After rebranding from F4 UAE to F4 Middle East ahead of the 2025 season, the longest-running F4-level winter series evolves yet again going into its 10th edition in 2026. Feeder Series tells you all you need to know about the 2026 UAE4 Series season.

By Calla Kra-Caskey

UAE4 no longer has FIA certification and therefore cannot use the F4 moniker. Certification has instead been given to its autumnal counterpart formerly known as Formula Trophy, which will now be known as F4 UAE. Nevertheless, UAE4’s regulations and structure remain similar to last year’s F4 Middle East. 

Last year, R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri won the title ahead of teammate Alex Powell and Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited’s Kean Nakamura-Berta. All three have graduated from the series and F4-level racing as a whole. 

The calendar

Now a Trophy series, UAE4 has shrunk to four rounds from last year’s five – with 12 races instead of 15. The series has eliminated the third Abu Dhabi round but will continue to race at the same circuits as in 2025. 

Also like the 2025 season, this season features a mid-week round, with the races at the Lusail International Circuit taking place on Thursday and Friday rather than Saturday and Sunday. 

UAE4 will race alongside the FRegional Middle East Trophy in all four rounds. The third round at the Dubai Autodrome will also support the Asian Le Mans Series’ 4 Hours of Dubai. 

• Round 1: Yas Marina Circuit (16–18 January)
• Round 2: Yas Marina Circuit (23–25 January)
• Round 3: Dubai Autodrome (30 January–1 February)
• Round 4: Lusail International Circuit (11–13 February)

The format

Each weekend begins with two collective test sessions, followed by a 30- to 60-minute practice session the next day. Two 15-minute qualifying sessions set the grids for races one and three, while the grid for the second race will be determined by reversing the top 12 finishers from the first race. 

UAE4 has reverted to its old points system, with points awarded to the top 10 finishers in F1 style, going from 25 points for first to one point for tenth. There will be no points awarded for pole or fastest lap. 

Drivers who have competed in no more than three single-seater race events are eligible for the Rookie Cup. The Rookie Cup standings are calculated separately from the driver standings but in the same manner, with the top rookie getting 25 points and the 10th rookie getting a single point.

Each week, each team will nominate two drivers whose points will count towards the teams’ championship. Points scored by non-nominated drivers will not count. 

The series will also maintain its behaviour warning points (BWP) system from last year, in which drivers collect warning points from penalties. Accumulating six, 10 and 14 points will result in various grid penalties. 

Where to watch

As in previous years, races and certain qualifying sessions will be streamed on the series’ YouTube, and live timing can be found on RaceResults. Sessions will also be shown with German commentary on Motorsport Television Deutschland and with Italian commentary on Parc Fermé TV.

Teams and drivers 

A whopping 38 drivers split across 12 teams will compete in the opening weekend of UAE4, with more drivers already announced for later rounds. 

All nine of last year’s teams have returned to the grid. They’re joined by Hitech and X-GP, both returning after last participating in the series in 2024. Also joining the grid are Trident, making their first appearance in F4-level competition.

The Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited squad have run the show in recent years, but they were usurped by R-ace GP in 2025. The two teams are nearly certain to fight at the front, but the spread of talent across this year’s field means others could easily fight for the title too, with no real favourite for the drivers’ title either. 

R-ace GP

Reigning champions R-ace GP controlled the title with impressive performances from Olivieri and Powell, the two drivers they nominated to score points for the teams’ title. The pair took 11 wins and 11 further podiums between them, helping the French outfit win the teams’ championship by 117 points. The 2026 squad will attempt to claim back-to-back titles in both championships with an experience-heavy lineup. 

Kenzo Craigie (#29) is one of the most recognisable names coming out of karting, and the Mercedes junior will finally make his long-awaited single-seater debut. The British driver has won multiple karting titles, including the 2025 Champions of the Future Euro Series in the OK category and the 2024 FIA Karting World Championship at the junior level. At 15 years and three months old, Craigie is one of the youngest drivers in the field. 

Joining him is fellow Mercedes junior Andy Consani (#30). The 15-year-old Frenchman has a year of single-seater experience under his belt. Last year, he took pole position and a podium on his French F4 debut on his way to 13th in the standings despite missing the last two rounds. Those absences were due to his pivot to the final two rounds each of Italian F4 and E4, in which he respectively finished 32nd with a best result of 11th and 18th with a best result of 9th. 

Elia Weiss (#32), 16, will aim to improve on a disappointing first year in single-seaters. In 2025, he finished 28th in a partial Formula Winter Series campaign and 35th in Italian F4, failing to score points in either series. The German participated in the E4 Championship, scoring his first F4 points when he switched from Cram Motorsport to Jenzer Motorsport before the final round. Weiss also has ties to Porsche, participating in the Formula E rookie test as the youngest-ever driver to appear in a series-sanctioned test.

Stepping up from karting, Tamás Gender (#33) will make his single-seater debut. Last year, the Hungarian finished 32nd in the WSK Super Master Series in the OK class. The 15-year-old has also spent the latter part of 2025 testing F4 machinery with R-ace. 

Emily Cotty (#42) is R-ace GP’s sole driver returning to the championship. In F4 Middle East last year, she scored three points on her way to finish 21st in the championship. The 16-year-old Briton continued with R-ace for her Italian F4 and E4 campaigns, in which she finished 31st and 28th respectively. She took a best result of 11th in the Italian F4 round at Barcelona.

Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited

A Middle East powerhouse, the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited will attempt to reclaim the titles they held in 2023 and 2024. Their 2026 line-up is one of the more experienced in the field, and just last month they won the Formula Trophy series around the same circuits. 

Already a champion in the Middle East, Alp Aksoy (#10) will attempt to keep up his Formula Trophy–winning momentum in UAE4. The 15-year-old from Türkiye took the title by 27 points with two victories, an impressive start to his single-seater career. Already signed to Prema for Italian F4 and E4 in the coming year, Aksoy can use the UAE4 Series to hone his open-wheel skills – and, evidently, fight for the title. 

Joining the Mumbai Falcons line-up is Formula Trophy runner-up Niccolò Maccagnani (#19). Like Aksoy, Maccagnani should be capable of fighting at the front, having already gained experience around the Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina Circuit. Prior to that, the Italian driver took three podiums and three wins in the final two rounds of F4 SEA, proving himself on his single-seater debut. He then participated in the final rounds of Italian F4, with a best result of 15th, and E4, with a best finish of sixth. The 15-year-old is a new member of the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy, and he will continue with Prema in Italian F4 and E4 this coming year. 

Oleksandr Bondarev (#27) enters the UAE4 season with a chance at the title as he prepares for his second full year of F4 competition. Last year, the Williams junior finished 12th in F4 Middle East, 10th in Italian F4 and ninth in E4, all with Prema. In December, the 16-year-old Ukrainian took victory in both of the Formula Trophy races he contested, a good sign for the month ahead. 

Kingsley Zheng (#69), 15, will make his single-seater debut after testing with Prema late last year. The Chinese driver last competed in the junior class of the 2024 FIA Karting World Championship, being classified 70th after not qualifying for the final. 

Prema Racing

Prema are typically below the satellite Mumbai Falcons entry in the standings, but in 2025 the main team fell even further behind, from second to fifth. This year, they’ll try to rectify that with a pair of experienced F4 drivers – plus a top karting prospect. 

Newly McLaren-backed Christian Costoya (#1) will make his long-awaited single-seater debut around the turns of Yas Marina Circuit. The Spaniard had a sterling 2025 karting season, winning the FIA Karting European Championship and the WSK Euro Series in the senior category. The 15-year-old was runner-up in the WSK Super Master Series and third in the COTF Euro Series, and he will be one to watch as he adjusts to single-seaters. 

Payton Westcott (#98) will kick off her sophomore year of F4 with a UAE4 entry after taking her first single-seater victory in Formula Trophy late last year. Before achieving her 10th-place overall result from participating in two rounds of the championship, the 16-year-old American competed in FWS, Italian F4 and E4, although she failed to score points in any of the three series. Her single-round appearance in Saudi Arabian F4 brought her eighth- and 11th-place finishes. She was also an F1 Academy wild card in Las Vegas and is expected to compete for Prema in the all-female F1-supported series in 2026. 

David Cosma Cristofor (#99) returns for his second UAE4 season, switching to Prema from Akcel GP by PHM Racing, with whom he competed last year. He finished F4 Middle East 2025 in 17th with six points. In his main Italian F4 campaign, the Romanian driver took 26th, finishing in the points just three times – but also taking two pole positions. The 16-year-old concluded the year with fifth place in Formula Trophy.

PHM Racing

Since last year, PHM Racing have dropped their partnership with Akcel GP, entering the championship on their own for 2026. They will continue to run three cars with a mix of karting and F4 talent, aiming to improve upon their third-place finish last year. 

Emma Felbermayr (#4), who raced with Sauber backing in F1 Academy last year, will join PHM Racing to start her second year in single-seaters. In 2025, the 18-year-old Austrian drove for Rodin Motorsport in three series: F1 Academy, in which she finished 10th with a victory; Spanish F4, in which she took a best result of 13th; and Spanish F4’s winter series, in which her best result was also 13th. 

Iacopo Martinese (#46) will step up to single-seaters with PHM after concluding a successful karting career. In senior karting in 2025, the 15-year-old Italian driver finished in the top 10 of both the WSK Super Master Series and the COTF Euro Series as well as taking 11th in the FIA Karting World Championship. Martinese is a WSK Euro Series champion in both the Junior and Mini categories. 

Rounding out PHM’s lineup is Platon Kostin (#97). The 17-year-old Russian driver participated in the 2025 SMP F4 Championship, in which he finished sixth with two podiums – on top of being disqualified from a win. He’s currently third in the winter series with one round remaining, having taken a victory in the opening round at Sochi. His UAE4 campaign marks his circuit racing debut outside of his home country. 

Yas Heat Racing Academy

The UAE-based Yas Heat Racing Academy are participating in their fourth year of UAE4 – across iterations – while expanding their lineup from two to four cars, running the same four drivers as they did in the 2025 Formula Trophy. 

Adam Al Azhari (#12) returns for his second campaign in the series as he begins his third year in single-seaters. The Emirati driver finished 10th in F4 Middle East last year, taking a best result of fifth after being disqualified from his sole victory. He finished sixth with three wins in his British F4 campaign and second with two wins in Saudi Arabian F4, missing out on his chance to take the title by skipping the last round. Instead, the 16-year-old competed in Formula Trophy, finishing sixth with two podiums. 

Zakaria Doleh (#17) stepped up from karting for Formula Trophy in November, finishing 32nd with a best result of 19th. The 16-year-old Emirati also competed in several senior karting series in 2025, finishing 92nd in the FIA Karting European Championship, 74th in the WSK Super Master Series and 73rd in the COTF Euro Series. 

Italian-born Edoardo Iacobucci (#26) also made his single-seater debut in Formula Trophy last year, finishing 31st with a best result of 19th. He has little international karting experience to speak of but has rather been testing F4 machinery the past few years. 

Rounding out the team is Charbel Abi Gebrayel (#55). The Lebanese-Emirati driver finished 27th in Formula Trophy last year with a best result of 16th. He too has no international karting experience, though he competed in the IAME Series UAE previously. 

Evans GP

Australian entry Evans GP return for their second year in the championship, having also competed in Formula Trophy twice. 

New Ferrari junior Alba Larsen (#14) joins Evans GP for the first three rounds of UAE4. The 17-year-old Dane started 2025 with an FWS campaign, finishing 32nd. She followed that with a dual campaign in which she finished seventh in F1 Academy – with Evans GP founder Josh Evans as her engineer – and 23rd in British F4, partaking in seven of 10 rounds of the latter for the Challenge Cup. After driving in UAE4, she’ll repeat the dual campaign, aiming to score more points in mixed-gender single-seaters.

Ben Anh Nguyễn (#22) will enter the first and fourth rounds for Evans GP. The Vietnamese driver, 17, made his single-seater debut in F4 South East Asia in 2025, finishing seventh with a podium in the opening round. He also drove in one round of Formula Trophy for Evans GP, finishing the races in 20th and 16th. 

Rafael Vaessen (#68) also continues with Evans GP from Formula Trophy, in which he finished 24th with a best result of 11th across the two rounds he contested. The 21-year-old Singaporean previously drove for Evans GP in the final round of F4 South East Asia, finishing seventh, sixth and fifth in the three races. Vaessen will skip the first two rounds of UAE4 as he recovers from a knee fracture sustained in the IAME Asia Final karting event in Macau last month. 

Thomas Ingram Hill (#88) rounds out the Evans GP lineup. The 16-year-old British driver finished sixth with two podiums in GB4 last year and took a best result of 11th across the four British F4 rounds in which he appeared. After UAE4, he’ll drive in a second season of GB4. 

Xcel Motorsport

Another series regular, UAE-based Xcel Motorsport finished seventh last year. In 2026, they will expand their line-up from three to four drivers – all relative newcomers to single-seaters.

Joseph Smith (#15) started 2025 in the Ginetta Junior Championship before making his single-seater debut in the final four rounds of British F4 last year, taking a best result of sixth at Silverstone. The 16-year-old will use UAE4 to get some track time in before returning to British F4, this time for a full season. 

Smith shares a similar path with Jarrett Clark (#54), who will be his British F4 teammate at Virtuosi next year. The 15-year-old British-Australian also competed in Ginetta Junior Championship last year, taking his first victory in the winter series this past November. He made his single-seater debut in the second round of Formula Trophy, finishing fifth and 12th in the two races in which he competed. 

Brock Burton (#23) previously raced in the AU4 Championship, finishing sixth in the Gen2 standings and closing out 2025 with his first single-seater victory. Previously, he karted in his native Australia at the national level. 

Emirati-licenced Kuwaiti racer Jaber Al Sabah (#83) is a longtime Xcel driver, having karted and made his single-seater debut with the team. The 16-year-old’s first F4 race came at the non-championship British F4 round supporting the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where he finished 22nd in both races for Xcel. He continued with the squad for the opening two rounds of Formula Trophy, finishing 17th with a best result of sixth. 

X-GP

Xcel are also partnering with satellite squad X-GP, who last competed in the series in 2024. For the first round, they’ll field a single driver, Lucas Pasquinetti (#77). After graduating from karting, the Swiss driver participated in the second round of 2025’s Formula Trophy, finishing 20th and 25th. 

Pinnacle Motorsport

Returning for their fifth season in the series, Pinnacle Motorsport will aim to improve upon the six points they scored last year. The Irish unit will start off fielding four cars – more than their highest per-round total of three last year – with five drivers already set to drive for them this season. 

Leading the team is two-year F4 veteran Rowan Campbell-Pilling (#24), one of the most experienced drivers in the field. The British driver finished 10th in British F4 in both 2024 and 2025. In Formula Trophy last month, the 19-year-old Briton finished third with a win and two further podiums. 

Eighteen-year-old Ryusho Nakazato (#34) will join Pinnacle for UAE4. He spent 2025 competing in his home country in the Japanese F4 Championship, finishing 27th overall with a best result of 14th. 

Vladimir Verkholantsev (#74) will race single-seaters outside his home country of Russia for the first time in the first, third and fourth rounds of UAE4. In 2025, the 18-year-old came fourth in SMP F4 with one victory and five further podiums. He currently leads the SMP F4 winter series with one round remaining. 

American Kaylee Countryman (#90) is set to compete in the first three rounds of UAE4. She contested the last two rounds of Formula Trophy with Pinnacle, ultimately finishing 29th, after tearing a tendon in her ankle ahead of the first round. The 16-year-old finished 16th in her main campaign in USF Juniors last year. She will make the step up to USF2000 for a dual campaign with F1 Academy in 2026 – driving for ART Grand Prix and supported by Haas in the latter series. 

Fifteen-year-old Chinese driver Sun Anzhe will make his single-seater debut in UAE4, driving only in the second and fourth rounds. In 2025, he drove in senior international karting, finishing 86th in the FIA European Championship, 88th in the COTF Euro Series, 55th in the WSK Super Master Series and 30th in the WSK Euro Series. After UAE4, he’ll head to British F4 for his main campaign with Argenti Motorsport.

Hitech

Hitech participated in F4 UAE from 2022 to 2024 but skipped F4 Middle East last year to race in FWS. They return to the renamed series with a pair of 15-year-old drivers they supported in Formula Trophy while also running the two Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation–backed entries. 

Emirati driver Theo Palmer (#7) has a year of experience in cars behind him. He was 18th in British F4 last year, missing the first round because he was below the age minimum. Later in the year, he placed eighth in Saudi Arabian F4 – despite racing in only two of five rounds – and fourth in Formula Trophy with a victory. 

Red Bull junior Scott Kin Lindblom (#8) is newer to single-seaters, having made his debut in Saudi Arabian F4 after wrapping up his Ginetta Junior season in fourth. The Swede took a win and four podiums on his way to third in his first open-wheel championship. He obtained that placement despite skipping the final round for Formula Trophy, in which he placed ninth with two podiums. 

QMMF by Hitech

The newly Hitech-backed QMMF team return to the series for the second year running and will attempt to score more than the six points they took in 2025. 

Bader Al Sulaiti (#5) returns for his second season in the championship after placing 23rd with a best result of 12th last year. Since then, the 18-year-old Qatari placed 29th in the Italian F4 Championship, taking a best finish of 11th – twice – in Monza. 

Al Sulaiti is joined by Nasser Al Thani (#6), who will make his F4 debut after spending 2025 testing single-seaters. The 16-year-old is a member of the extended family of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani dynasty.

Trident Motorsport

The other new entry for 2026 is Trident Motorsport, who bring a three-car entry to UAE4. This championship marks the perennial F3 frontrunner’s first foray into F4-level motorsport in team history, and they will do so with two drivers who will later race for them in Italian F4. 

Bernardo Bernoldi (#11), son of former F1 driver Enrique Bernoldi, spent most of 2025 in senior karting, placing 67th in the FIA European Karting Championship, 36th in the WSK Super Master Series and 82nd in the COTF Euro Series. The 16-year-old Brazilian tested F4 machinery late in the year with Prema before making his single-seater debut in Formula Trophy, placing 23rd with a best result of 11th. He will reunite with Prema and race in Italian F4 and E4 later in 2026. 

Florentin Hattemer (#50) will begin his first full year in single-seaters with Trident. A serious karting accident in late 2024 kept the Swiss driver away from the track for the early part of 2025, but he made his single-seater debut with Jenzer Motorsport in F4 CEZ’s final round at Brno, finishing all three races in the top 12. He then took a best result of 18th when he appeared in the Italian F4 finale, likewise with Jenzer. The 15-year-old will continue his racing career with Trident in Italian F4. 

Rounding out the grid, 16-year-old Dominik Šimek (#67) will step up from karts to cars. In 2025, the Czech driver competed at the KZ2 level, placing 15th in the FIA Karting European Championship, 26th in the COTF Euro Series and 27th in the WSK Super Master Series. After competing in UAE4, he’ll continue with Trident for his main campaign in Italian F4.

The grid at a glance 

Team	#	Driver
Prema Racing	1	Christian Costoya (R)
	98	Payton Westcott
	99	David Cosma Cristofor
PHM Racing	4	Emma Felbermayr
	46	Iacopo Martinese (R)
	97	Platon Kostin
QMMF by Hitech	5	Bader Al Sulaiti
	6	Nasser Al Thani (R)
Hitech	7	Theo Palmer
	8	Scott Kin Lindblom
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	10	Alp Aksoy (R)
	19	Niccolò Maccagnani
	27	Oleksandr Bondarev
	69	Kingsley Zheng (R)
Trident Motorsport	11	Bernardo Bernoldi (R)
	50	Florentin Hattemer (R)
	67	Dominik Šimek (R)
Yas Heat Racing Academy	12	Adam Al Azhari
	17	Zakaria Doleh (R)
	26	Edoardo Iacobucci (R)
	55	Charbel Abi Gebrayel (R)
Evans GP	14	Alba Larsen
	22	Ben Anh Nguyễn (rounds 1, 4)
	68	Rafael Vaessen (rounds 3–4)
	88	Thomas Ingram Hill
Xcel Motorsport	15	Joseph Smith
	23	Brock Burton (R)
	54	Jarrett Clark (R)
	83	Jaber Al Sabah (R)
Pinnacle Motorsport	24	Rowan Campbell-Pilling
	34	Ryusho Nakazato
	74	Vladimir Verkholantsev
	90	Kaylee Countryman (R)
	TBA	Sun Anzhe
R-ace GP	29	Kenzo Craigie (R)
	30	Andy Consani
	32	Elia Weiss
	33	Tamás Gender (R)
	42	Emily Cotty
X-GP	77	Lucas Pasquinetti (R)

Header photo credit: UAE4 Series