From Baguio to Sepang, Iñigo Anton gears up for biggest race of his career in F1 weekend - Rappler

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ALL SET. Iñigo Anton poses with his Formula 4 car during his 2025 Southeast Asia campaign. Anton will race car No. 33 under Axle Sports in the Formula Trophy Malaysia at Sepang this October.

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BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Iñigo Anton has raced in Sepang before. He has stood on its podium, battled other young drivers around its fast corners, and ended his 2025 Formula 4 campaign as the Southeast Asian series’ rookie champion.

When he returns in October, however, the same track will feel very different. 

The Baguio racer is set to compete in the Formula Trophy Malaysia at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit from October 2 to 4, a Formula 4 event running as a support race during the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

“This is the biggest opportunity of my career so far,” Anton said during a recent media briefing in Baguio. “The competition will be fierce, but we’ve put in the preparation. I’m ready to leave everything on the track and do the Philippines proud.”

The weekend itself is unusual. Formula 1 announced in July that Sepang would host the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix after the original Bahrain race could not proceed earlier in the year amid the situation in the Middle East. The arrangement puts Formula 1 back at the Malaysian circuit for the first time since 2017. 

For Anton, it creates a rare opening: a Formula 4 race on the same weekend, at the same circuit with the highest level of single-seater racing.

Sepang is hardly unfamiliar territory. Anton competed there extensively during the 2025 Formula 4 Southeast Asia Championship, finishing third in the overall drivers’ standings and winning the Rookie Cup for BlackArts Racing. The official championship results list him as the top rookie of the season. 

That experience matters because Sepang is not an easy circuit to learn on the fly.

The 5.543-kilometer track combines long straights, heavy braking zones, and fast corners, with heat, humidity, and sudden rain adding another layer of unpredictability. Formula 1 itself describes Sepang as one of the championship’s most demanding circuits. 

Anton will race car No. 33 under Axle Sports, according to his camp, which also said he is expected to be the only Filipino driver on the grid.

The Formula Trophy Malaysia opens in Sepang on the Formula 1 weekend before returning to the circuit for two more rounds in November and December. The difference this time is everything’s happening around the race.

An F1 weekend brings a far larger crowd, international teams, sponsors, media, and motorsport decision-makers into the same paddock. For young drivers trying to move up the single-seater ladder, visibility can matter almost as much as results.

That is why Anton’s family sees the October race as more than another start on his calendar.

“With Formula 1 making its much-anticipated return to Sepang, the global spotlight will be brighter than ever,” said his race manager and mother, Karen Anton. “Having our local racing pride fly the Philippine flag on this grand stage is a testament to years of grit.”

Anton’s rise has been unusually long for someone still in his early 20s.

He began racing as a child under the guidance of his father, veteran racer Carlos Anton, progressing from karting and local circuit racing to international competition. By 13, he was already attracting attention for competing against much older drivers. 

The University of Baguio later recognized him after he was named the Automobile Association Philippines’ 2022 Driver of the Year for circuit racing. 

He eventually moved into single-seaters and made his Formula 4 Southeast Asia debut in 2023. By 2025, he was competing in his first full F4 season, taking podiums and eventually the rookie crown. 

The road has not been perfectly smooth. Anton has had disqualifications, difficult weekends, and races where pace did not translate into the result he wanted. That is part of what makes the Sepang opportunity significant.

He is no longer arriving simply as the young Baguio racer trying Formula 4. He returns with a full season behind him, experience at Sepang, and a clearer idea of what international racing demands.

His preparation for October includes physical conditioning, simulator work, and technical coaching. His camp said he has also been working under former Malaysian Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong, whose BlackArts Racing operation fielded Anton during his 2025 F4 campaign. The championship itself identified BlackArts as Yoong’s team. 

Carlos Anton, who remains his son’s coach, said the job now is to translate preparation into race pace.

“He has the pace, he has the discipline, and he’s ready to race with the best,” he said.

Anton’s camp is openly targeting a strong result, even a podium, but the significance of the weekend is not limited to where he finishes.

Formula 4 is one of the entry points into the FIA’s single-seater development ladder. The cars are slower and less sophisticated than Formula 1 machines, but the discipline teaches the same fundamentals young drivers need as they move upward: qualifying pace, race craft, tire management, technical feedback, and consistency under pressure.

Very few Filipino drivers reach this stage, and fewer still get to race during a Formula 1 weekend.

Anton knows the opportunity may not come often. His sponsors include Motul, Alpinestars, Yokohama, Blu Coffee Distributors, Time Master Watches, Infiniteserv International Corporation, and Axle Sports, support that has helped sustain a career in one of sport’s most expensive disciplines.

The Philippine flag on his helmet and racing suit will therefore represent more than hometown pride when he reaches Sepang.

It will also mark how far a racer who learned his craft in Baguio has traveled.

Anton has already raced this circuit.

This time, the world of Formula 1 will be watching from just a few garages away. – Rappler.com