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Wharton happy to be ‘back home’ with PREMA Racing for the 2026 season
James Wharton is happy to be back where he started his single seater career in 2026, looking to build on the foundations he had laid down previously with PREMA Racing.
The Australian joined the Italian team in 2022 and raced together for three seasons, achieving a lot of success by finishing second in the 2023 Euro 4 and 2024 Formula Regional European Championships.
After a tough rookie year in 2025, Wharton goes back to PREMA for his second campaign in the F3, and is happy with the progress that they have made over the winter.
“It feels like coming back home,” said Wharton returning to PREMA. “Very early on last year, I made the decision to come back to PREMA and build on a foundation that I've already had in the past.
“At the end of last year, we did a lot of good work in the post-season tests, but also through the off-season we've worked really hard to try and get back on the same page.
“At the end of the day, I feel like both sides had some work to do from 2025 and we're in a really good spot now. The team obviously had a really good end of the season and that gives me a lot of confidence going into this year.
Wharton competed in three of the four rounds of the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy in January, achieving one victory, a further podium and several points finishes.
Prior to that, the 19-year-old also competed in the penultimate round of the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season in Lusail, Qatar. Ahead of pre-season testing in Barcelona, he reflected on his busy winter.
“It's been quite a busy off-season for me,” said Wharton. “Since the last race of F3, I have done a round of F2, done some testing, done some reference driving, and gone to New Zealand to do a couple of rounds before the season started.
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“Overall, it's been quite good preparation for me. New Zealand is obviously making us a bit more prepared, especially mentally to be in the game a little bit more.
“You feel like going into this week a lot more ready, ready to go from the first session and to be able to learn as much as possible.”
All of this hard work is being done with the aim on building on a tough rookie season, one that Wharton called the “hardest year I have had in my career”.
The Australian did achieve one victory in the Spielberg Sprint Race, but only scored points in another three races. Despite that, Wharton still says there were big positives for him to take into 2026.
“2025, it was very obvious to see that it was the hardest year I've had in my career,” said Wharton. But I took a lot of positives away from how I approached the year.
“When you have a tough season, it's hard to restart and hard to get back on the front foot, but I feel like I can take away the gratitude I had throughout the season to keep pushing and to keep trying to improve even though it was getting tough at points.
“I took away that I have a character that cannot get broken so quickly, that at the same time I still wanted to race last year even when it got hard. So it shows me that I have the potential to win races even when it's tough.
“In F3, it's about being consistent, so in 2026, I just want to be as consistent as possible and deliver as many times as I can.”
When asked whether rebounding from 2025 was a huge motivation for him this year, Wharton responded: “For sure. 2026 for me is a make-or-break year, like I've already said in the interviews in the post-season testing.
“I've recognised quite quickly that this is the last chance to be able to show the world what I can do in the higher classes. I'm obviously vice-champion in FRECA, Formula 4, so I am trying to keep that going even after a tough season.”
The PREMA driver gets his first chance to rebound from 2025 at Round 1 in Melbourne, and is excited to get another opportunity to race at home.
“I want to get back home,” said Wharton when asked what he was looking forward to the most this season. “That will be good.
“I've spent quite a lot of time at home in this off-season, which is not very normal for me, but just racing at home is something that I can't wait for. For me, it's one of the best weekends, if not the best of the year.”