It’s not often you see a 15-year-old with as much maturity as Maciej Gładysz. The Pole just made his single-seater debut a month ago at the opening round of Formula Winter Series at Jerez, but he has impressed with consistent performances and incredible results. Feeder Series spoke to the top-rookie, as he explained what his first steps in single-seaters were like.

By Finjo Muschlien

Few drivers leave a memorable impression after just 11 races in single seaters like Maciej Gładysz did in his Formula Winter Series debut campaign. The Pole delivered great performances from the first race weekend onwards and was considered a championship contender for the majority of the season.

That the Tarnów-raised would be among the top drivers came as no surprise and was always clear, even ahead of the season. Maciej was born into a motorsport-affiliated family, which found its origins in the 1970s, with Maciej’s grandfather Janusz Gładysz participating in the Polish Rally Championship and father Adam Gładysz racing in sports cars championships since 1995. Janusz and Adam established the Gładysz Racing Team in 1998, which competed in various GT championships since. That the third generation makes the step into motorsport as well was never in doubt. Maciej Gładysz and his older sister Natalia Gładysz made their steps into karting early, and now, Maciej climbed the ladder all the way up to F4.

15-year-old Maciej received his karting licence in 2015 and since became the WSK Open Cup champion in 2020, FIA Karting Academy Trophy champion in 2021 and Champions of the Future Winter Series champion in 2022, leaving his future FWS rival – Andrés Cárdenas – behind him in the standings. On top of this, he also finished fourth in the FIA World Championships that year.

In late 2022, he tested F4 machinery for the first time with AKM Motorsport at Cremona, however stayed in karting for the 2023 season. In August of 2023, Gładysz was part of the first stage of Ferrari’s ACI Scouting Camp in 2023 at Maranello. Further tests in F4 cars with MP Motorsport followed that year, as did his participation in the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy, which prepares drivers for their step from karts to cars. 

The long-awaited announcement finally came on 14 December 2023, when MP Motorsport confirmed that they signed the youngster for the 2024 Formula Winter Series and Spanish F4 Championship.  

First steps in single-seaters

Following the season finale of FWS at Barcelona, Feeder Series interviewed Gładysz. The Pole always had a connection to silverware and won several titles in karting, but the success of karting doesn’t always transition into single-seaters, so what expectations did Gładysz have ahead of the season?

“Before FWS, my targets were to finish in top three or even win the title, but after the first round, I was really confident going into Valencia. But Valencia was unexpectedly not too great because we had a bit of problems. […] My targets were to finish in top three [in the drivers’ championship], and we still managed to get [that], but now [we are] focusing on the main championship, so Spanish F4. And there I want to win the rookie championship and get top three in the main championship,” Gładysz explained. 

His solid performances from karting quickly transitioned into single-seater success, and Gładysz made an impact at the very first round of the season. 

“I mean, the weekend in Jerez was really good, […], we had really good pace there. Finished third in my first ever race, that made me really confident for the other races. We were really fast with my team. I mean, me and Griffin [Peebles] in race two, we both got P1 and P2 for the team and I won rookie. Going in race three, where I started way far back in ninth, because I just did a not great quali and I had to overtake most of the drivers, but finished fifth.”

To secure two podium finishes at the debut round is a noteworthy performance. It’s a performance even the best teams don’t expect from their rookies, as they focus on the development of a youngster’s most important trait – consistency – rather than actual pace. MP’s Polish star racer, however, needed little time to get comfortable.

“I learned to be consistent in karting, I was always consistent on track and the races. When I came to Formula 4, I was just always so confident and didn’t have any problems. I was just fast from the get-go [in Jerez].”

Still, the rookie would soon experience the first setback of his single-seater career at the following round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia. The event was overshadowed by organisational chaos and track limit violations, and individual performances by the drivers receded into the background. This meant few took note of Gładysz’s fourth- and third-place finishes, which brought his season-opening streak of top-five finishes to five, as well as the fact that he retired from the third race with four laps to go.

“I thought I could have come a bit better. The pace was much better in the testing, where we tested with our team in December. But when we came here for the race, the pace wasn’t great. 

“I think there were a lot of problems with the tyres, and unfortunately, I did a really bad Q2, finishing 17th. I was behind Griffin, who [put it on pole] in this session. He pulled away from me a second [per lap], I had a lot of understeer and it was really tough to drive. As I said, Valencia was really surprising to me, because it was a better track for me than Jerez, so I was expecting […] to be fighting […] already for the win [there], because in Jerez we showed a really good battle in those races and I thought we would do a good quali in Valencia and we would be fighting for the win, but we started sixth and third. 

“The second race, where I started in third, I think I could have maybe overtaken Andrés Cárdenas, but it’s really tough to overtake in Valencia. It has literally no place there to overtake. I think after a safety car, you can overtake but just most of the track is impossible. It’s just a tight track,” the Pole said. 

Motorsport can be dangerous

In the modern-day, motorsport is as safe as it’s ever been. Safety systems like the HANS device and Halo have increased the safety level of the sport in large strides. 

However, accidents still and will always continue to happen, and rookie Gładysz was part of one on the starting grid at Aragón. Starting fifth, Gładysz stalled on the grid and got rear-ended by Campos drivers Carrie Schreiner and Ernesto Rivera, who started from 28th and 32nd respectively. The pair carried a lot of speed when they hit the Polish driver, but was this the biggest accident of his life so far?

“I think this was the biggest one. I mean, I’m really happy that everything is fine, that I wasn’t injured. I’m so happy that nothing has happened to me, but yeah, the car was really damaged after the race. It was a lot of my fault, I released a lot of clutch.

“Then, I was trying to restart the car, but I pressed the wrong button on the steering wheel and one of the drivers, I think he or she was looking at different cars, and in the last moment he or she probably saw me, so it’s tough to react in those kinds of moments. I mean, you drive 200 kilometres and you see the driver that goes zero kilometres, so you can’t really do anything in those situations. I have been hit once, then been hit a second time into the side. I’m happy that I’m fine but the car was not fine.”

As an outside party, crashes like this look scary, but have you ever thought about what must go through the driver’s mind in a situation like this? Gładysz speaks openly about this topic and explains what the accident felt like from his point of view and how his family saw the accident.

“I was just looking at the mirror, but when I saw the car behind me, I just closed my eyes. But I was surprised that I was fine. Like, I have been hit and I was like, “Wow! I’m still moving and everything is fine.’ I thought it will be worse, it will break something, or I will have some problems with the knees or something. I had a bit of pain in my knee, but it was fine after like two hours. I just closed my eyes and when I saw the car behind me, I saw he reacted but then, when I saw the Campos car, I was like ‘oh no.’

“My father was really scared. I mean, he didn’t know what happened, or he knew what happened but he was just running to see if I am okay. My mum was crying when she was watching, because she couldn’t come for the race. But she was watching the live stream and she was just really stressed, but most of the people were so kind and have texted me and asked me if I am okay, so it’s just really nice to hear this from them. 

“But I was really just apologising to the team for this mistake, but they understood because they still know that I am a rookie and it happens to all the rookies.”

Second half of the season

His mechanics did a phenomenal repair job and Gładysz was able to race both races the following day. Perhaps, the repair job was affiliated to motivation, as it was clear that Gładysz was okay and set to start the second race from third position if the car was ready. 

“For race two, as I said before, I was not really confident before the start, so I lost eight positions at the start and maybe could have been fighting for the win because the driver that started in sixth and was a rookie [Thomas Strauven] won the race, because there was a massive battle. If I would have been there in top three, maybe I could have also been fighting now for the championship. After this crash, my starts are worse a bit worse, they are not as good as they were.”

Gładysz admitted that incidents like these can also affect a driver mentally.

“I mean, we had the problems because as I said, the [second] race where I started in third, I was really scared of stalling the car, to get hit again. I lost a lot of positions, but then I was recovering, I was already in eighth or seventh and one of the drivers just missed his braking [point] and completely went into me. I would have finished top five in this race, but I went down to 17^th and finished P8. It could have been a way better race for me. 

“Then, race three, I started in eleventh, [and there were] a lot of safety cars. I had also to defend quite a lot on Andrés Cárdenas and it was really tough to come to this pack in the front. I finished in seventh in that race, I have been penalised [with a] one position penalty for overtaking off the track, but I could have finished this race in top five. But it was tough, because you know, everyone will defend and fight like crazy.“

Arguably, the third round at Aragón was the worst round for the Polish driver yet. Not only did  he have a massive accident in race one, but he also couldn’t continue his strong form from the opening two rounds for the remaining two races of the weekend. Was a performance-low-point like this influencing his mindset? 

“It just didn’t matter for me. I knew we are fast, so in this championship, [it matters more to me] to prepare for the most important races. I knew we had the pace all weekend, so the most important for the Spanish F4 is just to do a really good lap in the quali and be in the front, not to stall the car and be smart in the races and try to finish in top three,” he explained. 

FWS went into the final round at Barcelona just the weekend after. As in Valencia, open-worded communications to the teams and drivers led to chaos unfolding on Saturday morning. 

The first qualifying of the weekend was abandoned due to poor weather conditions after a few minutes of running, and the organisers decided to form the grid of the first two races, based on “the combined classification of the official previous test.” Usually, FWS race weekends start on Thursday with two unofficial paid practice sessions before four official tests to follow on Friday. For the final round, however it was decided that no paid practice will take place. Instead, two of the Friday sessions took the spots on Thursday. 

As a result of this change, teams and drivers expected that all sessions from Thursday and Friday were taken into account, however, when it was confirmed that this would not be the case, it brought a lot of changes, resulting in Gładysz losing out. 

“I had a really good lap on Friday, so basically, when I was coming on the main straight for my fastest lap, I had a track limit and automatically, the next lap is also cancelled…So, they took the lap from the first session where it was still wet and I had to start 21st and normally I would have started in P4, so I am happy they cancelled this race.”

Interestingly, track limits weren’t monitored in the championship’s second round at Valencia, where the official test sessions also set the grid of the first two races. Eventually, the first race at Barcelona got cancelled later that day, mainly because of the poor weather conditions and visibility. Gładysz – who started in the midfield – said what he would have decided to do if the decision was up to him. 

“I would have decided to cancel because of the conditions. I also did not want to start from the back. I mean it’s wet so it’s always dangerous to drive in those conditions, so I was like, ‘No we don’t drive this race.’ Even my teammate went off on the formation lap into the gravel, so they needed to cancel this race. I’m happy they did.”

The Polish driver also explained what driving with no visibility felt like from his point of view. Gładysz already raced in wet conditions at Jerez earlier this season, however he ran in better positions with fewer cars ahead of him, so both the safety and visibility factors were different.

“If it’s dry, it’s fine, but if it’s wet, you can’t see on the main straight when you are behind somebody. It’s a lot of water coming out of the car. You can’t really see anything. It’s always dangerous because, you know, someone can be on the main straight spinning and you will not see him and just drive into him. It’s always dangerous like that.” 

Track action returned on Sunday, the sessions taking place in dry conditions, but luck wouldn’t be on Gładysz’s side – at least in qualifying.  

“On Sunday, I was always in top six in the quali and then I would have even finished in top three, but my teammate just put me into the gravel. It was just really silly from us. We didn’t do really good track position[ing]. Me, my teammate and another teammate, we didn’t do any good laps, so it was terrible quali for us. I had to start sixth for race two and 26th for race three.”

Interestingly, this incident was scheduled to be investigated, however whether it was actually investigated is not known and a document by the organisers was never published. The focus now was on the second race, where Gładysz was set to start from sixth position.

“Race two was really good, finishing in fourth and second in rookie. The pace was decent, two tenths off from the fastest. Race three, 26th to 11th was really good. I mean, I didn’t set any quick laps, because of a battle. I had to overtake every lap, [and there were] a lot of safety cars.”

Reflecting on the season

And with that, the season was over just five weeks after it started. But looking back, what does Gładysz see as the highlight of the season for himself?

“Jerez was the best weekend for me. Barcelona, I think [in the second race] we could have gone to overtake Rivera in the last two laps, but the pace was not as good. I think my tyres were a bit destroyed after I was battling with Reno Francot in the beginning, so when I was too close, I think they just got destroyed because of the dirty air. They degraded quite quickly. It was really tough to overtake there, there was not a lot of battles and in the dry, it was impossible to overtake.”

As part of the interview, Feeder Series and Gładysz had a look at the standings. At first sight, it’s easy to see how decent Gładysz’s performances were in comparison to all the other rookies. If the second-best rookie, Strauven, would have scored three times as many points as he did, he would have still been behind Gładysz. However, Gładysz has noticed another interesting stat.

“Basically, I checked the [results page]. If I already stopped racing after two races in Jerez,  when I finished third and second, I was already a rookie champion. Look, Strauven has got 30 points and I scored 15 and 18, so 33 points.

“So, after two races I already won the rookie championship. Jerez was really unbelievable for me. I knew how to race and everything and I think those rookie drivers still didn’t understand how to race, and I was just a bit more mature and understood things which happened on the track.”

It must be said that this rookie championship domination is taken from the overall standings, as a separate rookie championship was not supported by the organisers. In the end, Gladysz did not just finish as best rookie, but third in the overall championship and was in mathematical contention for the drivers’ championship until the penultimate race of the season, which is an extraordinary performance given the competitiveness of FWS. 

“Yeah, [it’s] very competitive. I mean, FWS is as competitive than Spanish F4 will be this year. There was US Racing team, which was really strong, Jenzer team and now I think it’s just going to be one more team, so Saintéloc. So yeah, I think this championship helped us a lot and we were really, really fast and it was good to prepare us.”

Winter championships are considered as preparation championships for the main seasons, and certainly, despite the competitiveness, it served as preparation for Gładysz. Those strong results on paper are worth nothing if you don’t know how to transfer this performance into other championships as well. Oftentimes, you see a drop or rise of performance level when drivers step up from karting to F4.

“I mean, it’s a really good way to start the season. We will keep going like that. Just need to stay consistent with the qualis, need to do those laps in top five and then races I’m just really good. I know how to overtake, where to overtake and how to prepare those overtakes. 

“I’m really happy that we ended the championship like that. We worked really hard with the team to get this result, happy to win the rookie championship, happy for Griffin [Peebles] that won the overall championship and happy to win the team championship. Happy [beat] most of the teams and most of the drivers.”

He further explained, going into detail about transitioning from karting to single-seaters. 

“Karting for me, I don’t really like [it], I’m happy we are in Formula 4 already. For me, here you can actually see how good [you are but] not in karting. As you can see, there are drivers that are very bad in karting, but they are absolutely amazing in Formula cars. Or, maybe they were not bad in karting but they just didn’t have material to win and now you can see they are really fast.”

To get comfortable with the car after just four rounds, 11 races and multiple tests is never easy. Still, Gładysz gave an insight into how the car feels at this stage.

“We had a bit of tough moments in the quali with the tyres, so I had a lot of oversteer and understeer and it was really hard to drive. But really strongpoints are in the races, where we had a lot of grip. We were really fast in those races and the car was feeling amazing until the end. We were improving lap by lap and then we stayed consistent with the lap. We were just faster than most of the drivers.”

Looking into the future

FWS was a huge success for Gładysz and his learning curve. His maturity is incredible for a 15-year-old driver and he feels ready for the main season of Spanish F4.

“I am just more confident. I know what to do before them [the races], we have pace before this championship. We just need to do those qualis really good. The team is just really strong in the races, I think we are the strongest on the grid. If we just put everything together, we will do the same job like in Formula Winter Series. I hope we are going to take the rookie championship, team championship and overall championship win,” he said. “I also want to continue learning and progressing as a driver and luckily, with MP Motorsport, I’m in the best possible environment to do that.”

In recent years, the Spanish F4 Championship often sees fights between MP Motorsport and Campos Racing, both having won all but one teams’ championship since 2016. Gładysz praised the ‘amazing work’ MP did in FWS, but how does he expect the battle to shake out in Spanish F4 this year?

“I think MP was way stronger than Campos in FWS, and overall, our drivers made less mistakes, so I hope it stays that way for the Spanish F4 season. We can come out on top again.”

Performances as seen by the Pole in FWS have also been recognized by the big players of the sport. With performances like this, it’s only a matter of time before an F1 teams’ academy will want to have Gładysz in their respective programmes, but does he personally hope to be signed soon?

“Yeah, I hope so. After this championship, we have already been talking with a few academies. I hope, after maybe a few rounds of Spanish F4, I do really well, [and] I’m going to get picked up [by] any academy. It would be an amazing opportunity to be in an F1 academy programme,” he said.

As explained earlier, Gładysz tested F4 machinery for the first time a whole year before he made his debut in an F4 championship. Early preparation is important and it’s also the plan for the upcoming years of racing. 

“As for next year, of course I would love to make the next step and move up either to FRECA or F3, but that depends on many things, including both budget and performance. For now, I need to focus on doing the best I can in F4 this year.”

He also added that to step up to a higher-class series every year “would be amazing.” 

Keep in mind that everything Gładysz said is based on his experience after just 11 races in single-seaters. His maturity will certainly increase even more this year, as will his on-track performances. Make sure to keep an eye on this star of the future. 

Editor’s note, 20 March 2024, 9:27 CET: Two passages in this article were adjusted for clarity after publication.

Header photo credit: Daniel Bürgin / Gedlich Racing