And finally, some calm. After last weekend’s 14-series behemoth, only three junior single-seater championships are on track this week, with Formula Trophy Malaysia and F4 Saudi Arabia opening their seasons. Feeder Series previews the action and reflects on the summer just passed in the latest quarterly update.

By Feeder Series

On the surface, you might think that all the junior series action this weekend was in the Middle East – reminiscent, perhaps, of a February weekend. But while F4 Saudi Arabia will be the most followed series and the only one expected to stream in full, it’s joined by a new championship with an unusual Middle Eastern tie: Formula Trophy Malaysia, which opens its season by supporting the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix… in Malaysia. 

For more on those series, you can keep reading and consult our season guides to learn more about the drivers. There’s also F4 NACAM in Mexico at Puebla this weekend, which we will cover in brief at the top of our review with a potential champion crowning in the wings. And if you’re still not ready to move on from all the action in the summer, you can relive the highlights one last time with our quarterly review of everything that happened through our eyes.

Formula Trophy Malaysia: Round 1, Sepang

Circuit: Sepang International Circuit, 5.543 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+8)

Friday 2 October

• 10:15–10:45: Practice 1
• 14:00–14:30: Practice 2

Saturday 3 October

• 10:30–11:00: Qualifying
• 14:15–14:47: Race 1

Sunday 4 October

• 11:45–12:17: Race 2 

How to follow: No sessions will be streamed because of Formula One Management restrictions.

Weather forecast: The weekend will be hot and humid, averaging 32°C. Showers are possible throughout the weekend, with the greatest risk on Friday.

What to know: Formula Trophy Malaysia is a new name in the feeder series realm, having been announced only one month ago as the replacement for F4 South East Asia, which was cancelled in June because of logistical issues. It will be held over three rounds, all taking place at the Sepang International Circuit, with the first supporting F1’s return to Malaysia.

Evans GP are bringing the largest cohort to the event, with eight cars split across the main team and Evans GP Academy. The early favourite from their squad is David Cosma Cristofor, who currently sits fourth in the Italian F4 standings. 

Other names to watch out for include Pinnacle Motorsport’s Marco Manson, who claimed the runner-up spot in AU4’s Gen2 class last weekend, and Xcel Motorsport’s Josh Feng, one of the young stars of this year’s Chinese F4 grid. Get to know the full grid by reading our season guide here, and follow editor Mitch on Instagram for updates throughout the race weekend.

Report by Mitchell Ash

F4 Saudi Arabia: Round 1, Jeddah

Circuit: Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 6.174 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+3)

Thursday 1 October

• 15:00–15:40: Test session 1
• 21:00–21:40: Test session 2

Friday 2 October

• 14:00–14:40: Free practice 1
• 16:30–16:50: Qualifying 1
• 21:00–21:30: Race 1 (12 laps or 25 minutes)

Saturday 3 October

• 14:00–14:40: Free practice 2
• 17:00–17:20: Qualifying 2
• 21:00–21:30: Race 2 (12 laps or 25 minutes)

How to follow: All races will be livestreamed for free on F4 Saudi Arabia’s official YouTube channel. As was the case for the past two seasons, races will also be available in German via Motorsport TV Deutschland’s YouTube channel. Live timing will be available on Its-live for all sessions.

Weather forecast: Sunny all weekend.

What to know: F4 Saudi Arabia returns this weekend for its third season and second with Hitech’s technical support. Six rounds will be held from October through December, with the first four taking place at Jeddah and the last two at Lusail in Qatar.

While Hitech will run all the cars, commercially focused team names will be used to pair cars and distinguish line-ups. There are two returning drivers: Abdullah Kamel, who scored his maiden career podium in the series last December en route to seventh overall, and Faris Organji, who took a best result of tenth twice last year.

This year, the grid will comprise mostly single-seater newcomers, including Ginetta Juniors runner-up Harrison Mackie and two-time F1 Academy rookie tester Eva Dorrestijn. Among the more experienced names are USF2000 racer Lucas Nanji and UAE4 rookie Zakaria Doleh. Motorsport newcomer Aleksandar Vukcevic is set to skip the first two rounds as he recovers from food poisoning. Get to know the full grid by reading our season guide here.

Report by Marco Albertini

Feeder Series quarterly review: Summer 2026

From the moment we wrote our last quarterly update there months ago, we have hardly stopped producing content. We published two major deep dives – into the new LN4 Fusion racing squad and the forthcoming German F4 championship – and celebrated the crowning of an astonishing 19 new champions across all our series in September. The real value of our reporting, however, came in the countless small moments we shared in and around the series we follow so ardently.

Our editorial team had boots on the ground last month for the season finales of GB4, Indy NXT, and the USF Pro Championships, where five of those championships were decided. They could be found conducting coverage from California to South Australia, with our multiple American and British paddock visits supplemented by reporting from Hungary for F2 and F3 and Spain for Eurocup-3 and Spanish F4. Many of the stories gathered from these visits will be published in the next two months.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t all cause for celebration. Our most-viewed article and Instagram post of the summer were ones we wished we’d never had to create: an obituary for Zděnek Chovanec, who died aged 21 in July just four years after his final F3 outings in 2022.

Other news items that got you talking on Instagram were British F4 championship leader Dries Van Langendonck’s suspension from the Donington Park round, Ugo Ugochukwu’s hard-fought F3 title and Evan Giltaire’s run to the Super Formula Lights crown. You took note of Dino Beganovic’s claim to being the first polesitter at the Madring, but it seemed he also noticed us: the Instagram post he referenced in his post-victory interview two days later may indeed have been our post about the largest winning margins in F2…

While we bid a bittersweet farewell to Daisy Turvey, who joined the ranks of our alumni in August upon finding full-time work in social media and marketing, we also had several new voices join our social media team this quarter. Jonas Van Duyse expanded his work with Feeder Series Live to join our main social media team, while Aliyah Desabayla recently moved across full-time after seven months of live reporting duty. New recruits Stijn van Asselt and Flora Harant-Lambert have also made their mark, and you’ll see more of all of their content across our X and Instagram pages over the coming weeks. As always, you can learn more about our team on our about us page.

To support our expanded suite of podcast offerings for 2026, we also brought in a new trio of producers and editors over the summer, all of whom have since tried their hand at hosting too. Producer Shermaine Wong, editor Teo Mozo, and producer/editor Emma Blighe have all contributed to our most-viewed episodes, among which our predictions for rookies in F3 in 2027 topped the list. Did we get them right? You’ll have to keep checking our website to see how the grids officially take shape.

— Michael McClure, head of content

All times and forecasts listed above are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, follow each series’ websites or social media pages.

Header photo credit: Connor Botha