2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship
 
James Wharton has claimed the 2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship in style, having won two of the final three races at the famous Yas Marina Circuit. 
 
Wharton entered the season finale in Abu Dhabi with a slender six-point lead over fellow Ferrari Driver Academy driver Tuukka Taponen thanks to a productive weekend in the penultimate round.
 
Having won two races in the first four rounds of the season, Wharton needed to add to that number in order to win the title and did so in brilliant fashion, doubling his victory tally by the end of the round.
 
Right from the get-go, Wharton was solid as he beat Taponen to pole position in both qualifying sessions, before a lights-out to chequered flag victory in the opening race of the weekend despite multiple safety car interruptions.
 
Wharton made it two-in-a-row in the second outing for the weekend in similar fashion to his first victory – defending top spot after multiple safety car restarts, while Taponen was forced to focus on challenges from drivers behind him.
 
The former Karting Australia champion's second win saw the lead out to 20 points and with one hand on the trophy ahead of what turned out to be a dramatic finale.
 
The Mumbai Falcons teammates’ entertaining battle would prove to reach a climax in that final race as Wharton and Taponen collided on the first lap, which put them both out of the race and ultimately handing the Aussie the title. 
 
Wharton eventually finished the 15-round season with four wins, a further six podiums and a healthy point score of 232 points to Taponen’s 212, while race three winner Ugo Ugochukwu finished third a further 27 points off the Finn.

 

Although Wharton experienced plenty of joy throughout the race meeting, it was tougher for the other three Aussies involved in James Piszcyk, Noah Lisle and Jack Beeton.
 
Piszcyk would fare the best of the trio in the final round as was the only one to score points across the three races – his sole P10 in the third outing cementing P15 overall. 
 
Lisle ended the season in 19th overall after he was unable to finish higher than 13th, while Beeton finished 23rd after picking up a pair of P19s during the final race.


 
2023 Formula Winter Series
 
Two Aussies were in action during the second round of the Spanish F4 Championship’s Formula Winter Series with Gianmarco Pradel and Patrick Heuzenroeder both at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste.
 
Following on from his decent start to the saeson, Pradel was once again towards the front of the field as he picked up two top-five finishes during the round.
 
Driving for US Racing, Pradel started off with a P4 in the opening race before moving up a spot to finish on the outright podium in the second race.
 
His outright podium also saw him pick up the Rookie win in the process – his second for the season – as he moved to third on the outright standings and ended the round 12 points behind teammate Frederik Lund.
 
As for Heuzenroeder, his series debut was a bit more challenging as he was unable to pick up any points from the weekend – although he just missed out in the second race after finishing P11, three places higher than where he did in the first race. 
 
The Formula Winter Series continues next month with round three to take place at Circuito de Navarra in Los Arcos on 3-5 March. 


 
FIA Formula 3 Championship
 
The 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign officially kicked off at the Bahrain International Circuit with pre-season testing as the three competing Australians were all in attendance.
 
With Hugh Barter and Christian Mansell to contest the season with Spanish outfit Campos Racing and Tommy Smith for Van Amersfoort Racing, all three drivers had a chance to put in plenty of laps for their new teams over the three days.
 
Barter ended up faring the best of the trio as he recorded the 14th and 16th fastest lap times overall over the first two days, before breaking into the top five on the final day. 
 
Mansell was unable to go higher than 20th in either three days, however he moved up places every day starting with 22nd on day one and 20th on the final day. 
 
With day two the fastest of the lot, both Barter and Mansell got their fastest lap times during the day, with neither were able to beat that time in the third session despite producing their best positions for the whole testing.
 
As for Smith, his fastest time came on the final day while his best position of 23rd came on the first day.
 
Although the Victorian finished with the 29th fastest lap on the final day, he was eight tenths behind Barter in fifth and just over one second slower than the fastest driver – highlighting the closeness of the competition. 
 
Barter produced the most laps of the event with 102 overall, 52 of which were completed in the final day, just two more than Mansell who completed 99 laps in total, while Smith ended with 86 laps all up. 
 
The FIA Formula 3 Championship begins next month with the season to open at the Bahrain International Circuit on 3-5 March.