Few drivers make it to Formula 1, but their odds of doing so skyrocket by being affiliated with an F1 team’s junior driver programme. This series explores the performance of driver academy members in 2023. Today’s spotlight: the Ferrari Driver Academy.

By Daniele Spadi

Despite high promise entering the 2023 season, only one of the academy’s eight members, Australia’s James Wharton, won a title in 2023. Wharton was confirmed earlier today to be leaving the programme for 2024 along with 2023 F2 driver Arthur Leclerc, who is set to “remain part of the Ferrari family” outside the purview of the academy.

The academy also announced earlier today that Marco Matassa, who has been with the academy since 2018 and led it since 2019, will leave the programme. Jock Clear – who has worked at Ferrari since 2015 and served as FDA driver coach – will replace him at the helm.

Check out the e-book below to read all seven of the 2023 F1 driver academy reviews!

Ollie Bearman (F2, P6)

Having missed out on the F3 drivers’ title to Victor Martins in the final race of the 2022 season, Bearman was regarded as a dark horse for the 2023 F2 title. Staying with Prema Racing for his step up, Bearman faced high expectations, but the 2021 ADAC F4 and Italian F4 champion initially struggled to get acquainted with the car and had only three points to his name after the first six races. 

The Briton’s talent shone through mid-season, however, once he got more familiar with the car. A spectacular weekend in Baku saw him take an unlikely pole position with a broken suspension and win both races, becoming the first driver in modern F2 history to complete a clean sweep. But inconsistency plagued Bearman’s season, with impressive feature race wins in Barcelona and Monza complementing scoreless weekends in Monaco and Abu Dhabi. 

Ultimately, Bearman ended the season sixth in the drivers’ standings with four wins and one additional podium, putting him as the second among the rookies. He will return to F2 with Prema next year and could well be a championship contender with more consistent performances.

Arthur Leclerc (F2, P15)

If Bearman can be happy with his rookie F2 season, it is slightly more difficult to say the same for Leclerc. Joining forces with DAMS for his 2023 campaign, the Monégasque driver looked to have adapted quickly to the new car, scoring his maiden podium in the series in Australia along with three other points finishes in the first three rounds.

Despite his promising start, Leclerc failed to finish in the top five in any other race in 2023 amid misfortune, mechanical issues, poor strategic calls and a sheer lack of pace. Sixth in the final feature race of the year in Abu Dhabi was a sign of promise, but it was ultimately too little, too late.

Leclerc finished his maiden F2 season 15th in the drivers’ standings, well over 100 points behind second-year teammate Ayumu Iwasa. He is rumoured to be heading to sports cars in 2024.

Dino Beganovic (F3, P6; FRMEC, P11)

Beganovic, the 2022 FRECA champion, stepped into 2023 as a clear-cut favourite to win the F3 title. After winning two of the six races he contested in Formula Regional Middle East over the winter, the Prema driver showed good pace in F3 pre-season testing and finished in the top five in his first three races.

His championship hopes, however, faded in the middle part of the season as he lost consistency. On the one hand, he took podiums in both the Monaco and Barcelona feature races, but on the other there was a technical failure in qualifying at Silverstone that put him last on the grid for both races. He also endured a poor end to the season, with only two points in the last four races, as well as a crash in the Macau Grand Prix main race in November just after passing Gabriele Minì for second.

Sixth in the drivers’ standings with four trips to the podium was by no means a bad result for Beganovic, but both driver and team would have expected more out of 2023. He will have another chance to fight for the title in 2024 as he remains with Prema.

Rafael Câmara (FRMEC, P3; FRECA, P5)

Making the step up from Italian F4, Câmara had a very busy 2023 season. The Brazilian first competed in FRMEC, taking home six podiums en route to third in the standings behind former Italian F4 rival Andrea Kimi Antonelli and F3 driver Taylor Barnard.

Eventual champion Antonelli would then be Câmara’s teammate and main reference point throughout his maiden FRECA campaign, though the Brazilian driver was by no means unimpressive. Câmara started the year with a podium in his first race at Imola and grabbed his maiden win in the fourth round at Spa. He won again at the Red Bull Ring and nearly did so in the second Monza race after a battle with Antonelli, but a premature red flag put the results on countback to when the Mercedes junior still had the lead.

Poor qualifying performances and misfortune prevented Câmara from maximising his points tally, yet he managed to finish the championship in fifth place, just one point behind Kas Haverkort in fourth. Prema has already announced that Câmara will be staying with the team for a second season in FRECA, and the Brazilian will be among the favourites for the 2024 title.

Maya Weug (FRECA, P17)

Weug stepped up to FRECA from Italian F4 and joined KIC Motorsport, which failed to score points in 2022. The team struggled to provide her with a competitive car at first, but things looked to have changed at Spa, where the Spanish-Dutch-Belgian driver took home two top-seven finishes.

Three further top 10 finishes in the two subsequent rounds at Mugello, where she took a season-high fifth in qualifying, and Le Castellet put her on the fringes of the top 10 in the standings. She took a further points finish in Monza but dropped back to 17th in the standings, though crucially having scored all of KIC’s 27 total points. 

For 2024, Weug is expected to move to F1 Academy with Prema. Having made an impression in FRECA, she would be amongst the favourites to follow in the footsteps of reigning champion Marta Garcia, who also raced for Prema.

James Wharton (F4 UAE, P1; Italian F4, P4; Euro 4, P2)

Australia’s Wharton was set to lead Prema in F4 thanks to the experience he gathered in 2022 with the team. It looked as though that would be the case at the start of the year after he took home the F4 UAE drivers’ title after a titanic battle with soon-to-be teammates Tuukka Taponen and Ugo Ugochukwu, but this run of form did not continue into Italian F4.

Two non-scores in the season opener in Imola and a technical issue in race three in Misano put him on the back foot from the start. The picture improved massively in Spa, where Wharton won two races and finished third in race three. Though he scored more consistently in the second half of the season, the 17-year-old struggled to keep up with his teammates and only took home three additional podiums on his way to fourth in the standings. He also challenged for the title in the newly formed Euro-4 Championship but lost out to Ugochukwu in the final race of the season in Barcelona.

Wharton’s departure from the Ferrari Driver Academy appears to be no obstacle to his 2024 plans, which he confirmed today were “already in place”. A step up to FRECA with Prema has been widely rumoured.

Tuukka Taponen (F4 UAE, P2; Italian F4, P5; Euro 4, P5)

Having won the 2022 FDA Scouting World Finals, Taponen joined the academy over the winter and moved to F4 UAE for his first single-seater races outside of Finland. His 2023 programme mirrored Wharton’s, and after losing the title to the Australian in F4 UAE despite a phenomenal effort in his first full championship campaign, expectations were high for the Finn. 

However, Taponen struggled to get going in Italian F4. Despite an early win in Misano, he made rookie mistakes and crucially failed to deliver in qualifying in the first half of the season. He eventually found his footing in the last three rounds of the championship, stepping on the podium five times and dropping out of the top five on just one occasion in the last nine races. This late surge put the Finn fifth for his rookie season, only 9.5 points behind Wharton. He obtained the same placement in his maiden Euro 4 campaign, in which he took two podium finishes. 

Although many thought Taponen might stay in Italian F4 for 2024 as a clear title favourite, the 17-year-old instead signed a deal with R-ace GP for the 2024 FRECA season.

Aurelia Nobels (Italian F4, P26; Euro 4, P22)

Nobels, the 2022 FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars winner, joined the Ferrari Driver Academy for the 2023 season. Unlike some of her teammates, she did not take part in any winter championships and went straight to Italian F4, missing out on points by less than three tenths of a second in race two at the opening round in Imola. However, her season was abruptly interrupted by an injury to her wrist after a pit lane incident at the next round at Misano, which meant that Nobels missed two races around the Italian racetrack as well as the whole race weekend in Spa.

In the last four rounds of the Italian F4 season, Nobels scored no points, leading her to finish in 26th in the drivers’ standings and third in the women’s championship, 20 points behind champion Tina Hausmann. Her Euro 4 campaign panned out similarly, and she finished that season 22nd with zero points.

In 2024, the Brazilian is set to join F1 Academy, with ART Grand Prix believed to be her destination.

Header photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office