JED SP1	JED SP2	JED FEA	YMC SP1	YMC SP2	YMC FEA					17th	13
2022	Campos Racing	BHR SPR	BHR FEA	JED SPR	JED FEA	IMO SPR	IMO FEA	CAT SPR	CAT FEA	MCO SPR	MCO FEA	BAK SPR	BAK FEA	SIL SPR	SIL FEA	RBR SPR	RBR FEA	LEC SPR	LEC FEA	HUN SPR	HUN FEA	SPA SPR 20	SPA FEA 21†	ZAN SPR	ZAN FEA	MNZ SPR	MNZ FEA	YMC SPR	YMC FEA	27th*	0*

* Season still in progress.

References

^ "Zendeli traf einst Schumi: Dieser Albaner will in die Formel 1". Blick (in Swiss High German). 21 January 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
^ "Lirim Zendeli nga Maqedonia e Veriut/ Mbajeni mend kur një ditë ta shihni mbështjellë me flamurin e Shqipërisë në podiumin e fituesve të Formulës 1". ata.gov.al (in Albanian). 5 October 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
^ "Charouz reveal 2019 line-up". FIA F3. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ Waring, Bethonie (2018-08-05). "Zendeli secures ADAC Formula 4 title at the Nurburgring, Krutten wins race three". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
^ Waring, Bethonie (2018-09-23). "Lirim Zendeli ends ADAC F4 season with 10th win at Hockenheim". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
^ Waring, Bethonie (9 August 2020). "Viscaal beats Zendeli in thrilling Silverstone FIA F3 finish". formulascout.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^ Suttill, Josh (29 August 2020). "Spa-Francorchamps F3: Zendeli takes maiden win as Sargeant loses points lead". autosport.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^ Suttill, Josh (13 September 2020). "Mugello F3: Piastri wins 2020 title as Lawson dominates season finale". autosport.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^ Gascoigne, Roger (18 May 2022). "Zendeli replaces Schumacher at Charouz for Barcelona F3 round". Formula Scout. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
^ "Charouz Racing System out of the points in Round 3 of the 2022 FIA Formula 3 season at Barcelona". Charouz Racing System. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
^ Gascoigne, Roger (29 June 2022). "Zdenek Chovanec to return to Charouz and FIA F3 at Silverstone". Formula Scout. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
^ "Lirim Zendeli steps up to FIA Formula 2 with MP Motorsport". MP Motorsport. 16 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Allen, Peter (3 November 2021). "Novalak joins MP Motorsport for F2 move ahead of 2022". Formula Scout. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
^ "Zendeli to replace suspended Alpine junior Caldwell". Motorsport Week. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
^ "Zendeli Trockenbau - Willkommen". www.zendeli-trockenbau-bochum.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-04.

External links

Lirim Zendeli career summary at DriverDB.com

[1] "Zendeli traf einst Schumi: Dieser Albaner will in die Formel 1". Blick (in Swiss High German). 21 January 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2021.

[2] "Lirim Zendeli nga Maqedonia e Veriut/ Mbajeni mend kur një ditë ta shihni mbështjellë me flamurin e Shqipërisë në podiumin e fituesve të Formulës 1". ata.gov.al (in Albanian). 5 October 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2021.

[3] "Charouz reveal 2019 line-up". FIA F3. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[4] Waring, Bethonie (2018-08-05). "Zendeli secures ADAC Formula 4 title at the Nurburgring, Krutten wins race three". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-04.

[5] Waring, Bethonie (2018-09-23). "Lirim Zendeli ends ADAC F4 season with 10th win at Hockenheim". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-04.

[6] Waring, Bethonie (9 August 2020). "Viscaal beats Zendeli in thrilling Silverstone FIA F3 finish". formulascout.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.

[7] Suttill, Josh (29 August 2020). "Spa-Francorchamps F3: Zendeli takes maiden win as Sargeant loses points lead". autosport.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.

[8] Suttill, Josh (13 September 2020). "Mugello F3: Piastri wins 2020 title as Lawson dominates season finale". autosport.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.

[9] Gascoigne, Roger (18 May 2022). "Zendeli replaces Schumacher at Charouz for Barcelona F3 round". Formula Scout. Retrieved 31 July 2022.

[10] "Charouz Racing System out of the points in Round 3 of the 2022 FIA Formula 3 season at Barcelona". Charouz Racing System. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.

[11] Gascoigne, Roger (29 June 2022). "Zdenek Chovanec to return to Charouz and FIA F3 at Silverstone". Formula Scout. Retrieved 31 July 2022.

[12] "Lirim Zendeli steps up to FIA Formula 2 with MP Motorsport". MP Motorsport. 16 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[13] Allen, Peter (3 November 2021). "Novalak joins MP Motorsport for F2 move ahead of 2022". Formula Scout. Retrieved 10 November 2021.

[14] "Zendeli to replace suspended Alpine junior Caldwell". Motorsport Week. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.

[15] "Zendeli Trockenbau - Willkommen". www.zendeli-trockenbau-bochum.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-04.

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