VISAKHAPATNAM: Sixteen-year-old Visakhapatnam racer Bhuvan Bonu is competing in the 2026 Indian Formula 4 Championship with Hyderabad Blackbirds, taking a step closer to his goal of making it to Formula 1. One of the youngest racers from the Telugu states, Bhuvan has already made his mark in national-level single-seater racing.
He enters F4 after securing multiple podium finishes in the JK Tyre and MRF championships, including a victory in the Formula LGB 1300 class. He won both MRF Formula 1600 races in the opening round of the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge at the Madras International Circuit in August.
For Bhuvan’s mother, Radhika Bonu, his entry into racing began as just an interest. When he was nine, Bhuvan went to a friend’s birthday party in Dallas, where he took part in a fun karting race at K1 Speed in Richardson, Texas.
‘Bhuvana continued racing in US until Sept 2024’
He won the race and returned home asking his parents to take him racing again. “We thought it was for fun. But when he came home after winning that race and said he wanted to race more, we realised he was serious,” Radhika told The New Indian Express.
Bhuvan had been fascinated by cars from a very young age. His family moved to the US when he was five months old, and he grew up there. His interest in cars began when he was around one year old. His parents initially took him to the same indoor karting facility for nearly a year.
He later moved to an outdoor track, where his parents bought him a kart and a membership. He began competing in club-level races at Dallas Karting Complex in Caddo Mills, Texas, before later entering national-level karting in the US.
“We realised that this kid had something that we never imagined. We just wanted to give him a chance as parents,” Radhika said.
Bhuvan continued racing in the US until September 2024. His parents then began looking at opportunities in India, and the family relocated.
After coming to India, he tried karting but soon shifted his focus to single-seater racing. He underwent testing towards the end of 2024 and in early 2025 before competing in national championships. His move to F4 is the latest stage of that progression.
Bhuvan has also had to balance racing with his education. He has been pursuing his education online since Class IX.
He completed Class X under the IGCSE Cambridge curriculum and is currently in Class XI. He travels regularly to Coimbatore and Chennai for training and testing, where teams conduct practice sessions.
His parents, Bhanu Prasad Bonu and Radhika Bonu, have been funding his racing career so far.
