James Wharton faces weight of expectation in sophomore F4 UAE campaign

James Wharton has opened up on the biggest challenges he will face in his second campaign for the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates title.

James Wharton returns for a second year in F4 UAE. (PREMA Racing)

As the 2023 season begins, the young Australian is sitting in his Dubai hotel room, already dressed in his Ferrari Driver Academy uniform, the sound of engines coming through the window from the 24H Dubai field.

The F4 UAE season begins on the support bill for the Dubai endurance race.

"I have to be at the track at 9:30am, but I said I'll be a little bit late so it's all good," says Wharton.

He may not be on the circuit yet, but with free practice just hours away that's where his mind is, focused on his return to the UAE series.

With a 12-day break between the first two rounds of the championship, he sees the Dubai opener as a chance to get early points on the board.

"It's basically just a warmup of the season, getting ready to be on the right track straight away and start on the right foot, which is everyone's plan."

The PREMA driver finished fifth in the 2022 series despite missing a round, taking four victories in the Middle East.

"I know I can win."

"For me the only goal this year, I think it's the only thing that I can achieve, and I know I can do it if I do my best."

"If I go out there and perform every weekend, it's going to be enough."

"So I need to make sure I'm doing that week in, week out."

Wharton during his 2022 Italian Formula 4 campaign. (PREMA Racing)

Wharton is fixed on self-improvement for the 2023 season, confident he can secure the title with enough work on his rough edges.

"The biggest thing here is just making sure I fine tune everything, make sure I don’t make silly mistakes, to learn from it, try different things, try something new, just to see if it's working, and if it does, I can bring it back to Europe."

"If not, I can go back to what I was doing."

With a huge field filling the paddock with drivers from across the world, Wharton is unphased, his determination facing inwards.

"I'm still not here just to learn, I'm here to win now."

"Last year was a learning year for me, but now it's time to win."

The conversation turns to Wharton's role in the Ferrari Driver Academy.

Living in Italy with other Academy drivers, each day is committed to his racing career.

"I live in Maranello… just to be close to the Academies, to be able to go there when I need them which is basically every week that I'm not racing," says Wharton.

"Other drivers, the Monday, Tuesday, they might go to school, they might go home just for a couple days."

"We're back in work on Monday morning."

Reviewing his first year in cars, his mentality begins to veer into the professionalism familiar when listening to other graduates of the Academy.

"I finished fifth in every single championship I did, which is not the end of the world, but it's still not what I won and not what we want as a team."

Wharton says this drive comes naturally, admitting that even as a 13-year-old in karting, he focused on self-improvement and refused to settle.

"I need to always be better and I need to always improve."

"And especially going to this season, I can't just say I'm second year, I have more experience."

"It's not going to be easy, it's going to be just as hard and I need to still put more effort than what I did last week."

Delving further into his motivations, it becomes clear why he was an obvious choice for the Ferrari program.

"I think it's very natural to me."

"If you let up and say you've done enough, it's probably not going to be enough anyway."

"So I think if you don't have this mentality, I don't think you can go anywhere."

His focus and introspection are striking.

Ferrari seems to have been the obvious choice for Wharton as well, already embedded in the Formula 1 team.

"We're always a part of it and we're always in the mentality of the team."

"When they're struggling on track we have to basically be struggling as well."

"We need to be helping them as much as they help us."

"So, I think it's a very good environment to been to get hard work done because everyone is there for the same reason."

Despite the intensity of his focus, Wharton eventually admits that the winter-series offers some down time.

"It's very different for what I'm used to because I'm used to always working, always being there."

"But here I like it as well cause I get to have a little bit of down time."

The 2023 Formula 4 United Arab Emirates season begins this weekend, with race one at 11.25pm Friday (AEDT).