Facts and figures to mark the half-way stage in the ADAC Formula 4 season

• Vips heads overall standings - Drugovich with the most victories
• Plenty of excitement guaranteed: Only nine points separate the Top Three
• Impressive figures: 12 races, 224 laps, more than 842 kilometres

Munich: After a very interesting first half to the ADAC Formula 4 season, the remaining nine races promise to deliver plenty of excitement. There were seven different winners just in the first seven races alone, and a mere nine points separate the Top Three. The Estonian Juri Vips (16, Prema Powerteam) heads the standings, followed by Felipe Drugovich (17, Brazil, Van Amersfoort Racing) and ADAC Formula 4 newcomer, Marcus Armstrong (17, New Zealand, Prema Powerteam). Mick Wishofer (17, Austria, Lechner Racing) leads the rookie classification, and in the team standings, Italian outfit, Prema Powerteam (341 points), are ahead at the half-way point. The second half of the season will get under way at the Nürburgring on the first weekend of August (4th - 6th August) with the fifth of seven race weekends in all.

Facts and figures to mark the end of the first half of the 2017 ADAC Formula 4 season

32 drivers from 19 countries, including ten from Germany, took part in the four race weekends held so far. The average age of drivers was 17.09 years. Six newcomers from four different countries are contesting their rookie season. The only female driver plus 31 drivers competed for eleven teams from five countries. The majority of the teams, five in all, are headquarterd in Germany. There are also two outfits from both Austria and Italy as well as one from the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The fact that 14 different drivers from ten countries finished on the podium is testimony to the highly competitive nature of the ADAC Formula 4. Eight drivers shared the wins between them.

Felipe Drugovich has taken three victories so far. Prema drivers, Juri Vips and Marcus Armstrong, both finished twice on the top rung of the podium. 2016 Rookie champion Nicklas Nielsen (20, Denmark), Kim-Luis Schramm (20, Germany) and Julian Hanses (19, Germany) secured one win each. All three drive for the Kerpen-based US Racing outfit run by Gerhard Ungar and ex-Formula 1 and DTM driver Ralf Schumacher. Lirim Zendeli (17, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg eV) and newcomer Frederik Vesti (15, Denmark, Van Amersfoort Racing) also saw their names go into the record books as winners.

Drugovich finished on the podium six times (3x first - 2x second - 1x third) in the first twelve races of the season. Armstrong also made six appearances on the winners' podium in his debut season (2-1-3). They were joined by Juri Vips (2-0-2) and Nicklas Nielsen (1-2-1) with four podium finishes each.

2016 champion Joey Mawson (21, Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing) is still the most successful ADAC Formula 4 driver ever with 15 wins.

Mick Wishofer secured the most wins in the rookie stakes. The 17-year-old from Vienna beat off the competition five times. He also managed to achieve a clean sweep in Oschersleben at the beginning of July, winning all three rookie competitions during the same weekend, a feat that only David Beckmann (2x) and Mike David Ortmann (1x) have ever achieved before him (in the 2015 ADAC Formula 4).

Sophia Flörsch (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg eV) is continuing the tradition of female drivers. She achieved a place in the Top Ten four times. The highest she has placed so far is P8, which she managed to do in both the sixth and tenth race.

Nine different drivers started from pole position. Drugovich, Laliberté and Armstrong led the field out twice. Schramm, Nielsen, Hanses, Waldherr, Louis Gachot (17, Great Britain, Van Amersfoort Racing) and David Malukas (15, USA, Motopark) all took one pole each. The pole-setter subsequently went on to win the race five times (Nielsen, Schramm, Hanses, Armstrong, Drugovich).

In the closest finish to a race so far this season, Vips won by just 0.473 seconds from Nielsen in the third race at the Red Bull Ring. Vesti finished with the biggest lead so far in the third race of the second Oschersleben weekend, crossing the line with a 2.810-second lead on Michael Waldherr in second place.

Drugovich led for the greatest number of laps, 55 in all, followed by Armstrong (34), Nielsen (31) and Hanses (21).

The drivers covered 224 laps in this season's twelve races on tyres provided by exclusive partner, Pirelli, which corresponds to a total distance of 842.446 kilometres.

Scherer achieved the highest average speed, 172.5 km/h, in the second race at the Red Bull Ring. Drugovich was quickest overall three times, Vesti twice.