James Wharton was the breakout star of the last part of the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship season, taking three wins and four more podiums in the final eight races. He sat down with Feeder Series in the Monza paddock to reflect on his campaign and on what lies ahead.

By Francesca Brusa

At the end of 2023, after winning F4 UAE, finishing as Euro 4 runner-up and taking fourth in Italian F4, James Wharton faced a “massive change”: his departure from the Ferrari Driver Academy, to which he signed in 2020 aged 14.

For the first time, Wharton would contest a year in single-seaters without the backing of the Scuderia. His newfound independence, he told Feeder Series back in April, gave him “even more motivation to prove” himself on track as he entered his first FRegional Europe season.

In his FR Middle East campaign with the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons over the winter, he scored two podium finishes to finish a promising sixth in the overall standings and third among the rookies. But there was some additional pressure on the Melbourne-born racer’s shoulders as he made his way to FR Europe. 

He was joining two highly rated drivers at Prema Racing in McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu, his F4 rival, and Ferrari junior Rafael Câmara, the best-placed driver from 2023 to return. Both were drivers he had gotten to know well since debuting with Prema in 2022 in F4 UAE.

“There were obviously some expectations going into the season to be top three in the championship,” Wharton told Feeder Series. “That was my number one goal, being a rookie and having such a good second-year [in] Rafa. I think at the start of the season, I thought it’s possible to be with Rafa.”

Wharton claimed a pole position, a further front-row start and two third-place finishes in his first two rounds at Hockenheim and Spa. But he also had to endure a retirement from that pole position in Hockenheim followed by a high-speed suspension failure in the first qualifying session at Spa, which caused an accident that forced him to withdraw from the first race. 

“We started really well on a pace point of view. In qualifying we were super strong,” he said. “[It was] a big step from the year before and from F4, so [I] was super happy with this.

“Being a rookie in the championship, you still have to learn, and I was in a bit of a learning process for the first couple of weeks. But I was still getting podiums, so it was a really positive thing.”

Wharton took another pole at Zandvoort but spun from the lead. He failed to score in either race, but that was the last time he would endure a non-score all season.

Wharton’s results started taking off at the Hungaroring, where he collected two points finishes. He continued this streak in Mugello, where, after taking the chequered flag seventh in race one, he bagged his first win of the season in race two.

“A couple of races in, I was just really wanting to get the first win because I knew that would really kickstart my season,“ the Australian said on reflection. “In Mugello, the weekend where I felt I wasn’t quite fast enough, I finally got the first win. Being in Italy made it even better. Being with Prema, in an Italian track like that, is super exciting.

“After that, it really kickstarted the year and gave me the confidence to be able to fight at the front every weekend and hopefully get some more wins, which ended up happening at the end of the year.”

With sixth- and ninth-place finishes at Le Castellet, Wharton went into the summer break fifth in the standings with 90 points to his name.

It was a commendable start, but the second part of the campaign was when he delivered what he considered some of his best performances in his single-seater career.

“I did a lot of work in the off-season to try and come back a bit stronger and put the weekends more together, which is all I really needed to do because the pace was there,” Wharton said.

Finishing third in both races in Imola put the 18-year-old in position to kick off an extraordinary end to the season that saw him claim three victories and two more podiums in the final three rounds.

“Since coming back from summer break, I’ve outscored everybody by a long way,“ the Australian said. “I’ve been exactly where I want to be. And to keep [going] like this is the number one goal.”

He attributed this upturn in form to becoming ‘a bit more mature with decisions’ on track and with his overall mindset. 

“Qualifying was always good,” he said. “I just knew if I had good starts, I would be at the front and then just had to be a little bit cleaner. I knew I had the pace during the race, so I could be a bit more patient.

“I think it’s the biggest way [I changed]: being more patient throughout the races, being more patient in all the decision-making, even in quali, it helped a lot being more patient. When you have the pace, it’s a lot easier to say that and it makes everything a lot easier, but for me it was just being patient. The thing I like to say is trust the process and just keep working, and I’ll get the results in the end.”

Amongst the highlights of Wharton’s season was the penultimate round in Barcelona, where he dominated both qualifying sessions and races.

His 6.567-second winning margin over Tuukka Taponen, his rival for second in the points, was the largest of any driver during the season. “Barcelona race one [was the] biggest win I’ve ever had in formulae and it just really showed me that I’m there to win,“ Wharton said. “[It] was the best race I’ve ever done from a pace point of view and I just felt super comfortable with the car. For me, that was the number one thing. Winning there last year in F4 just really showed that it’s my best track.”

Last year in Euro 4, Wharton’s strong form at the Barcelona season finale catapulted him from fourth to second in the points. This year in FR Europe, he achieved the same leap in positions from his Barcelona weekend but had one more round to fend off Taponen, who held second for much of the year.

With two further third-place finishes in Monza, Wharton successfully did so, beating not only Taponen of R-ace GP but also Williams-backed Alessandro Giusti of ART Grand Prix and McLaren-backed Brando Badoer of Van Amersfoort Racing.

The Australian ended the season with 236 points and a 73-point gap to Câmara, down from 122 before the first race at Imola. In the final four rounds, no driver besides Wharton scored 100 or more points.

“Coming back from the summer break, [I’ve] just been trying to score as many points as possible,” Wharton said. “I knew the top three was definitely possible. I knew the win was very far to do – of course possible, but Rafa is not going to make that many mistakes. So that was obviously going to be very difficult.”

In early July, the week before taking his maiden FR win, Wharton sampled an even faster car. He took the place of Martinius Stenshorne at Hitech for F3’s Silverstone round, where he had previously raced as part of a GB3 cameo in April.

“Coming from F4 to Regional is already a big step, and you feel a lot faster and a lot more grip,” he said. “But then… the step from Regional to F3, for me, felt even bigger.

“Considering I did Silverstone a couple of months ago, it wasn’t a huge surprise for me, but the car was just better in all parts of the way to drive and so much faster in the straight, which is super cool as a driver. We always want to go faster, and that’s why we do our sport, for the adrenaline rush. When you’re going really fast in the straight, getting to 280, 290 kilometres an hour is crazy.”

Those appearances were done with a view to progressing to F3 full-time in 2025. Last month, Wharton was confirmed to be lining up at ART Grand Prix alongside Taponen and returning driver Laurens van Hoepen, thus leaving the Prema single-seater fold after three years.

“ART have been really strong this season in F3 with Christian Mansell, a fellow Aussie,” Wharton said. “I spoke to him about the team and he was really confident in how the team is working.

“For me, it was a really good decision to go to ART just to kick-start F3. Being in a team like that, I know they’ve won the championship before, same as Prema. And Prema has been amazing for the last three seasons, but I think at this time it was good for me to move to ART.”

While he already joined ART for F3’s post-season tests at Jerez and Barcelona, he will race with the French team’s colours for the first time this weekend at the 71st Macau Grand Prix, the inaugural edition of the event run to FR specifications.

“The expectation now is just to start from day one in Barcelona pre-season testing,” he continued. “Of course it’s hard to sit here and say what will happen for next year, but for me I’m just super excited to get in the car. And as a rookie, it’s probably really good that it’s a new car. It gives me a little bit of a benefit than the people that are in their third season.”

The 2025 F3 season kicks off at Albert Park in Melbourne next year, a half-hour drive from where Wharton grew up. Countryman Mansell played a pivotal supporting role in this year’s F3 title battle, but next year, Wharton hopes to steal the spotlight with his own performances.

“Of course, as a driver, I want to win the championship in the first year, which I think is possible if I have the car. But first of all, we have to see how the car will be, and then we work out where I’ll be in the championship.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency