Gabriel Gomez was the 2025 Formula Winter Series champion and the runner-up in the 2025 Italian Formula 4 and E4 championships, but his first season in the FRegional European Championship with Rodin Motorsport has yet to yield even a podium. He sat down with Feeder Series at the Hungaroring to discuss what has been a rookie year of ups and downs in the series.

By Archie Harper

Though Gabriel Gomez undoubtedly demonstrated talent in his first full year of racing in 2024, scoring all 13 of the points that carried TC Racing to ninth in the Spanish F4 teams’ standings, his 2025 was nothing short of a breakout success.

He began the year in the Formula Winter Series, taking a string of nine consecutive podiums across the first three rounds. Despite not standing on the podium at the final round in Barcelona, he had enough of a buffer to claim the title by the end of race two at Barcelona, 41 points ahead of Hitech’s Leo Robinson.

The newly crowned champion continued with US Racing into Italian F4, claiming 11 podiums including four race victories to finish runner-up behind champion Kean Nakamura-Berta of Prema Racing, a nine-time race winner. Gomez also placed second to Nakamura-Berta in his E4 campaign with the German squad, taking five podiums including two race wins.

“Last year was definitely a really good year,” Gomez told Feeder Series. “We missed out [on the] Italian and Euro championships, but we missed [by] a very little bit. I think we showed good pace to be always on the top fighting for wins and the biggest F4 championships in the world, so it was a good year.”

The traditional and natural next step for drivers with Gomez’s CV is the FRegional level. While it may be a simple leap for many of his peers, Gomez faced larger hurdles in the process.

“It’s always difficult because everyone wants to do the jump for a bigger category,” he said. “FREC is the biggest now in the junior category before F3 – I would say, by far, is the category of the highest level now.

“We did some winter tests with some teams and then I was really strong, but I think the biggest problem for drivers, at least normally, is the budget, which is my biggest problem of all.

“We couldn’t have any possibility to race because we couldn’t find the sponsors to finish the deals and everything,” he continued. “So it was difficult. Even it’s quite sad because motorsports sometimes is not really fair – because we see we can have a really good year, be in the fight for titles and everything and still it’s not what guarantees you for the next season.”

After a winter of testing FRegional cars with first ART and then Rodin, the potential drama of having one of Italian F4’s leading title contenders miss out on a seat in FR Europe or a rival series was avoided. A deal fell into place for Gomez three months before the season began with the series’ newest team.

“So this was a bit sad from one side, but,” Gomez said, “we never give up, we’re still trying something, and then arrived one possibility to go to Rodin.

“And then we figured out some sponsors in the last minute, and then we could close the deal, which it was very last minute, I would say. It was like the end of January already where, in my head, I was sure I would not race this year in the single-seater category. But luckily everything went well and then we could finish the deal with a good team and strong package.”

While the move to the New Zealander–owned British squad was unexpected, it has arguably produced some incidental benefits for the 19-year-old, with Rodin offering the established infrastructure of F2 and F3 squads on top of their FRegional and F4 programmes.

Gomez also feels he has settled in quickly at the team, especially because, unlike his teammates Alex Ninovic and Reza Seewooruthun, he did not contest the customary FR Middle East season over the winter.

“The team is very well connected with everyone,” he said. “Everyone together looks [to be] working very well. So it’s a nice place where the ambience, it feels really good,” he said.

The FR Europe season, however, has been more of a struggle. Though he outclassed the likes of Sebastian Wheldon, Emanuele Olivieri and Salim Hanna in Italian F4, they are now ahead of him in the standings, sitting second, fourth and ninth respectively while Gomez is 11th.

Prior to round four at Monza, the Florianópolis native had achieved only two points finishes – a seventh at the season opener at Spielberg and a ninth at Spa – while both of his teammates had already taken podiums after round one.

“So far it’s not been what we were expecting,” he admitted. “We had some good moments. In Monza we were fighting for the win and to the end as well. We had some good moments on quali and race.

“But definitely I think we were expecting more, and it’s a bit difficult to figure out why at the moment, me as a driver, because sometimes we go to track and we see we are really strong, and then sometimes we’re just lacking a bit more. 

“When you are in a field where sometimes it’s like 20 cars in less than half a second, it’s really hard for [us to] know what’s the problem. Every little bit counts a lot this year.”

Round four Monza helped break the cold streak. Gomez scored in all three races at the blisteringly hot weekend, claiming a fourth-place finish in the final race.

“It just happened,” he said. “You maximise everything, you maximise the performance, and then I was P2 in the qualy and it was everything good. And then if I do one small mistake, I was a tenth off in the qualy and then I was starting P14 and it would never be the same story. 

“So it’s very tight at the moment. We are struggling a little bit to put everything together, every moment, and this is what I’m trying to work with the team to understand more what is the issue. But to be consistently on top is what matters more in a long championship.”

Though his results may not have reached his own expectations, Gomez finds consolation is knowing what he has to improve. That belief was vindicated in his standout round six at Le Castellet, where he matched his best result of fourth twice over and launched himself into 11th heading into the summer break, leapfrogging teammate Seewooruthun.

“Of course, by results, we always want to be fighting for wins, championship titles and everything, but I think, always personal, if you give your maximum, if you extract the maximum from the car or from the driving and everything […]  the results are just consequence. If you build up everything what you need, the results will come anyway, so this is the most important.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency