Peru’s Andrés Cárdenas starred in Formula Winter Series this winter, finishing second overall and taking the title fight to the final race. With the Spanish F4 season on the horizon, the Campos Racing driver insists he can go one better by the end of the year.

By Juan Arroyo

Cárdenas is heading into his sophomore Spanish F4 season with firm title aspirations – and for good reason.

The Peruvian spent the winter mixed up in the FWS title battle, racking up two wins and four further podiums in 11 races. He and MP Motorsport’s Griffin Peebles could rarely be separated over the four FWS rounds. They stood on the podium together in 50 percent of the races and finished 1-2 four times.

Following the strong results, the 15-year-old has a renewed sense of confidence ahead of the season. He’s a more polished and experienced driver now, he believes.

“It’s been great,” Cárdenas told Feeder Series about his F4 stint thus far. “It’s my first step in car racing. It’s a learning step. My rookie year, I improved a lot, learning the basics and different aspects of the car – how to do starts, different things. I have learned a lot of things that are going to help me a lot in my career, and it’s getting a lot better.”

The Campos driver finished eighth in last year’s Spanish F4 drivers’ standings, third best of the rookies. He took a single win in what was a standout weekend in Jerez but struggled to maintain the frontrunners’ consistency across the season. In the three Spanish F4 rounds that followed Jerez, Cárdenas never stood on the podium – a fact that led him to consider another year in F4 before stepping up the ladder.

“I’ve always been a driver that wants to win. Last year, obviously, [it was] difficult because I’m a rookie and different aspects. But of course, second year, it’s always the one that you win,” Cárdenas said.

Inexperience was no doubt a factor in Cárdenas’ inconsistent form last year. The Campos driver said he found it difficult to adjust to the environment and the way of working at Formula 4 level, which he says differs a lot from karting. On track, he struggled to acclimatize to safety car restarts – which occur frequently at the F4 level – and tracks where he had no previous experience. Jerez notwithstanding, it was a constant battle to adapt.

“Those little aspects at the end make a lot of difference, [and] being confident [was] also the main problem.” Cárdenas said. “My main problem [on track] last year was restarts, and now we have done some great ones [in FWS]. Knowing that I polished these things, it’s a great thing.”

The Peruvian driver was always going to stay with Campos Racing in 2024. He spent the majority of the off-season in the Spanish outfit’s ‘Campos Academy’ programme, doing physical training and simulator work at their Valencia factory – much of it with his F4 teammates and other Campos drivers. It’s a team he calls ‘family’.

“We are from the Campos Academy. We do teamwork, training, all these different things. At the end, being there in the factory, unlike other teams, it’s a great way to bond ourselves [with my teammates],” Cárdenas said.

Campos is one of two teams consistently on the podium in Spanish F4. The other is Dutch giant MP Motorsport. The competition between them plays out every year up front.

The two outfits have finished 1-2 in the teams’ standings every season since Campos joined in 2021, and their drivers have won six of eight drivers’ titles. The late Dilano van’ t Hoff won with MP in 2021; Alpine junior Nikola Tsolov won with Campos in 2022. This year, the Spanish outfit is looking to secure its second drivers’ and teams’ championship in the series.

Cárdenas, not surprisingly, has faith that his team will come out on top. “We’re very equal. MP are, of course, a great team, great package, great drivers. And obviously, it’s a competition. It’s great to have that. I think the package will be around the same, but I’m sure [Campos] will have a better car and we’ll do well,” he said.

It’s an opinion that contrasts with MP’s Maciej Gładysz’s, who told Feeder Series last month that the Dutch team was “way faster” than Campos in FWS. Gładysz finished third in FWS, the closest contender to Cárdenas and Peebles.

---

Cárdenas is one of the most experienced drivers in the field, with nearly 30 starts in F4 machinery. He knows what to do, when to do it, and how to do it now. The learning curve gets shallower with every race.

But there are also expectations to account for. Being at title-winning level means taking the crown feels like a promise to himself – and to the team. There is pressure to perform.

“I mean, [on] one side, I want to be calm. On the other, of course, I’m a little bit with pressure. Let’s say last chance of a year. Next year, I’m not going to be in F4. I’m going to go higher up, so I think there’s still this pressure, but if we put everything together and forget about that, it’s going to be great,” Cárdenas said.

Spanish F4 is set to have one of its largest-ever grids this season, with 30 drivers already confirmed ahead of the opener at Jarama in five weeks’ time. It will also be one of the most competitive.

FWS champion Griffin Peebles has joined MP Motorsport. Several karting standouts headline the field, including Nathan Tye and 2022 OK-Junior world champion Enzo Tarnvanichkul. Some of last year’s standout rookies, such as MP’s Keanu Al Azhari, have also elected to return. Cárdenas’ run for the title won’t be easy.

When asked who his strongest opponents this year could be, he specifically named Al Azhari and Peebles. 

Al Azhari came out third in a hard-fought F4 UAE title battle with Freddie Slater and Kean Nakamura-Berta over the winter. He later joined FWS for two rounds and kept up his quick form. On debut at Motorland Aragón, the Emirati driver took pole, victory and fastest lap, while the usual frontrunners had an off day.

“For sure, there’s a lot [of contenders],” Cárdenas said. “All my teammates are very great drivers. And I think the one that will win the title is the one that is going to be more consistent overall, so the one that gets points all the races, is always out there. All the drivers, especially from MP and Campos, are going to be rivals.”

In FWS, Cárdenas had led the points standings after the opening weekend in Jerez, but Peebles tied him after the second round and overtook him after the third.

At the final round, Cárdenas could not overcome Peebles’ points lead. As the Australian won both races, Cárdenas followed right behind in second – and lost an opportunity to recover as heavy rain forced the abandonment of the round’s opening race. He was 21 points shy of the title in the end.

If the Spanish F4 title fight comes down to him and Peebles, just as it did in FWS, Cárdenas is confident he’ll be the one to come out on top this time.

“That’s my objective at the end. We didn’t win the Winter Series because of a bad round in Motorland,” he said. “Some aspects I could control, some others not. For sure, my objective is to flip the results to finish first, so we’ll see after. Overall, I’m confident that I will have the upper hand.”

Header photo credit: Daniel Bürgin / Formula Winter Series