After wet weather meant the first race day of Formula Winter Series’ season-ending round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya saw little green-flag running, Sunday turned into a real showdown, with just five points separating the two drivers atop the standings entering the final two races of the season. Feeder Series was on the ground in Barcelona to find out everything that happened.

By Finjo Muschlien

Even without the championship title on the line, Sunday in Barcelona in the Spain-based F4 winter championship already had disproportionate importance. The weather-induced abandonment of both the qualifying session and the race on Saturday meant that the starting grid for the second race would be formed from the second-fastest times set in qualifying two Sunday morning, per a decision published Saturday at 16:21. 

Before the session started at 9:00, however, the word in the paddock was that some drivers were delayed because of a blocked highway due to a fire at a recycling factory in the nearby town of Granollers on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Luckily, all 36 were present and in their cars when the session started.

Qualifying 2

The session was declared wet, and most drivers went out with wet tyres. But the track was drying, and with about six minutes to go, they had to start cooling their tyres on the main straight by driving through puddles off line.

With 3:05 to go, a red flag came out because of an incident between Jenzer‘s Enea Frey and Drivex’s Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen. During the red flag, Pedersen told Feeder Series that Frey had hit his rear at the first corner, while both cars were on a push lap. Pedersen said his car was ‘destroyed’, but he was able to participate in both races later that day. The incident was scheduled to be investigated after the session, but there was no confirmation on the outcome or whether this incident was even investigated.

The session resumed at 9:22 local time, after Pedersen’s car was recovered. A further notification appeared in the closing stages, saying that an incident involving MP teammates Keanu Al Azhari and Maciej Gładysz would be investigated after the session. It was unclear what happened, though footage from the Polish driver’s onboard camera seen by Feeder Series showed that Al Azhari hit the right side of Gładysz’s car in an attempted overtake going into Turn 4, while both cars were on a hot lap. Again, the outcome of the investigation was never published.

Campos driver Nathan Tye, who ran wet tyres throughout the session, secured pole position by more than six tenths over the second fastest driver, MP Motorsport’s championship contender Griffin Peebles. Peebles‘ rival Andrés Cárdenas finished the qualifying in fifth. 

Those qualifying positions of course set the grid for the final race of the weekend, but the positions for the earlier second race looked somewhat different. Peebles set the best second-fastest lap time and was set to start the second race from pole position ahead of Tye and Cárdenas.

Race 2

From pole position, Peebles won the start off the line and kept the lead. As the field swallowed Tye, Campos teammates Cárdenas and Ernesto Rivera rose to second and third going into the first corner. Behind them there were multiple incidents, which ended the races of Jenzer’s Édouard Borgna, Rodin’s Ella Lloyd and Tecnicar’s Lorenzo Castillo and brought out the safety car at the end of the lap.

The race restarted on the fourth lap, and Peebles escaped any attacks by his rival going into the first corner. He had built a gap of almost two seconds when the race was neutralised again with 7:37 to go after US Racing’s Gianmarco Pradel went off at the first corner and got stuck in the gravel trap.

The field completed just one lap behind the safety car, and at the restart Peebles again kept his lead ahead of his Peruvian rival. One lap of green-flag running followed before, entering the third-last lap, GRS driver Douwe Dedecker and US Racing’s Matheus Ferreira collided at Turn 2, leaving Ferreira in the gravel trap and bringing out the safety car for the third and final time.

That ending meant that Peebles won the race ahead of Cárdenas and Rivera. It was a crucial win for Peebles, who increased his championship lead from five to 13 points over Cárdenas, as he additionally secured a bonus point for the fastest lap.

Behind them, the order shifted in the final minutes of the race and after the race as penalties for track limits and other incidents were applied. Five-second time penalties for track limit violations were given to US Racing’s Maxim Rehm, who dropped from 10th to 17th; Tye, who dropped from 19th to 26th; Monlau’s Lenny Ried, who dropped from 21st to 28th; and Campos driver Finn Harrison, who dropped from 30th to 31st.

Further 10-second time penalties were issued for overtaking other cars off track. For these offences, GRS driver Reno Francot dropped from fifth to 18th, US Racing’s Akshay Bohra dropped from eighth to 19th, and US Racing’s Kabir Anurag dropped from 16th to 29th. 

Race winner Peebles told presenter Isi Browning after the race, “I think I got the most perfect start. I had a small gap and I didn’t need to defend and I focussed on just doing smooth lines and perceiving the tyres a bit because this track has very high degradation and we had two safety cars – the first one was really long and we had one just before the end. Luckily it finished under the safety car, so I didn’t have to do anything else, but I’m really happy with the results. Good points in the championship, but it’s still going to go down to the last race.

“I’m starting at a very good position. I’m starting P2 and Cárdenas is starting I think P5. I think we have enough pace to stay in front of him or stay in good points positions, so I think we got this.“

On the podium a few minutes later, Cárdenas said he was happy with the result, but he added that “we want more” in the final race so he could overhaul Peebles

The championship picture before race 3

With just the final race to go and 26 points up for grabs, Peebles led the drivers’ standings with 147 points, ahead of Cárdenas with 134 points. Being second in the championship, Cárdenas won two races ahead of the final race of the season, while leader Peebles won three races and therefore had an advantage going into the final race in the event of a tie in points.

The graphic below shows the permutations for Peebles and Cárdenas to win the title. 

There were about four and a half hours between the end of race two and the start of race three’s grid procdure. Feeder Series spoke to both drivers minutes after the second race’s podium ceremony, a few hours before the all-important final race.

Peebles: Title win would be ‘big boost’ for Spanish F4

Championship leader Peebles, who turned 16 on 29 February, just scored one point in the 2023 season of Spanish F4 but found himself atop the standings going into the final race with three wins. Did he expect to be up there?

“At the end of last year I was showing some good speed and just not at the very top,” he explained. “But we were getting close, we were improving a lot, we were just in the points at some places, got a bit unlucky and only scored one point last year. We could have scored maybe three or four in the last race, but we got a penalty.” Peebles crossed the line 10th in that race but was classified 13th. 

“At the start of this year, we got a lot of speed,” he continued. “MP have given me a great car, and we were really quick and in all conditions basically, so I’m very happy to be at the front this time. It’s a bit easier than the midfield because we were fighting all the time and it’s hard to get clear laps and really show your speed.”

Peebles took the win in the second race of the weekend after starting the race from pole position. He kept his lead from lights to flag and left his championship rival clear behind him, building a gap of over two seconds before the race got neutralised.

“I showed really good speed at the very start, and managing my tyres, we were about the same speed towards the end and the safety cars shortened the race a bit. I think we can be equal or I can be a bit faster.”

It’s noteworthy that Peebles was lucky that there was no green-flag running or points awarded for the races on Saturday. Peebles started the abandoned Saturday race from 20th, while rival Cárdenas would have started eighth, which brought the risk of Peebles getting a disadvantage for the two races scheduled for today. Considering Peebles’ second-best lap time was over a second slower than his best lap and Cárdenas’ second-best was almost identical to his first, the disparity between their grid positions would have been even bigger under the original race two grid format.

But the abandonment meant that both title contenders had a second chance to qualify in better positions.

“We were able to put in a good lap this morning, with a bit more of a cleaner session, and we could really show our speed.”

A driver’s mindset is one of the most important things in racing. When it comes down to the championship-deciding races, there are several factors that can influence it.

“It’s quite based on qualifying with these F4 cars. The dirty air affects the car quite a bit, so if you have the clean air you can push more, and if you are in the dirty air it’s quite a big disadvantage,” Peebles explained. “For race three, I’m just going to try to do my best, score the most points and be at the highest position possible. Obviously I start from P2 and Cárdenas starts from P5, so we have a bit of an advantage there. I think I have enough speed to finish in the top three.”

If Peebles won FWS, it would be his first championship title in single-seaters. What would winning it mean to him?

“This championship is kind of like a pre-season to Spanish F4, with the same tracks and everything, basically the same teams,” he said. “It’s really good practice, so if I win the championship it will be a big boost for me in Spanish F4.”

Cárdenas: ‘This weekend is all or nothing’

Peebles’ chasing rival Cárdenas was the third-best rookie in his debut F4 season in Spanish F4 last year despite missing the opening round because he was too young. What did he expect going into 2024?

“[The] second season is always where you need to make that step to be top three,” he answered. “I expected, with all that work we have done in the off-season with my team, big things.“

Entering just his second season of single-seater racing, Cárdenas wanted to improve his weaknesses from last year and prepare himself better than last year. What was he working on the most?

“For sure the starts. We were doing some very good starts, but last year it was not my strongest point let’s say. Of course, the simulator is very important, testing in different tracks that we are later going to go on and this track included, and also physical work.”

While we will never know where he could have qualified, this weekend’s abandonment of qualifying one put Cárdenas ahead of Peebles on the grid for the first and second races. Peebles seemed to be faster in the first race on Sunday, so did this influence Cárdenas’ approach to the final race?

“No, not at all. I mean, my approach for the last race, since the first moment, is to attack and push the maximum that I can and we will see how it goes, because until the last moment, everything can happen. Dirty air is a factor, of course. It’s not always going to be perfect with the circumstances, starting from fifth. But, as I say, I’m going to push my maximum.”

The Peruvian also explained to Feeder Series what it would mean for him to win the championship.

“This weekend is all or nothing,” he said. “It would be a great honour of course, winning a championship in single-seaters. It’s a great thing to do and I am going to push a lot for that. At the end of the day, all our competitors are the same in the Spanish F4 Championship and even more. There are teams from Italy and I think it’s some of the same level.”

Race 3: A champion crowned

By securing pole position in the second qualifying, Tye started the third and final race of the weekend from pole, while championship contenders Peebles and Cárdenas started second and fifth respectively. Things got off to a stuttering start when Castillo had an issue and couldn’t start the race. The field had to do a second formation lap, with a reduction in race distance to 28 minutes plus one lap, Cárdenas had two fewer minutes to overhaul Peebles.

Peebles got a perfect launch and moved up to first position, though he had to defend his inherited lead from polesitter Tye and Cram’s Flavio Olivieri going into the first corner. Olivieri, who started from seventh, was third by virtue of jumping the start, for which he received a drive-through penalty by the end of the second lap. Cárdenas found himself in fourth after the first lap but made the move for third on Olivieri going into the first corner of the third lap.

The third lap was also the first time the safety car made its appearance in the race, as Borgna’s race ended in the gravel trap of the second corner, thought to be because of a collision with AKM’s Oleksandr Savinkov. Things quickly went from bad to worse for jump-starter Olivieri when he served his drive-through penalty during the safety car in violation of series rules. He received a further 10-second stop/go penalty, which turned into a 35-second time penalty at the end of the race that dropped him from 19th to 31st.

Peebles returned to racing speed with 13:52 minutes to go and built a gap of well over two car lengths to Tye, who was then overtaken by teammate Cárdenas into the first corner in a crucial move for the title battle. In Turn 5 of the same lap, an incident between Campos’ Jan Przyrowski and Ferreira that sent the Brazilian into the concrete barrier and left him with rear wing damage brought out the safety car again.

The race resumed with 6:02 minutes to go. As in the previous restarts, Peebles kept his lead, but this time Cárdenas stayed close behind him. The race action, however, was again neutralised with five minutes to go. Jenzer’s Ádám Hideg couldn’t accelerate out of the final corners and stopped on the start-finish straight, while teammate Arthur Dorison came to a stop in Turn 1, possibly because of a collision. The Jenzer driver got out but sat down next to his car and held his hand with what appeared to be a wrist injury.

The safety car entered the pit lane after just one full lap and the battle between Peebles and Cárdenas was set to be decided with just two laps to go. Cárdenas needed Peebles to lose several positions in order to claim the title, but Peebles won not only the sprint but also the marathon with a perfect restart again. A few minutes later, he had earned his fourth win of the season – and the championship win – ahead of Cárdenas and 2023 FWS runner-up Pradel.

Peebles spoke to Browning again before the podium ceremony.

“We had a very good race. The initial start wasn’t that good, but I got Tye into the first corner. We were three-wide, and from there I just tried to manage the gap, manage the tyres and tried to do good safety car restarts. It was just amazing,” he said. “It’s just good to have wrapped it all up now and focus now on testing and everything for Spanish F4.”

The 2024 Spanish F4 season begins 10 May at the Circuito de Madrid Jarama, confirmed last week as the new site for the season opener after original venue Navarra was unable to host the event. The series will feature all of FWS’ racetracks and most of its teams and drivers – ingredients that should spring hope for another close title battle on the Iberian Peninsula later this year.

Header photo credit: Moritz Sachsenheimer