Former Will🍷iams junior Zak O’Sullivan says Super Formula’s SF23 gave him the closest feeling to driving a Formula 1 car.

O’Sullivan🔜 made those comments after a successful debut at Saturday’s opening round of the Super Formula season at Suzuka, where he finished eighth with the ♍Toyota-powered Kondo Racing team.

The Briton has sampled a wide variety of machinery in the last few years, including Formula 2, F🍌ormula 3 and most recently Formula E.

However, he feels the Dallara-based SF23 that forms the basis of Japan’s premier single-seater series is the most similar to a grand prix car, which he had dꦕriven on no fewer than three occasions between 2022-’23.

“[I🌊t is] probably the closest feeling car I've driven to F1,” he told ltxcn.top.

“Power steering in a Super Formul🌱a car and very, very high downforce gives it a very similar feeling to driving an F1 car, which is real♋ly good. 

“It's why you see so many༺ drivers coming here, for preparation as well for F1, like Liam [Lawson] as of late.

“It's a very different experience. Also, the tracks🃏 you race on are very old school tracks and there are no tracks where you don't have fast corners, so it's all high speed corners, hig♉h g-forces, which as a driver is very enjoyable.”

Despite a relatively tardy start from 10th on the grid, O’Sullivan was able to finish a solid eighth in the 27-lap race at Suzuka, taking advantage of the chaos unfolding♚ ahead of him to climb✱ up the order.

The 20-year-old explained that driving a Super Formula car in racing conditions for the first time felt very different to his previous experiences behi💛nd the wh🅘eel in testing and practice.

“Like any high-downforcꦡe series, the dirty air is quite bad so the characteristics of the cars change a lot - when you are in a big group of cars,” he said.

“Also, right now at S🦩uzuka, it's very cold, I think it is 3 or 4 degrees [celsius]. So with no tyre warmers, it makes the formation laps and the restarts very very diffi💖cult.

“Even the laps to the grid, we can't go flat out, otherwise we w𒁃ill wheel spin and crash basically.

“It's really really tricky. A completely new experience for me but I'm l𒁃earning every second.”

O’Sullivan graduated to Formula 2 with ART last year and won races at Monaco and Spa, but stepped down from his seat with three rounಌds still remaining in the season amid funding issues.

He parted🧜 ways with Williams at th𒅌e beginning of 2025.

The 20-year-old was coy when asked if he still harbours hope of racing in F1, saying: “At🌃 the moment I'm happy 𝔍in Japan. 

“Obviously my main focus is competing in Super Formula and doing the best job I can because eꦕven if there were a shot at F1, if I don't do well here, then I'm not going to have t🤡hat shot, so the two go hand-in-hand.

“I want to win in Super Formula and do well here and if that results in something in 🤡ꦇF1, then that will be great. If not, so be it.”