Alex Fontana

Fontana's introduction to motorsport came unusually early: he drove his first Puffo baby kart at age three and a half on the Greek island of Rhodes in 1996. He spent more than a decade in karting, competing in Swiss national championships and international events as a factory driver for Swiss Hutless and PCR International. Among his karting achievements were the Swiss Karting Championship 2007 KF3 title, the 2006 Biland 4 Stroke World Final victory in Dubai, and the Bridgestone Cup 2008 KF2 title. He also reached the 2008 World Karting Championship in La Conca, Italy.

A BMW Talent Scout event in Valencia in 2008 prompted the move to single-seaters. Fontana raced in Formula Azzurra in 2009 with MG Motorsport, taking two wins and a further podium.

Fontana entered Formula Three competition in 2010, racing in the Italian Formula Three Championship with Corbetta Competizioni. The following year, 2011, he remained with Corbetta and stepped up to the European Formula 3 Open — a well-regarded pan-European Formula Three category. The season proved immediately successful: Fontana secured two outright victories and accumulated nine podiums across the campaign, a level of consistency that was sufficient to win the overall championship title.

The European F3 Open title brought Fontana considerable recognition. At the end of 2011 he was invited by HWA Team to test the Mercedes DTM car, signalling the kind of manufacturer interest that a championship win in a credible Formula Three series could generate. He also made his GP3 Series debut in August 2011, replacing Vittorio Ghirelli at Jenzer Motorsport for the penultimate round at Spa-Francorchamps. He finished 14th in the first race and sixth in the second, securing a championship point in his abbreviated appearance.

Fontana's momentum from the F3 Open title carried into 2012, when he competed in the FIA Formula Two Championship. He recorded three podiums and a win, and also made further appearances in the GP3 Series as a wildcard with Jenzer Motorsport, finishing in fourth place. This combination of results earned him selection to the Lotus F1 Junior Team at the end of the year.

His first full GP3 Series season came in 2013 under the Lotus F1 Junior Team banner, with Jenzer Motorsport as his team. He ended the year seventeenth in the standings with one podium to his name. He also completed his first Formula One test, driving the Lotus F1 Team car at Circuit Paul Ricard on 30 September 2013.

Fontana continued in GP3 in 2014, now with ART Grand Prix and still under the Lotus F1 Junior umbrella. He took two podiums but managed only four points finishes across eighteen races, concluding the season eleventh in the championship. He also tested for the World Series 3.5 by Renault at Jerez with Lotus Charouz at year's end, recording the second-best lap time.

The 2015 season brought disruption. Renault's acquisition of Lotus ended the Junior Team programme. Fontana competed in GP3 with Status GP, a team that encountered difficulties and eventually left the series. His single-seater opportunities during 2015 also included a call from Pons Racing to replace Roberto Merhi in Monaco in the World Series 3.5 by Renault, where he finished ninth on debut in the streets of the principality. At the conclusion of 2015, he participated in the official GP2 Series test in Abu Dhabi with Status GP and Rapax, achieving a best result of eighth in the standings.

The 2011 European F3 Open title represents Fontana's definitive single-seater achievement. The championship was a legitimate pathway series that attracted competitive fields and carried prestige in European motorsport circles. His subsequent progression through GP3 and into Lotus's junior structure demonstrated that the win was no fluke, though the next step to a race seat at the highest level of single-seater competition did not materialise. From 2016 onward, Fontana channelled his career into GT racing, where he established himself as a serial class champion in the GT World Challenge Europe. His single-seater years provided both the profile and the technical foundations that inform his ongoing work as a driver coach and Formula One television commentator for Swiss broadcaster RSI.