James Wharton

James Anthony Wharton (born 8 July 2006) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for Prema Racing.

Wharton was the runner-up for the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship, driving for Prema Racing. He was a race winner in Italian F4, finishing fourth in 2023. He was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy between 2021 and 2023.

Career

Karting Wharton began karting at the age of eight in his homeland of Australia. Following two years in Mini and Cadet karting, he won eight out of ten races in his 2017 season, winning the Australian Championship in the process. Following that, he and his father moved to Europe to progress his career, where he spent four years contracted to Parolin, competing in various continental championships. At the end of 2020, Wharton was added to the All Road Management stable managed by Nicolas Todt.

Formula 4

2022 Starting his single-seater at the beginning of 2022, Wharton would compete in the Formula 4 UAE Championship with Abu Dhabi Racing, a team operated by Prema Racing. He took a third-place rostrum on his debut, during the opening round in Yas Marina. He proceeded to dominate the first Dubai event, scoring three victories out of the four races. He was only expected to compete in the opening two rounds, but returned for the final two rounds. He would end the season with one more win during the final race in Yas Marina, finishing fifth in the standings with 168 points.

Wharton remained with Prema for the European racing season, driving in the Italian F4 and ADAC F4 championships. In ADAC F4, Wharton earned his first podium during the opening Spa-Francorchamps round, He then took a double podium during the second Nürburgring round, finishing fifth in the standings. but waited until the first Nürburgring round to stand on the rostrum again, this time being his only victory from both campaigns. In Italian F4, Wharton took a podium during each of the first five rounds, in a season dominated by teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli; he also finished fifth in the standings.

2023 Wharton at the Mugello Circuit during the 2023 Italian F4 Championship. Wharton once again partook in F4 UAE at the beginning of 2023, being part of the Mumbai Falcons. He opened the season with a podium in Dubai, before taking his first win of the year during the first race in Kuwait. He proceeded to lock out the podium during the second Kuwait round, which included winning the third race. He again repeated this feat in the second Dubai round despite not winning a race, but still gained the standings lead. Having taken triumphed the first two races during the Yas Marina finale, Wharton clinched the title as a result of a collision with title rival and teammate Tuukka Taponen during the final race; overall, he achieved four wins and eleven podiums throughout his campaign.

Wharton remained with Prema Racing for the Italian F4 Championship. He scored his first podiums of the campaign in round 2 at Misano, before following it up with a double victory in Spa-Francorchamps. He again took a double rostrum in Paul Ricard which included a pole position, but a fuel pump issue handed the win to Kacper Sztuka with a few corners to go. One more podium followed in Mugello followed, as Wharton would end the year fourth in the standings with two wins and eight podiums.

Wharton also competed in the newly-formed Euro 4 Championship with Prema. He placed on the podium during the first round in Mugello, which included a win from pole during the final race. After a third place in Monza, He ended the campaign with a further win in Barcelona, which placed him runner-up with two wins and three further podiums, missing out on the title to teammate Ugo Ugochukwu.

Formula Regional 2024 In the 2024 pre-season, Wharton partook in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Mumbai Falcons. He took his first Formula Regional podium in the fourth round at Yas Marina Circuit, finishing second behind Tuukka Taponen. With an additional podium in the penultimate race at Dubai Autodrome, he finished sixth overall in the standings.

For his main campaign, Wharton moved up to the Formula Regional European Championship, once again driving for Prema Racing, alongside former Italian F4 rivals Rafael Câmara and Ugo Ugochukwu. He finished on the podium in the opening race of the season at Hockenheim Before the season, he stated that he had "even more motivation to prove myself" after being dropped from the Ferrari Driver Academy. He started on pole position for the second race, but an incident with Pedro Clerot led to him retiring from the race. Similar misfortune would befall Wharton in Spa and Zandvoort, with a crash in qualifying at the former leading to a DNS in race one followed by another podium in race two, and a pole position at the latter leading to two non-points finishes.

However, Wharton's season began to turn around at Mugello, where he took his maiden Formula Regional win in race two. In Paul Ricard, he started 24th for race 2 following a puncture in qualifying, but made up fifteen positions to finish ninth. He followed it up with a pair of third places in Imola, and another win at Red Bull Ring, this time from pole position. A perfect weekend in Barcelona, where he won both races from pole position, propelled him to second overall in the standings. Another double third place in the Monza finale solidified himself as runner-up in the championship, having taken four wins, four poles, ten podiums and 234 points.

Wharton also participated in the 2024 Macau Grand Prix with ART Grand Prix. On lap 1 of the main race, Wharton crashed into the barriers at Lisboa, which caused a pileup that took him and several others out of the race.

2026 In preparation for his FIA Formula 3 campaign, Wharton would compete in the winter Formula Regional Oceania Trophy with HMD Motorsports.

GB3 Championship Wharton was signed by Fortec Motorsports to participate in the two Silverstone rounds of the 2024 GB3 Championship. Across the those rounds, Wharton recorded a best finish of eleventh twice.

FIA Formula 3 Championship 2024 After Martinius Stenshorne was banned from the Silverstone round, Wharton was drafted by Hitech Pulse-Eight to make a one-off appearance there in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship. Despite the weekend being affected by wet weather, Wharton finished the races in a respectable 18th and 20th.

2025

In October 2024, ART Grand Prix announced that Wharton would be racing for them in the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship, alongside Laurens van Hoepen and Ferrari Driver Academy member Tuukka Taponen. He had a tough start to the season as he failed to score points during the first four rounds, having taken a best finish of 11th during the Monaco feature race. He broke his duck and scored his first points next time out during the Barcelona sprint race, having capitalised on a first-lap incident. His momentum continued into Austria, where he secured his first victory of the year from reverse pole in the sprint race, having fended off Alessandro Giusti throughout the race. In the Silverstone feature race, Wharton gambled by starting on wet tyres on a progressively wetter track, which paid off as he finished in sixth. He qualified a season-best tenth and started third for the Budapest sprint race, converting this into a fifth place finish. This would be his final points finish of the season, as Wharton finished eighteenth in the standings with 25 points, notably behind teammates Taponen and Van Hoepen.

2026 Wharton reunited to Prema Racing to contest his second season of Formula 3 in , partnering José Garfias and Louis Sharp.

FIA Formula 2 Championship At the end of 2025, Wharton joined Trident to make his Formula 2 debut in the Qatar round, partnering Laurens van Hoepen.

Formula One At the end of 2020, Wharton was chosen by Motorsport Australia to be one of its representatives for the FDA 2020 Scouting World Finals. He ended up winning the shootout, therefore gaining a place in the Ferrari Driver Academy.

In December 2023, it was announced that Wharton would be leaving the FDA going into the 2024 season.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Racing record

Racing career summary Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 4 UAE Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points 2022 Prema Racing YMC11 YMC12 YMC13 YMC14 DUB11 DUB12 DUB13 DUB14 DUB21 DUB22 DUB23 DUB24 DUB31 DUB32 DUB33 DUB34 YMC21 YMC22 YMC23 YMC24 5th 168 2023 Mumbai Falcons DUB11 DUB12 DUB13 KMT11 KMT12 KMT13 KMT21 KMT22 KMT23 DUB21 DUB22 DUB23 YMC1 YMC2 YMC3 1st 232

Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Italian F4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2022 Prema Racing IMO1 IMO2 IMO3 MIS1 MIS2 MIS3 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 VLL1 VLL2 VLL3 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 RBR4 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 MUG1 MUG2 MUG3 5th 166 2023 Prema Racing IMO1 IMO2 IMO3 IMO4 MIS1 MIS2 MIS3 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 LEC1 LEC2 LEC3 MUG1 MUG2 MUG3 VLL1 VLL2 VLL3 4th

Complete Euro 4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points 2023 Prema Racing MUG1 MUG2 MUG3 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 CAT1 CAT2 CAT3 2nd 169

Complete Formula Regional Middle East Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 DC Points 2024 Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited YMC11 YMC12 YMC13 YMC21 YMC22 YMC23 DUB11 DUB12 DUB13 YMC31 YMC32 YMC33 DUB21 DUB22 DUB23 6th 111

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2024 Prema Racing HOC1 HOC2 SPA1 SPA2 ZAN1 ZAN2 HUN1 HUN2 MUG1 MUG2 LEC1 LEC2 IMO1 IMO2 RBR1 RBR2 CAT1 CAT2 MNZ1 MNZ2 2nd 236

Complete GB3 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points 2024 Fortec Motorsports OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 SIL11 SIL12 SIL13 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 SIL21 SIL22 SIL23 DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 25th 30

Complete Macau Grand Prix results Year Team Car Qualifying Quali Race Main race 2024 ART Grand Prix Tatuus F3 T-318 11th 7th DNF

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2024 Hitech Pulse-Eight BHRSPR BHRFEA MELSPR MELFEA IMOSPR IMOFEA MONSPR MONFEA CATSPR CATFEA RBRSPR RBRFEA SILSPR SILFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA SPASPR SPAFEA MNZSPR MNZFEA 33rd 0 2025 ART Grand Prix MELSPR MELFEA BHRSPR BHRFEA IMOSPR IMOFEA MONSPR MONFEA CATSPR CATFEA RBRSPR RBRFEA SILSPR SILFEA SPASPR SPAFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA MNZSPR MNZFEA 18th 25 2026 Prema Racing MELSPR MELFEA MONSPR MONFEA CATSPR CATFEA RBRSPR RBRFEA SILSPR SILFEA SPASPR SPAFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA MNZSPR MNZFEA MADSPR MADFEA1 MADFEA2 15th* 28* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 DC Points Trident MELSPR MELFEA BHRSPR BHRFEA JEDSPR JEDFEA IMOSPR IMOFEA MONSPR MONFEA CATSPR CATFEA RBRSPR RBRFEA SILSPR SILFEA SPASPR SPAFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA MNZSPR MNZFEA BAKSPR BAKFEA LSLSPR LSLFEA YMCSPR YMCFEA 27th 0

Complete Formula Regional Oceania Trophy results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points 2026 HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed HMP1 HMP2 HMP3 HMP4 TAU1 TAU2 TAU3 TAU4 TER1 TER2 TER3 TER4 HIG1 HIG2 HIG3 HIG2 8th 167

Complete New Zealand Grand Prix results Year Team Car Qualifying Main race 2026 HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed Tatuus FT-60 - Toyota 9th 8th