Payton Westcott completed her Formula Winter Series campaign—her first in single-seaters—with a top-20 finish in Barcelona, rounding off an overall unfortunate weekend that nevertheless showcased continued progress for the young American racer in her preparation for her Italian F4 rookie season.
Payton Westcott completed her Formula Winter Series campaign—her first in single-seaters—with a top-20 finish in Barcelona, rounding off an overall unfortunate weekend that nevertheless showcased continued progress for the young American racer in her debut year after stepping up from karting.
Having only made her F4 debut a few weeks ago, Westcott has already shown impressive development, claiming multiple top-20 finishes on her first weekend at Portimão. She displayed strong racecraft in battles and improved pace in both qualifying and race conditions.
She continued her progress in Valencia before enjoying a breakthrough weekend at Aragón, where she navigated extremely difficult mixed weather conditions to fight her way into the top ten—eventually finishing 13th and securing her first Female Trophy victory.
The Van Amersfoort Racing driver then headed to Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, for the final round of the Formula Winter Series season, aiming to build on that momentum and carry her strong form into her upcoming Italian F4 debut.
Westcott was immediately on the pace in her first visit to the Catalan circuit, consistently running around the top 15 in pre-event testing, and was as high as eighth fastest in the second Friday session.
"Our pace has been pretty strong over the past two days, just a shame we couldn’t get more wet running in to prepare for the rainy weekend to come", she commented, hinting at the forecasted mixed weather conditions.
Indeed, Saturday’s qualifying session took place on a wet track and was predictably disrupted by several red flags. Westcott struggled to put together a strong lap amid the stoppages and to find the right setup in the mixed conditions, ending Q1 in 17th place with a 2:08.804. In Q2, she improved in the final two minutes to a 2:04.056, climbing back into P19 and eventually finishing P20 as the top female driver.
Leo Sami Robinson shared the front row with Fionn McLaughlin, while Bart Harrison and Davide Larini lined up on the second row. The track was drying after earlier rain, but conditions remained tricky, as demonstrated by Simon Schranz ending up in the gravel on the formation lap, delaying the race start and requiring an extra formation lap.
As the lights went out, Westcott lost one place but settled into P18, holding her own in a tightly packed field while battling with Dante Vinci and Javier Herrera. However, she lost momentum and dropped to P21.
Further ahead, Thomas Bearman and Maksimilian Popov went off into the gravel, allowing Westcott to regain positions and move into P20 as she chased Teo Borenstein while also defending from Mathilda Paatz behind.
Westcott was passed by Paatz but stayed close, maintaining P20 as Bart Harrison pitted with issues on lap 6. On lap 10, both Paatz and Westcott overtook Javier Herrera, with Westcott running a 1:46.9. She settled into P19, opening a safe gap from Elia Weiss while slightly losing touch with Paatz, who was two seconds ahead.
In the final laps, Westcott's pace stabilized into 1:48s, a few tenths quicker than the cars ahead, allowing her to close back in on Paatz. However, she was unable to make a move and ultimately crossed the finish line in P19, securing her seventh top-20 finish of the season and completing a solid race.
On Sunday morning, drivers found again a wet track; Payton lined up in 19th position, once again the first of the female entries on the grid. The track remained very wet as the cars got off the line, but everyone made it through the first corners unscathed, despite struggling for grip and dealing with water spray.
Ginevra Panzeri was the first victim of the conditions, ending up in the gravel, which triggered the first Safety Car at the end of the opening lap.
It was a difficult first lap for Westcott, who dropped to P24. As the race was about to go green again, an issue for Kabir Anurag saw the US Racing driver come to a halt, extending the Safety Car period.
At the lap 5 restart, Westcott aimed to recover from P23 but struggled and fell to P24 one lap later. Initially lapping in 2:04.2, she then broke into the 2:03s, closing back in on Teo Borenstein.
On lap 10, Maksimilian Popov spun and was stranded at Turn 1, while Thomas Bearman went off at Turn 9, triggering the second Safety Car. The neutralization was good news for Westcott , as it allowed her to catch back up to the pack and regroup.
The restart came with just one minute to go: Davide Larini spun at Turn 1 and Javier Herrera also went off into the gravel in still tricky conditions, with water spray making visibility difficult. Westcott picked up positions and moved into P21, but a spin on the final lap wrapped up a very challenging race for the young American. She took the checkered flag in P23.
The sun had finally come out for the final race of the season, for a fully dry Race 3.
Payton Westcott started from P20 on the grid, first among the female entries, aiming to capitalize on her pace and close out on a high.
McLaughlin was slow off the line, but everyone made it cleanly through Turn 1; Westcott had a great start, gaining one position. However, she was soon caught in the melee on the second lap, dropping to P23 and then battling Jan Koller.
By lap 3, Payton was quicker than a few cars ahead and closely chasing Teo Borenstein. However, she came under pressure from the recovering Fionn McLaughlin.
Unfortunately, Westcott had sustained damage in a contact and dropped further back, falling behind Schranz, Panzeri, and Olkucka.
She was forced to pit on lap 7 due to the damage but rejoined the race, needing at this point a safety car to close the gap and re-enter the fight.
However, despite the stranded car of Maxim Rehm at turn 1, the race remained green.
Westcott gained a position as Paatz pitted for a new front wing, moving up to P26. Once in clear air, she lapped at 1:45.3, showing pace improvements. She had however a seven-second gap to Emily Cotty, who had also pitted earlier after contact.
Westcott kept lowering her lap times, reducing the gap to Cotty with six minutes to go. A collision between Aleksander Ruta and Fionn McLaughlin allowed Westcott to chase McLaughlin after his incident, but she ultimately finished four seconds behind.
After an unfortunate final race, Payton Westcott took the chequered flag in P25.
"After a decent first race, further issues in the wet for race two and contact in race three didn’t make it possible for us to move up during the final races of the FWS season", Westcott summarized.
"All in all I’m still very proud of what we’ve achieved in my first ever F4 season", she continued. "This season was all about gaining experience, getting comfortable with the car, and preparing for the upcoming Italian and European F4 championships. Each lap and battle was valuable to make us better prepared for the season to come."
Despite the unlucky final round, she in fact demonstrated great development throughout the Formula Winter Series season, laying the foundations for a solid rookie F4 campaign in one of the most competitive junior championships in the world.
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