Kean Nakamura-Berta already has one Formula Regional championship under his belt in 2026. Can he get a second? Ahead of the start of the FR Europe season, he sat down with the Feeder Series Podcast to discuss his long-standing relationship with Prema Racing and his chances of doing the double this year. 

By Cliona Sheerin

This year marks Nakamura-Berta’s fourth with junior single-seater stalwarts Prema Racing. The partnership has yielded great success over the years, none the more so in the last 18 months, during which the new Williams F1 Team Driver Academy member has claimed three drivers’ championships in Italian F4, E4 and FR Middle East. 

Now, that relationship takes its next step on the junior series ladder and into the Formula Regional European Championship.

Before the FR Europe season got underway last month, Nakamura-Berta joined the Feeder Series Podcast to tell us why continuing with the Italian outfit was a no-brainer for him. 

“I’ve been with Prema for a very long time,” Nakamura-Berta told the Feeder Series Podcast. “They’re a massively experienced team, a lot of results in all the categories. And for my career for now, it’s just been really good having such experienced people around you.”

Prema Racing’s record in FR Europe is second to none. Having taken drivers such as Freddie Slater, Rafael Câmara, Kimi Antonelli and Dino Beganovic to the drivers’ title over the past four seasons, Prema have an abundance of information and driver feedback for Nakamura-Berta to reference as he gears up for the campaign. 

“When you’re in [an experienced] team like that, you also have good data telemetry to compare to from really strong drivers from generations before. So then you develop your racecraft slash your driving just through looking through that.” 

Given Prema’s dominance in the category, does the 18-year-old driver feel any pressure to win the title this season?

“Every driver has pressure from expectations within themselves and from outside. I think, of course, being in Prema, the expectation from people outside, they’ll probably think, ‘Prema, dominant car, you should be fighting for wins’. And yeah, I think so far the car has been able to do that, and hopefully it continues to be able to do that. Makes my life easier,” Nakamura-Berta said with a smile. 

“It’s always good being in a strong team,” he continued. “Normally strong teams tend to attract strong drivers. You get strong teammates to compare to during your year, but that also brings in good engineers. And that whole combination of, I think, strong drivers [and] strong engineers generally produces a car which is capable of winning.”

Nakamura-Berta and his teammates will have their work cut out for them this year, however, to wrestle back the teams’ title from the grasp of R-ace GP, who edged out Prema by 21 points in 2025. He acknowledged that the path to the top won’t be easy given the fiercely competitive nature of the championship. 

“There are so many teams which are capable of winning. And in testing so far, we’ve seen everyone’s very, very close,” he said. “No one truly knows where they are, so we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m quite confident, but you just never know, really, with a new-generation car back in Europe.”

Nakamura-Berta has already gotten to grips with the new Tatuus T-326 chassis earlier this year. He took six podiums on his way to the FR Middle East Trophy title, seeing off many opponents that have joined him on the FR Europe grid this season. 

The British-licensed driver had a mixed start to the FR Europe season. Pole position and victory on debut in the season-opening race at the Red Bull Ring meant he picked up right where he left off from his final-round sweep in FR Middle East. The rest of the weekend did not pan out as he would have hoped, as he ended an incident-filled race three with a late retirement and a combined 10-place grid drop for his next race.

Still, he will be hoping to carry the race-winning momentum and Prema Racing’s experience in the championship forward into Zandvoort next time out on the weekend of 22–24 May. 

“Being with [Prema] for so many years, I sort of understand how they work, and I have a lot of trust with the people I have around me and in the team,” he said. “We’re in a good place as a whole.”

To hear the rest of Kean Nakamura-Berta’s interview with Thomas Groves, check out the latest episode of the Feeder Series Podcast, available now on all major podcast platforms. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency