Gedlich Racing’s Formula Winter Series comes into its fourth season with a new circuit, a record calendar and 33 drivers confirmed so far. Feeder Series tells you all you need to know about the 2026 FWS season.

By Grayson Wallace

FWS has been in operation since 2023, organised and run by Gedlich Racing since the beginning. The championship originally ran only in Spain, but it has since expanded into Portugal, where another round has been added for this season.

After a turbulent 2024 season that featured a short-lived collaboration between Gedlich and Spanish F4’s organisers, the 2025 season marked the return of many of the series’ traditional teams as well as a number of entries from British and Italian F4. Brazil’s Gabriel Gomez concluded last year’s season as champion and went on to finish second in both Italian F4 and E4 with US Racing. 

As for rule changes, drivers who are disqualified from a race will now have 10 points deducted from their total in the drivers’ standings in addition to losing any points they obtained in the race. Had this been in play last year, Maxim Rehm – who was disqualified from all three races of the opening round at Portimão – would have fallen from fifth to eighth in the standings.

The calendar 

The championship will have five rounds this year, the most it has ever held in a single season. In addition to the four returning venues from previous years, the opening round will take place at the Circuito do Estoril in Portugal for the first time.

FWS will race alongside the GT Winter Series, the GT4 Winter Series, the Prototype Winter Series and the new Sports Prototypes Winter Series on the Gedlich Racing Winter Series package. 

• Round 1: Circuito do Estoril (22–25 January)
• Round 2: Algarve International Circuit (5–8 February)
• Round 3: Circuit Ricardo Tormo (12–15 February)
• Round 4: MotorLand Aragón (5–8 March)
• Round 5: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (12–15 March) 

The format

Thursday and Friday are allocated as testing days. Two qualifying sessions will take place each weekend, the first being on Saturday morning and the second on either Saturday or Sunday. Both sessions last 15 minutes. Except for Portimão, where race two is on Saturday, the first of three races will be held Saturday afternoon, whilst the other two will be held on Sunday. All races will run for 30 minutes plus one extra lap.

The rookie championship will also be reshuffled for this season, with separate standings alongside the overall drivers’ standings. Points for both championships will follow the F1 points format of 25 for first place down to one to 10th. The two best-classified drivers in each race will earn points for the teams’ championship. Drivers who only compete in the last round of the season are ineligible to score points.

In addition to points collected in races, two championship points will be awarded for pole position in each qualifying session. There will also be one point for the fastest lap set in each race. 

Where to watch 

Races are free to watch with English commentary on the Winter Series Youtube channel, where you can also catch the other series racing as part of the same package.

Live timing is available at RaceResults.

Teams and drivers 

Both Hitech and Maffi Racing have taken their leave, with Hitech returning to Formula Trophy and UAE4 in the Middle East after a one-year hiatus. Igor Polak was confirmed to have a seat with Maffi in preparation for an F4 CEZ campaign with them, though the Swiss-Ethiopian team will not be racing this season in FWS.

To replace them, Rodin Motorsport and Mathilda Racing have joined the grid to bring it to a total of 10 teams.

US Racing

Winners of the teams’ championship last year, US Racing will enter their fourth season having never finished lower than third in FWS. The German team founded by Ralf Schumacher and Gerhard Ungar will field six cars in the series, with five of their drivers having tested extensively with the team at the end of 2025. All US Racing entrants aside from Roman Kamyab will also take part in the Italian F4 and E4 championships this year.

The only driver not regularly featured in US Racing’s testing line-ups was 15-year-old Roman Kamyab (#7), who joins the team for 2026 in FWS. The Briton competed in senior karting in 2025, with his best results being 13th in the FIA Karting European Championship and 15th in the WSK Super Master Series, both in the OK class, and tested with Trident in an F4 car at Vallelunga last November. FWS will be his single-seater debut. 

AU4 champion Noah Killion (#13) will take the second US Racing seat in FWS this season. The 15-year-old Australian competed with AGI Sport in the Gen2 championship and snagged eight wins and one further podium before moving on to test his ability in Formula Trophy with the team. Moving to FWS with US Racing will mark the beginning of his European racing career.

Seventeen-year-old Oleksandr Savinkov (#17) will be joining the team for 2026 for what is set to be his third year in F4. His winter series last year was F4 Middle East, in which he finished 11th overall with 10 points finishes. The Italian-licenced driver then finished 27th in Italian F4 and 21st in E4 with R-ace GP last year, with his best result in both series being 10th place in Monza. The same year, he drove in British F4 with Virtuosi Racing, finishing 24th overall. 

Sicilian racer Ludovico Busso (#29), who finished sixth in the rookie standings in E4 last year, joins US Racing from minnows Viola Formula Racing, where he spent most of 2025. The 16-year-old took a best finish of 13th in Italian F4 and 12th in E4. He also drove in the final round of FWS last year, but he was not eligible to score points because he was a guest driver. 

Ary Bansal (#46), champion of GB4 last year with Elite Motorsport, will join FWS with US Racing. He amassed four wins and a total of 11 podiums in the championship. The Indian driver also competed in Italian F4, the F4 World Cup at Macau, Saudi Arabian F4, E4 and British F4 last year. Bansal won one race in each of British F4 and Saudi Arabian F4, taking home the Challenge Cup for part-time entrants in the former. He has been a frequent tester with US Racing since February 2025 and raced in Italian F4 and E4 with the team late last year, so the 16-year-old will feel right at home as he gears up for a full year in the series.

Also a competitor in the 2025 GB4 season, Arjen Kräling (#62) brings the US Racing grid to a close with his ingress. The German, too young to compete in single-seaters until his 15th birthday last July, finished with a podium in the one GB4 round he competed in. He also secured 26th in British F4 that same year.

Jenzer Motorsport

Last season was the most successful to date for Jenzer Motorsport, who have consistently taken part in FWS since the series’ inaugural season in 2023. They not only finished third in the teams’ championship but also helped three of their four drivers finish in the top 10. 

Teodor Borenstein (#20) will be making his return to FWS after taking a 25th-place finish last year with Maffi Racing. The 16-year-old also drove with current team Jenzer in the 2024 F4 CEZ championship. He has since competed in F4 CEZ with Maffi Racing, ending the 2025 season in 11th. The Czech is only set to race for three rounds in Estoril, Valencia and Barcelona.

Levi Arn (#21) was the KZ2 Swiss champion in his home country last year aged 15 before going on to race in the FIA Karting World Cup’s KZ2 class, finishing 22nd. The 2026 FWS season will mark his debut in single-seaters, though he has been testing with Jenzer frequently.

Fellow Swiss driver Georgiy Zasov (#25) will make his single-seater debut this season. He has raced both internationally and in his national Swiss championships, placing first in the OK Senior category of the Swiss Karting Championship and taking a best international result of 13th in the WSK Euro Series’ OK-N class last year. The 15-year-old tested with Jenzer at Misano and Monza last year. 

Markas Šilkūnas (#26) has consistently proved himself to be one of the most promising Lithuanian karting talents of late. In the OK-N Senior class, the 17-year-old won the Champions of the Future Academy Program title in 2025 and, most recently, last weekend’s one-round COTF Academy Program showcase in Macau by just a single point over his younger sister, Vanesa Šilkūnaitė.

Van Amersfoort Racing

Having finished fourth in their maiden FWS season in 2025, Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing are back for more. They achieved two podiums during the season with Maximilian Popov and will bring a line-up of proven F4 talents to the grid in hopes of doing even better this year. 

Last year’s Ginetta Junior Championship victor Rocco Coronel (#2) is set to join his home racing team for 2026. With some experience in single-seaters from competing with MP Motorsport in the Spanish F4 championship last year, the 15-year-old Red Bull junior will hope to carry on his momentum from his podium finish in his sole prior single-seater round in November. Coronel will only compete in the first three rounds of FWS before returning to MP for a full Spanish F4 campaign later this year, with an entry in the Spanish championship’s winter series expected to follow his partial FWS campaign.

Polish racer Aleksander Ruta (#3) remains with VAR for the second year of his single-seater career. Last year, the 17-year-old raced for the team in Italian F4 and E4, finishing 23rd in the former and 13th in the latter, as well as the final round of FWS after competing with Cram in the first three rounds. In FWS last year, he secured a 21st-place finish in the driver standings with a best finish of 10th. Ruta will compete in Italian F4 and E4 this year.

Brazil’s Pedro Lima (#53) will compete not only in FWS but also in Italian F4 and E4. Last year, just after turning 15, he began his Brazilian F4 campaign, securing two wins and nine podiums en route to finishing third. As of 2025, he is the second-youngest driver after Pedro Clerot to win a race in the championship.

Thomas Bearman (#87) will complete VAR’s 2026 FWS line-up and will hit the track just weeks after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury while skiing. The 16-year-old Briton holds a connection to the team through older brother and current F1 driver Oliver Bearman, who won the Italian F4 and ADAC F4 titles with them in 2021. The younger Bearman competed in FWS last year with Hitech and finished eighth in the standings, occupying the same position in British F4 later in the year after taking his maiden victory at Oulton Park. He also competed in the 2025 FIA F4 World Cup on the streets of Macau, moving up a total of 11 places from his starting spot in the 19-car race. Bearman will continue with VAR later this year for Italian F4 and E4. 

AS Motorsport

Slovenian team AS Motorsport will be cutting their driver count down to two for their third season in the series. They have done an abundance of F4 testing in Italy since last season, including with their 2025 FWS driver, Mathilda Paatz.

Having driven with AKM Motorsport for the second half of the season last year, Ginevra Panzeri (#10) is back for more in FWS. The 17-year-old Italian also raced with the team in E4 last year, finishing 38th. 

Viktor Snebjørn Poulsen (#37) will be joining AS Motorsport for the 2026 season. The 15-year-old Danish racer was the sixth-place finisher in Nordic 4 in 2025 with one win. For 2026, he will join F4 CEZ with STEP Motorsport.

Renauer Motorsport

Austrian team Renauer Motorsport will continue in FWS for their second season in the series after finishing seventh in their debut campaign last year with single-car entrant Simon Schranz.

In their single entry for this year is 16-year-old Tomas Rudokas (#6), a newcomer to single-seaters but not to motorsport. The Lithuanian raced in Porsche Sprint Challenge Central Europe last year in GT3 and finished second in the BGT Pro class of the Baltic Touring Car Championship. He will also be joining F4 CEZ for 2026, backed by the FormelAustria Race Academy. 

Cram Motorsport

Having fielded two cars for four drivers in 2025, Cram will return with four cars this year. The team has continued testing regularly with current and former drivers.

Swiss competitor Samuel Ifrid (#28), 18, will join the team after an extensive testing programme in recent months. He placed second in the 2025 IAME X30 Challenge Switzerland.

Making his debut in single-seaters, fellow Helvetian Max Kammerlander (#66) will join Cram Motorsport for a full season of FWS. He finished in eighth place in the 2025 in the same championship as Ifrid.

American-Mexican driver Andre Rodriguez (#40) is set to join the grid for a full season of FWS. The 17-year-old had a guest appearance in Spanish F4 and finished 51st in Italian F4 and 35th in E4 last year with Cram. He will continue working with the team in 2026 in Italian F4 and E4 and will debut in Eurocup-3 with GRS Team. 

Oscar Repetto (#11) will join FWS for the Estoril, Valencia and Barcelona rounds of the 2026 season. The Italian 15-year-old finished 16th in WSK Euro Series last year and drove one round in both Italian F4 and E4 with Cram, placing 43rd and 39th respectively.

Alexandre Louza will be joining the team in Repetto’s place for rounds two and four at Portimão and Aragón. The Brazilian driver was runner-up in Fórmula Delta last year, and he will be looking to expand his single-seater CV in international championships. Louza also competed in the final two rounds of Brazilian F4 after turning 15, taking a best result of eighth.

Campos Racing

Campos Racing are frontrunners in almost every series in which they compete, ranging from F2 to Spanish F4. Their FWS squad was the only one not to finish in the top four in the teams’ standings of their respective series, though none of their drivers completed the full season. 

F1 Academy driver Rafaela Ferreira (#70) will rejoin Campos in FWS once again. The 20-year-old Brazilian placed 24th last season before going on to finish 12th in F1 Academy with Campos and backing from the Racing Bulls F1 squad. She also competed in Brazilian F4 last year, winning a race at Interlagos on the F1 support bill, as well as in Spanish F4. Ferreira will continue in F1 Academy for 2026 and will not attend round three and five of FWS because of championship obligations.

One position ahead of Ferreira last season was Alisha Palmowski (#71), who returns for more this year. Off the back of a second-place finish in GB4 in 2024, the 19-year-old Briton finished the 2025 FWS season in 23rd. With the support of Red Bull Racing in F1 Academy in 2025, she finished in fifth with one win and five overall podiums. She will continue in F1 Academy this year alongside Ferreira and will also miss out on FWS competition for rounds three and five. 

Chiara Bättig (#89), the only Red Bull junior of the three Campos drivers, completes the team’s 2026 FWS line-up, the 15-year-old Swiss driver having finished her first single-seater campaign in F4 Saudi Arabia last year in 12th place. In the COTF Academy Program’s OK-N class the same year, she placed second overall, and she also finished 15th in the FIA Karting European Championship’s OK class. She will join Hitech in British F4 for 2026.

AKM Motorsport

Led by Marco Antonelli, father of F1 driver Kimi Antonelli, AKM Motorsport will join the grid for their fourth consecutive season in FWS. They have only announced their line-up for the first three rounds.

Fifteen-year-old Dutch-born driver Felipe Reijs (#44) drove in Formula Trophy at the end of last year and finished 21st in the standings. Before that, he competed in the Ginetta Junior Championship, finishing 20th. 

Vittorio Orsini (#88) comes into FWS as the winner of the 22nd edition of the Supercorso Federale ACI Sport training programme for karters making the jump to single-seaters. The Italian 15-year-old has been testing frequently with AKM since March 2025.

The seventh-place finisher in his home championship of F4 Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Kamel (#99) will join FWS for their 2026 seasons. Kamel competed in E4 last year and finished 27th in the standings, preceding that with a 26th-place finish in F4 Middle East with Xcel Motorsport over the winter.

Rodin Motorsport

Rodin Motorsport joins Campos and VAR as the third team with involvement in F2 and F3, though they do so as returnees to the championship after last racing in it in 2024. The team have a lot to prove with their promising line-up of drivers, who have each tested extensively with the team in recent months as they all prepare for British F4 in the spring. 

McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck (#15) will be joining Rodin in FWS and British F4 for 2026. A highly decorated kart racer, the 15-year-old finished first in the WSK Super Master Series’ OK class last year. He completed British F4 with a 21st place finish, joining for the last three rounds of the season and taking a pole and a win in his debut weekend. The Belgian also finished eighth in the FIA Karting European Championship.

The 13th-place finisher in 2025’s Ginetta Junior Championship, South African Ethan Lennon (#32) will join Rodin in FWS and British F4 this year. Lennon, who turned 15 today, is the youngest driver in the field. 

Finishing fifth in the 2025 Ginetta Junior standings, eight places above Lennon, was Alfie Slater (#77), who will round out the Rodin Motorsport line-up this season. The 15-year-old Briton, who is the younger brother of 2026 F3 driver Freddie Slater, took three wins and five further podiums in his Ginetta Junior campaign last year. 

Mathilda Racing

Owned by the father of one of their drivers this season, Mathilda Racing will be making their FWS debut at Estoril. The team have also competed in endurance series for more than 15 years and most recently raced in several F4 championships.

The team’s namesake is none other than Mathilda Paatz (#18) who will join the grid for 2026 ahead of her Aston Martin–backed F1 Academy campaign. The 17-year-old German drove for AS Motorsport last season in FWS and finished 31st. She ran partial campaigns in Italian F4 and E4 and joined Hitech in F1 Academy last year as a wild card entry for the Montreal round. She is also set to race for F4 CEZ once again after finishing seventh last season, which is, as of now, her best overall result in a single-seater championship. 

Paatz will miss the third and fifth rounds of the season because of her F1 Academy commitments. In her place will come a driver hailing from the same country where she made her F1 Academy debut. Canada’s Alexander Chartier will compete in rounds three and five of FWS. The 15-year-old tested F4 machinery for PHM Racing late last year after having competed in the OK class of the FIA Karting European Championship, finishing 35th.

The grid at a glance

Team	#	Driver
US Racing	7	Roman Kamyab
	13	Noah Killion
	17	Oleksandr Savinkov
	29	Ludovico Busso
	46	Ary Bansal
	62	Arjen Kräling
Jenzer Motorsport	20	Teodor Borenstein
	21	Levi Arn
	25	Georgiy Zasov
	26	Markas Šilkūnas
Van Amersfoort Racing	2	Rocco Coronel
	3	Aleksander Ruta
	53	Pedro Lima
	87	Thomas Bearman
AS Motorsport	10	Ginevra Panzeri
	37	Viktor Snebjørn Poulsen
Renauer Motorsport	6	Tomas Rudokas
Cram Motorsport	11	Oscar Repetto
	28	Samuel Ifrid
	40	Andre Rodriguez
	66	Max Kammerlander
	TBA	Alexandre Louza
Campos Racing	70	Rafaela Ferreira
	71	Alisha Palmowski
	89	Chiara Bättig
AKM Motorsport	44	Felipe Reijs
	88	Vittorio Orsini
	99	Abdullah Kamel
Rodin Motorsport	15	Dries Van Langendonck
	32	Ethan Lennon
	77	Alfie Slater
Mathilda Racing	18	Mathilda Paatz
	TBA	Alexander Chartier

Header photo credit: Gedlich Racing