Wet weather was the story of the weekend on all three continents where junior single-seater racing took place Saturday and Sunday. Feeder Series reviews the action from Formula Regional Oceania, FR Middle East, UAE4 and the Formula Winter Series.

By Feeder Series

If you thought winter meant snow and bitter cold in the Northern Hemisphere and sun in the Southern Hemisphere, you’d be wrong – if we look at the circuits that F1’s aspirants visited this weekend, at least. From Estoril to Yas Marina to Teretonga, the predominant weather condition was instead rain, which on several occasions was so heavy that the track action had to be neutralised or suspended.

The championship pictures stayed largely static, mind. Ugo Ugochukwu remains at the helm of the FR Oceania standings, while FR Middle East’s Rashid Al Dhaheri and UAE4’s Oleksandr Bondarev extended their respective points leads. But there were other notable performances that emerged from the clouds, from the first ever single-seater win for an F1 host nation to the first majority-female podium in a mixed-gender formula series in nearly two years.

There were even damp conditions in the championships Feeder Series don’t cover in detail. MRF F2000 and MRF F1600 held their final rounds of the 2025–26 package at the Madras International Circuit outside Chennai, India. Ishaan Madesh won all three races to take the crown in the former, with fellow Indian F4 racer Saishiva Sankaran winning in the latter.

SMP F4’s three-round winter series also concluded in Sochi at the Sirius Autodrom with wet weather affecting Saturday’s action. Four different drivers – Mikhail Yushenkov, Vladimir Verkholantsev, Timur Shagaliev and Egor Stepanov-Kim – emerged victorious in the four races, with Verkholantsev, who missed the UAE4 round as a result of the calendar clash, prevailing in the title race.

1. FRegional Oceania: Slater takes maiden victory in series as Ugochukwu maintains lead 
2. FRegional Middle East: Al Dhaheri takes two wins, retains championship lead
3. UAE4: Bondarev stretches lead over Consani with two 1-2 finishes
4. Formula Winter Series: Van Langendonck takes 

FRegional Oceania: Slater takes maiden victory in series as Ugochukwu maintains lead 

M2 Competition’s Freddie Slater finally took his first wins in FR Oceania at Teretonga Park, winning races one and four in a rain-affected weekend. Teammate Ugo Ugochukwu maintained his championship lead by winning race two, but Slater’s two victories have cut the American’s lead to 22 points as the season finale approaches. 

In the first qualifying session, which was affected by heavy rain and three red flags, Hitech’s Jin Nakamura was fastest with a time of 1:05.170, 0.187 seconds faster than M2’s Ernesto Rivera. Slater rounded out the top three of the session. However, because Nakamura crashed at Turn 1 with six minutes left and brought out the red flag, he was dropped back three grid places, promoting M2’s Rivera to pole. 

Saturday’s sole race took place under rainy conditions. Slater, starting second, got a good launch and challenged Rivera for the lead – until Rivera spun off into the gravel at Turn 1, triggering the first safety car period. When it ended on lap six, Slater led Nakamura and Kalle Rovanperä. On lap nine, Jack Taylor got past Cooper Shipman around the outside of Turn 1 for fifth. 

The second safety car period began on lap 15 when Zack Scoular, Yevan David and Trevor LaTourrette went off track in separate incidents. That safety car period ended with six laps to go, but another one for Nolan Allaer’s off on the penultimate lap neutralised the race before the flag. Slater took his first victory in the series, 1.088s ahead of second-placed Nakamura. Rovanperä completed the podium. 

“Obviously you’re very happy with the result, but it’s been a long time coming, if I’m being honest,” Slater told Feeder Series in the paddock after the race. “To get it in these conditions was very good fun as well – one of the best conditions to drive.” 

Two-time world rally champion Rovanperä, whose first series podium came only three rounds into his single-seater career, told Feeder Series that ‘conditions were on his side’.

“The quali and the race went well, and the race pace was okay, so [I’m] happy with the podium,” he said. 

The reverse-grid race scheduled for Saturday was postponed for Sunday because of intense rain, replacing race three in the timetable. The series is looking to reschedule to race three to Friday at Highlands next weekend, Feeder Series understands. 

Slater went fastest in Sunday’s qualifying session with a 1:01.881, narrowly taking pole for the feature race despite an incident with LaTourrette that ended his session early. Ugochukwu was second fastest, only 0.066s behind Slater, with Kanato Le in third. 

Ugochukwu, who had finished eighth in Saturday’s race, was awarded pole for the damp reverse-grid race, which began with an extra formation lap. Heading into Turn 1, Ugochukwu kept his lead from Ryan Wood as Taylor overtook Cooper Shipman for third. Behind them, Le and Slater made contact at Turn 6 battling for fifth, with both drivers spinning onto the grass. They were able to continue after receiving help from the marshals.

Green-flag conditions resumed on lap seven, with Ugochukwu nailing the restart and building a gap over Wood and Taylor. 

On lap 15, LaTourrette had another off to bring out the safety car again. Slater and Le pitted to change their tyres as they attempted to set the fastest lap to get a good grid position for the to-be-rescheduled race three. The safety car was withdrawn on lap 19 but brought out immediately as Nakamura went into the gravel at the final corner on the restart.

Ugochukwu nailed the restart on the final lap to take his third win of the season, with Wood finishing second. The safety car restarts were crucial for Ugochukwu to cruise to victory, much like when he won in Macau in 2024.

“It was just about trying to keep the tyres in temp, firstly from the last corner to get good traction, and then try to get the best kind of acceleration off the corner. One of them I went in a bit deep at the last corner, I thought I was going to miss it, but managed to keep the lead fine,” he told Feeder Series. 

Shipman overtook Taylor at the end of race three to finish third and take his first podium in the series.

“The track was drying pretty much from the start to the end, so I just had to really adapt to the conditions and just search out for the grip, but [I] really struggled in the early part when the track was more wet,” Shipman said. “As the race progressed, the car kind of came to us and I felt a little bit more comfortable. So when we were able to get that safety car towards the end, I was in a better position to attack Jack and end up on the podium.”

The American also defended strongly against Rovanperä during the race. “Kalle was doing a really good job on some of those restarts, putting me under pressure and making me defend,” Shipman said. “But I knew if I was on the preferred line that he wasn’t really going to have the grip anywhere else to make the overtake, so I was able to hold him off that way.”

Le could not start the feature race because of an engine issue, sacrificing third place. Front-row starters Ugochukwu and Slater were side by side entering Turn 1, but the Briton came out ahead. Behind them, Shipman and Rivera went off into the gravel separately, with Rivera’s beached car requiring a safety car deployment.

Racing resumed on lap seven, with Slater maintaining the lead and Ugochukwu close behind. Ugochukwu finally overtook Slater at the start of lap 16.

Conditions were worsening, however, and on lap 18, Sebastian Manson clattered the tyre wall at the exit of Turn 4. A safety car deployment was followed by a red flag, giving drivers the opportunity to change to wet tyres. On the first racing lap after the race’s resumption, leader Ugochukwu went off at the first corner, dropping to the back. That opened the door for Slater to take his second victory, with Louis Sharp finishing second after starting fifth and Nakamura completing the podium.

Ugochukwu heads into the finale with 237 points, with Slater only 22 points behind and Nakamura a further four behind Slater. 

Report by Kaylene Lau

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Jin Nakamura, 1:05.170	Ernesto Rivera, +0.187s	Freddie Slater, +0.843s
Race 1 (25 laps)	Freddie Slater, 35:30.113	Jin Nakamura, +1.088s	Kalle Rovanperä, +2.138s
Race 2 (24 laps)	Ugo Ugochukwu, 39:29.231	Ryan Wood, +1.698s	Cooper Shipman, +2.743s
Qualifying 2	Freddie Slater, 1:01.881	Ugo Ugochukwu, +0.066s	Kanato Le, +0.248s
Race 3	Postponed because of adverse weather conditions
Race 4 (29 laps)	Freddie Slater, 38:33.082	Louis Sharp, +5.129s	Jin Nakamura, +5.731s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Ugo Ugochukwu, 237	M2 Competition, 498	Ryan Wood, 202
P2	Freddie Slater, 215	Mtec Motorsport, 479	Kalle Rovanperä, 107
P3	Jin Nakamura, 211	Hitech, 451	Jack Taylor, 97
P4	Louis Sharp, 207	TJ Speed with HMD Motorsports, 200	Fionn McLaughlin, 96
P5	Ryan Wood, 202	Kiwi Motorsport, 195	Cooper Shipman, 88
P6	Kanato Le, 185	Giles Motorsport, 195	Cadi Baptista, 63
P7	Zack Scoular, 135		Trevor LaTourrette, 44
P8	Ernesto Rivera, 124
P9	Yuanpu Cui, 120
P10	James Wharton, 113

Read the previous round’s report here.

FRegional Middle East: Al Dhaheri takes two wins, retains championship lead

Yas Marina was once again a happy hunting ground for Rashid Al Dhaheri, who took two wins on the circuit’s Corkscrew layout in round two of the 2026 FRegional Middle East Trophy to increase his championship lead to 35 points.

Al Dhaheri finished second in both qualifying sessions. In qualifying one, reigning Italian F4 champion Kean Nakamura-Berta claimed his maiden pole at the FR level. Sebastian Wheldon did the same shortly after in the second qualifying, his 1:39.787 being the fastest time across the two sessions.

In race one, Al Dhaheri got the perfect launch to take the lead from Nakamura-Berta, while Alex Powell rose to third ahead of Wheldon. The opening race of the weekend was rather uneventful until a red flag halted proceedings on lap 12 with less than nine minutes to go. Alceu Feldmann Neto and Fu Yuhao had made contact at Turn 6, and the Brazilian driver found himself upside down and out of the race.

When green-flag racing resumed, Al Dhaheri had no trouble bringing the car home to score his second win of the season. Nakamura-Berta and Powell completed the podium, while Wheldon fell from fourth to seventh after earning a five-second penalty for track limits.

Things took an unexpected turn on Sunday. The rain made a surprise visit early in the morning prior to race two, forcing drivers to start behind the safety car in changing conditions. The green flag was waved six minutes later, and polesitter Alex Ninovic, who had opted for wet tyres, lost the lead to slick-tyre runner Jan Przyrowski, who then immediately built a two-second lead.

The pendulum quickly swung towards Ninovic, however, as the Rodin Motorsport driver caught the back of Przyrowski and overtook him on lap six. Maksimilian Popov was third, while Wheldon and Nakamura-Berta gave life to a great battle for fourth.

Just when the track was beginning to look drier, the race was neutralised with five minutes to go after Feldmann Neto crashed out of the race. Proceedings didn’t resume in time, and the safety car led Ninovic across the line to claim his and Rodin’s first win in the category ahead of Przyrowski and Popov. Ninovic’s Rodin teammate Reza Seewooruthun, who crashed on the final lap of race one, impressively rose from 31st to ninth.

After having finished fourth in race two, Wheldon started from pole in race three, though once again, Al Dhaheri got the better launch from second and took the race lead, with Nakamura-Berta following him through into second. Green-flag racing lasted less than a lap, however, as Popov stopped at the corkscrew with damage to his left-front suspension.

After a restart and a second safety car intervention four laps later to recover Dion Gowda’s damaged car, Al Dhaheri kept the lead all the way to the end, with Nakamura-Berta and Wheldon rounding out the podium.

Al Dhaheri’s total of three wins in the last four races mean he leads the way in the standings with 103 points. Nakamura-Berta is second, 35 points behind Al Dhaheri, with the Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited driver also taking the lead of the rookie standings from Popov thanks to his two class wins this weekend. R-ace GP heads the Mumbai Falcons squad in the teams’ points by 25.

Report by Daniele Spadi

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 1:39.822	Rashid Al Dhaheri, +0.168s	Sebastian Wheldon, +0.332s
Qualifying 2	Sebastian Wheldon, 1:39.787	Rashid Al Dhaheri, +0.024s	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +0.048s
Race 1 (17 laps)	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 31:19.022	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +1.609s	Alex Powell, +4.009s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Alex Ninovic, 32:17.205	Jan Przyrowski, +0.217s	Maksimilian Popov, +0.654s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 30:59.602	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +0.927s	Sebastian Wheldon, +1.582s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 103	R-ace GP, 126	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 95
P2	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 68	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, 101	Maksimilian Popov, 78
P3	Alex Powell, 49	MP Motorsport, 90	Alex Powell, 70
P4	Alex Ninovic, 46	ART Grand Prix, 52	Kabir Anurag, 65
P5	Alexander Abkhazava, 46	Trident, 50	Miguel Costa, 53
P6	Maksimilian Popov, 46	Pinnacle Motorsport, 49	Sebastian Wheldon, 48
P7	Christian Ho, 44	Rodin Motorsport, 48	Artem Severiukhin, 47
P8	Kabir Anurag, 38	RPM, 44	Jan Przyrowski, 45
P9	Sebastian Wheldon, 33	G4 Racing, 15	Salim Hanna, 26
P10	Miguel Costa, 26	Van Amersfoort Racing, 8	Andrea Dupé, 19

Read the previous round’s report here.

UAE4: Bondarev stretches lead over Consani with two 1-2 finishes

Oleksandr Bondarev continued his Yas Marina dominance and extended his UAE4 lead over Andy Consani with wins in both regular-grid races, ahead of Consani in second and Scott Kin Lindblom in third each time. 

Lindblom started the weekend on top, taking his first single-seater pole in qualifying one with Bondarev in second. The two swapped positions in qualifying two, with Bondarev just 0.007s ahead of Lindblom. Consani finished both sessions in third. 

From pole position, however, Lindblom got a slow start in race one, dropping to fourth behind Bondarev, Consani and Niccolò Maccagnani. Behind them, rookie Christian Costoya, starting seventh, also had a poor launch, with David Cosma Cristofor passing him at the start and Alp Aksoy taking eighth at the corkscrew. 

At the end of lap one, Thomas Ingram Hill made contact with Bernardo Bernoldi and Brock Burton, the retirements of the latter two prompting a safety car. When the race restarted on lap six, Lindblom was quick to reclaim his podium position, passing Maccagnani around the corkscrew for third. Kenzo Craigie then overtook Maccagnani at the final chicane, and as the Italian attempted to retake his position at the next braking zone, he locked up, allowing Adam Al Azhari into fifth. 

As newcomer Kasper Schormans battled with Rowan Campbell-Pilling for 10th, the pair collided, with Campbell-Pilling spinning at the end of lap 12. Schormans was penalised post-race, gifting Jarrett Clark the final point. A lap later, Lucas Pasquinetti ended up in the wall at Turn 14, triggering a safety car period that lasted until the race’s finish. 

On Sunday, a surprise shower led to a wet race two. Emily Cotty held her lead from pole position at the start as a battle between Bader Al Sulaiti and Clark helped Maccagnani sneak past Clark into third. Cotty then dropped behind Al Sulaiti – who would go on to become the first Qatari F4 winner – and Maccagnani at the corkscrew. 

That would be all of the green-flag action in the race. A collision with Thomas Ingram Hill left Dominik Šimek stranded at the W Hotel section, prompting a safety car on lap two. On lap three, the race was red-flagged because of the rain. When it restarted, several drivers spun as the field lapped behind the safety car, including Cotty, who dropped from third to ninth. This promoted Clark back into the podium positions.

The field completed five laps before the race was red-flagged a second time, and this time it wasn’t restarted. 

Race three started with a bang. While the drivers out front got away smoothly, Xcel Motorsport’s Joseph Smith stalled from 18th and was clipped by teammate Jaber Al Sabah, causing an immediate safety car. 

The race was relatively straightforward following the lap five restart. Craigie battled with Al Azhari for fourth until Cosma Cristofor sneaked past both at Turn 8 on lap seven. On lap nine, Consani made a daring move on the inside of Turn 9 to snatch second from Lindblom, setting up a podium identical to race one’s. On the penultimate lap, Aksoy attempted to take sixth from Al Azhari around the chicane but ran wide, allowing Schormans to overtake for seventh and his first championship points. 

With his double victory, Bondarev extended his lead to 17 points over Consani, whose two second-place finishes keep him in contention heading to Dubai. Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited and R-ace GP are level on points atop the teams’ standings.

Report by Calla Kra-Caskey

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Scott Lindblom, 1:46.192	Oleksandr Bondarev, +0.319s	Andy Consani, +0.454s
Qualifying 2	Oleksandr Bondarev, 1:46.139	Scott Lindblom, +0.007s	Andy Consani, +0.137s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Oleksandr Bondarev, 33:03.447	Andy Consani, +0.143s	Scott Kin Lindblom, +0.824s
Race 2 (5 laps)	Bader Al Sulaiti, 15:07.955	Niccolò Maccagnani, +0.746s	Jarrett Clark, +1.143s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Oleksandr Bondarev, 31:03.353	Andy Consani, +4.564s	Scott Kin Lindblom, +7.824s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Oleksandr Bondarev, 102	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, 138	Kenzo Craigie, 121
P2	Andy Consani, 85	R-ace GP, 138	Alp Aksoy, 88
P3	Kenzo Craigie, 53	Prema Racing, 73	Christian Costoya, 85
P4	Niccolò Maccagnani, 51	Hitech, 42	Iacopo Martinese, 65
P5	David Cosma Cristofor, 47	Yas Heat Racing, 31	Jarrett Clark, 58
P6	Scott Kin Lindblom, 40	QMMF by Hitech, 29	Kingsley Zheng, 42
P7	Alp Aksoy, 36	Pinnacle Motorsport, 24	Jaber Al Sabah, 33
P8	Emily Cotty, 32	Xcel Motorsport, 16	Florentin Hattemer, 32
P9	Adam Al Azhari, 31	PHM Racing, 6	Kasper Schormans, 30
P10	Bader Al Sulaiti, 29	Evans GP, 4	Dominik Šimek, 18

Read the previous round’s report here.

Formula Winter Series: Van Langendonck takes 

Dries Van Langendonck took an early lead in a turbulent, rain-hit opening round of the Formula Winter Series at Estoril, topping both qualifying sessions and taking two further podiums, including a win in race one.

Van Langendonck set a 1:58.349 in the first qualifying session and a 1:56.953 in the second, both held in wet weather. Alfie Slater qualified second and third respectively for races one and three.

Half the grid did not set a qualifying time within 107 per cent of the first qualifying session’s best time and were therefore placed at the back of the grid for race one. Further, only three of the 31 drivers set a second-fastest time that was valid for the race two grid, which was mostly set by collective test times. 

Race one was declared wet because of the rainfall and a damp track. Twenty-four of the 30 minutes were completed behind the safety car, but green-flag conditions lasted less than one lap. On a slippery surface, Aleksander Ruta and Ary Bansal both went off into Turn 2; Vittorio Orsini slid into the gravel, followed by Pedro Lima just seconds later; and Viktor Snebjørn Poulsen spun between Turns 3 and 4. With those incidents plus Ethan Lennon’s stoppage at the entrance to Turn 1, the first race of 2026 ended under safety car conditions. Van Langendonck took the victory, with Slater and Levi Arn following behind.

Taking the second-fastest times from qualifying one, Alisha Palmowski was on pole for race two. Van Langendonck, starting fifth, and Rocco Coronel, starting sixth, immediately battled to third and first respectively through the first two corners, Palmowski ultimately failing to keep her lead. Van Langendonck snagged second place on the back straight, keeping race leader Coronel in close reach.

An eager Thomas Bearman made a late-braking attempt to join the battle but slid wide on the wet paint at Turn 6. He managed to save it and slot into fifth, with Ruta’s late manoeuvre of his own on Palmowski at Turn 8 coming off successfully. On lap three, Arn went off into the gravel at Turn 3with a broken front wing, whilst Slater spun into turn nine just a lap later.

Ruta dropped to fifth on lap seven, allowing Bearman through to third just a lap before the safety car was deployed for Poulsen’s stranded car in the middle of Turn 9.

The safety car was withdrawn after just one full lap, but it returned four laps later after Abdullah Kamel ended up stranded in the gravel at Turn 3. There was a final racing lap, but the top three remained the same.

Race three brought the first weekend to a messy close. Poulsen, Savinkov, Ginevra Panzeri, Markas Šilkūnas and Noah Killion were involved in a multi-car incident at Turn 2, resulting in a safety car. 

When the race restarted 13 minutes later, drivers were split between wets and slicks. Bansal and Savinkov, running on fresh wets, had the advantage and swallowed up Van Langendonck, Lennon and Slater. Bansal’s lead wasn’t comfortable for long, though, as he soon had Savinkov and Chiara Bättig, who started from pit lane, on his tail. Savinkov made a move on the Indian going into Turn 7 three laps later and took the race lead, eventually winning by 7.725s.

Bättig rose to second two laps later after a battle with Bansal, and Paatz made the move herself one lap after that to make it the first podium of the season with two female drivers. 

Van Langendonck now leads the championship after the first round on 48 points, with Savinkov on 31 and Coronel on 26 close behind.

Report by Grayson Wallace

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Dries Van Langendonck, 1:58.349	Alfie Slater, +1.790s	Alisha Palmowski, +3.508s
Qualifying 2	Dries Van Langendonck, 1:56.953	Ethan Lennon, +0.312s	Alfie Slater, +1.169s
Race 1 (7 laps)	Dries Van Langendonck, 37:52.840	Alfie Slater, +1.050s	Levi Arn, +2.026s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Rocco Coronel, 33:59.657	Dries Van Langendonck, +0.857s	Thomas Bearman, +2.570s
Race 3 (13 laps)	Oleksandr Savinkov, 33:09.777	Chiara Bättig, +7.725s	Mathilda Paatz, +8.802s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Dries Van Langendonck, 48	Rodin Motorsport, 73	Dries Van Langendonck, 44
P2	Oleksandr Savinkov, 31	US Racing, 71	Rocco Coronel, 37
P3	Rocco Coronel, 26	Van Amersfoort Racing, 40	Levi Arn, 30
P4	Ary Bansal, 22	Campos Racing, 30	Samuel Ifrid, 29
P5	Levi Arn, 21	Jenzer Motorsport, 21	Felipe Reijs, 26
P6	Chiara Bättig, 18	AKM Motorsport, 18	Vittorio Orsini, 25
P7	Alfie Slater, 18	Mathilda Racing, 15	Alfie Slater, 22
P8	Thomas Bearman, 15	Cram Motorsport, 15	Oscar Repetto, 20
P9	Mathilda Paatz, 15	Renauer Motorsport, 4	Tomas Rudokas, 18
P10	Alisha Palmowski, 12	AS Motorsport, 2	Ethan Lennon, 15

Header photo credit: Formula Regional Middle East Trophy