Oliver Goethe

Oliver Goethe (, ; alternatively spelt Gøthe or Göthe, born 14 October 2004) is a Danish-German racing driver based in Monaco, who is competing in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship with Campos Racing. He recently competed in the championship for Trident in 2023, having been a replacement driver the year prior for Campos. He claimed the 2022 Euroformula Open Championship by winning eleven races in his winning campaign.

Early life
Goethe was educated at Millfield School along with his older brother, Benjamin.

Karting
Goethe made his international karting debut in 2019, where he raced in both the European and World Championships in the OK-category, both of which he failed to finish. The Dane then competed in the WSK Super Master Series and WSK Champions Cup in 2020.

Lower formulae
In 2019, Goethe made his first single-seater appearance, driving for Drivex School in the final round of the F4 Spanish Championship.

He then raced in the series full-time in the 2020 season, this time with MP Motorsport. Being only 15 years old during most of the season, Goethe achieved six podiums, including a win at the Circuit Paul Ricard. He placed fifth in the rookies' and overall championships respectively at the end of the year.

Formula Regional European Championship
Goethe progressed into the Formula Regional European Championship in 2021, partnering Franco Colapinto and fellow F4 graduate Kas Haverkort at MP Motorsport. He scored his first points in the second race of the first round at Imola, finishing ninth in race two. Goethe's only other points finish came at the second race at Zandvoort, where he ended up in tenth place, and the Dane came 23rd in the overall standings, twelfth-highest of all rookies.

Euroformula Open
For 2022, Goethe switched to the Euroformula Open, partnering with Motopark. At the first round at Estoril, the Dane qualified on pole for the first race, but lost multiple places at the start after a slow getaway, although he would recover to finish third later on. He would have another bad start in Race 2, but would fight back to win the race despite a five-second penalty. Continuing his season in similar fashion, Goethe qualified first for both races at the Pau Circuit, taking a win in Race 1 but losing out on the Grand Prix victory on Sunday to Vladislav Lomko and teammate Christian Mansell. He would have a dominant weekend at Le Castellet, winning two of the three races and coming just short in Race 2 to Mansell. Goethe continued his winning streak, taking victory in all three races at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, despite starting the latter pair of races from sixth. At the final round before the summer break, Goethe once again won the opening race and ended his weekend with another podium in Race 3. Following the first half of the season, he remarked that leading the championship "helps the nerves for when I am in future categories". Two more wins at Imola and the Red Bull Ring followed before a disappointing round at Monza, where he encountered a spin in Race 1 and a brake disc failure before Race 2, which prevented him from starting from pole. Undeterred by this, Goethe clinched the title at the final round in Barcelona by winning the first race, finishing the season with eleven wins and a total of 18 podiums.

2022
After Hunter Yeany sustained a broken wrist in the Austrian round, Goethe was drafted to replace him for the Hungary round at Campos Racing. In qualifying, he ended up besting his teammates David Vidales and Pepe Martí, ending up twelfth, thus starting the sprint race from pole position. He dropped from pole position at the start but remained in the top ten throughout the race, ending in eighth after a last-lap collision between Arthur Leclerc and Jak Crawford, giving him three points on his debut. For the Spa-Francorchamps round, he was retained and once again bested his teammates in qualifying, securing a brilliant fourth position. In the sprint race, Goethe collided heavily with Zane Maloney, but luckily both escaped injury. In the feature race, Goethe's race was highly successful even leading the race at one point. He eventually finished fourth, after being passed by Oliver Bearman on the final lap. Goethe returned to his main campaign in the Euroformula Open for the final two rounds of the season and was replaced by Sebastián Montoya. Goethe ended the championship 19th with 15 points.

2023
At the end of September 2022, Goethe partook in the FIA Formula 3 post-season test with Trident on all three days. On 2 December 2022, it was announced that Trident signed Goethe on a full-time basis for the upcoming FIA Formula 3 Championship alongside Gabriel Bortoleto and Leonardo Fornaroli. Goethe qualified fourth on his Trident debut, and marched forward to sixth place. The feature race proved successful as well, as a penalty for Gabriele Minì ahead gave him second place and his first podium. Melbourne though saw Goethe being taken out on the opening lap of the sprint and missing out on points due to a puncture in the feature race. This began a trend of four scoreless events, being stopped only when Goethe managed to take his maiden win in the series at Silverstone, where he converted a front-row starting spot to victory after passing teammate Fornaroli.

Goethe scored a pair of top five finishes at the Hungaroring, though he would become embroiled in the carnage of a wet/dry Spa weekend, where he not only crashed out of the feature race, but also received a ten-place grid drop for the subsequent event after his team was found to have remained on the grid after the 15-second signal. The final round at Monza began in a curious manner, as the German was awarded pole position after causing a session-ending red flag via a crash at turn seven; moments before, Goethe had set the fastest laptime of qualifying. During the sprint race, Goethe moved up from 22nd to fifth, gaining two positions post-race due to penalties, though he would end the season with disappointment, as a broken throttle forced Goethe to pull off the grid before the start of Sunday's feature. He finished eighth in the standings, three places ahead of Fornaroli but a long way behind title-winning teammate Bortoleto.

In the Jerez post-season test, Goethe joined Campos Racing, topping the times on the first day. He also participated in the Macau Grand Prix with the team, only making 21st due to a problematic first lap during the qualification race, but bounced back to ninth in the main race.

2024
In 2024, Goethe remained in the category for a second full season, this time returning to Campos Racing. Following two points-scoring events in Bahrain and Melbourne, the German-licensed driver won the Imola sprint race, being reinstated as the victor after initially being penalised for a safety car infringement. He charged through from seventh to first during the feature race, having benefited from an engine issue for Fornaroli, though a later overtake by Sami Meguetounif resulted in second place for Goethe at the flag.

Formula One
In November 2023, it was announced that he had joined the Red Bull Junior Team.

Personal life
Goethe's father, Roald Goethe, is a racing driver currently competing in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup. He is also related to the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Racing career summary
† As Goethe was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. * Season still in progress.

Complete F4 Spanish Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional Asian Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete Euroformula Open Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)