Italian Formula 4 in 2026 - Meet the Female Driver Lineup
Meet the women entering into the 2026 Italian Formula 4 Championship.
The 2026 Italian Formula 4 season commenced last weekend in Misano (8th-10th May). The lineup features five female drivers this year - all are no strangers to single-seaters and Formula 4.
Returning to Italian Formula 4 after their rookie seasons and having gained valuable experience, Emily Cotty and Payton Westcott will hope to go one step further and battle with the frontrunners in a tightly-packed grid. But this year, they are also joined by newcomers to the series, Emma Felbermayr, Rafaela Ferreira and Ginevra Panzeri. Let’s meet the 2026 Italian Formula 4 female drivers.
Emily Cotty - R-ace GP (#42)
Making the switch from horse racing to motorsport in 2022, the 16-year-old British-New Zealand driver has taken an unusual route into Formula 4 compared to many of her peers. However, this lack of experience hasn’t undermined Emily’s progression through the junior ranks, proving she is a winner from the get-go.
Beginning her motorsport career in the British Kart Championship and Super One Series, she achieved her first major success in 2024 when she was crowned Junior Rotax Champion, demonstrating the natural-born racer within her.
Having only raced in the UK before stepping up to F4, Emily had to adapt quickly to unfamiliar machinery. She made her single-seater debut in the penultimate round of the 2024 British F4 season at Silverstone with Phynsis by Argenti. Despite difficult weather conditions, she secured two top-20 finishes — an impressive F4 debut.
She followed this by competing in the final two rounds of the Formula Trophy UAE season with AGI Sport, achieving a best finish of 15th at Yas Marina and placing 23rd overall, one place ahead of current F1 ACADEMY driver Ella Lloyd. Emily proved she could compete alongside the best female talent of her generation.
Emily remained in the Middle East for the 2025 F4 Middle East Championship with R-ace GP, where she charged from 20th to 12th to score her first points. She narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish at Yas Marina after losing a position on the final lap.
2025 proved to be the turning point of Emily’s career. Remaining with R-ace GP for Italian F4, she exceeded expectations, dominating the Women’s Trophy and clinching the title at Misano, 51 points clear of runner-up Payton Westcott.
She added another Women’s Trophy title in the 2025 E4 Championship and later secured her maiden F4 podium in the UAE4 Series at Yas Marina. A highly successful season saw Emily place 10th out of 45 drivers, this result boding well for her campaigns in Italian F4 and E4 this year.
In the first round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship, Emily was the highest of the five female drivers contesting the series. While not a dream weekend for her, Emily’s results of P15, P22 and P23 in the races that she contested were good enough to put her in P28 overall in the Championship and secured her her first Championship point of the season.
Payton Westcott - Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) (#94)
Perhaps the woman with the most expectation weighing on her this Italian F4 season is 17-year-old American Payton Westcott. Falling short of the Women’s Trophy title last year to fellow debutant Emily Cotty, Payton will be all guns blazing for her second season and aiming to outperform the Brit this time around.
Payton’s karting career began at just six years old. Entering competitive racing in the States at 12, she achieved notable results in the United States Pro Kart Series, California Pro Kart Challenge, and finished third overall in the Challenge of the Americas. Her success earned her selection for the inaugural F1 ACADEMY Discover Your Drive karting programme in 2024, opening doors to international opportunities across Europe and helping her graduate to single-seaters in 2025.
Payton proved in her rookie season that she could compete in any series she entered, gaining experience in the Formula Winter Series, Italian F4, and UAE Trophy, scoring several podiums throughout the year.
After winning the Female Trophy in Formula Winter Series, she challenged Emily Cotty for the Italian F4 Women’s Trophy, securing double class wins at Monza and Mugello, as well as another at Imola. Ultimately, Cotty clinched the title at Misano, but the disappointment will undoubtedly fuel Payton heading into 2026.
In the UAE Trophy, she became the first female driver to stand on the top step, converting pole position into victory in Race 2 at Dubai. She also impressed in the UAE4 Series, scoring six points and finishing 21st overall.
Later in 2025, Payton balanced her F4 commitments with F1 ACADEMY. She topped the timings in the Rookie Test, earning a Wild Card entry for the Las Vegas finale, where she scored points with a sixth-place finish on debut. Her performances secured her a full-time 2026 F1 ACADEMY seat with PREMA, backed by Mercedes, and she recently claimed her first podium at Shanghai.
Payton also benefits from the support and guidance of reigning F1 ACADEMY Champion and Mercedes Development Driver Doriane Pin. Doriane praised Payton’s efforts and success, saying: “She has shown so far that she is a great up-and-coming talent with lots of room to continue progressing.”
It proved to be a challenging opening weekend for Westcott in Italian F4 too. P17, P16 and P21 are not bad results when the size of the field is taken into consideration. But that fierce competition will surely motivate Westcott as she gets further into the season. P32 is where the American stands overall in the Championship after the first round.
Emma Felbermayr - PHM Racing (PHM)(#60)
Emma’s racing journey began when she was just seven years old, making her karting debut. Emma has since competed in the Micro, Mini, and Junior Classes of karting and finished as runner-up in her first international race in the 2021 ADAC Ladies Cup. In 2023, she qualified 23rd out of 119 drivers in the KZ category of the World Championship in Wackersdorf, Germany and in 2024, Emma competed in all major shifter karting events, including WSK-Karting and the World and European Championships.
Emma Felbermayr made her F1 ACADEMY debut in 2025, backed by the Kick Sauber Formula 1 Team. The Austrian driver finished the year in P10 overall, with a victory in Canada to her name, along with several other top ten finishes.
In 2026, Emma returned to the series, now backed by the new Audi Formula 1 Team and will once again compete for Rodin Motorsport. Leaving the opening round of the season in Shanghai with both a P3 podium finish and a race win, Emma leads the Championship standings ahead of round two in Canada.
She joins the Italian F4 Series with PHM, a team that she’s had experience with earlier this year when she drove for them in the majority of the UAE4 Series. Confident in her abilities behind the wheel, PHM had no hesitation in signing her up to drive for them again in this series. In the first round of the Championship, Emma was the only other female driver alongside Emily Cotty to score a point on debut with a P15 finish in her second race. A P22 and a DNF scuppered her plans for the weekend though and leaves her in P30 in the Championship.
Rafaela Ferreira - Cram Motorsport (#38)
The 21-year-old Brazilian driver already had a solid foundation of experience in Formula 4 machinery. Finishing fourth overall in her second season of Brazilian Formula 4 with three wins and a total of ten podiums, she attracted the attention of many around the motorsport world, including Red Bull.
Last year, Rafaela made her F1 ACADEMY debut with Campos Racing and Racing Bulls support. She finished in P12 overall with multiple top ten finishes. This year, she has returned to F1 ACADEMY, in which she currently sits fifth place, after a strong opening round in Shanghai.
Rafaela has also competed in three races of this year’s Formula Winter Series with a best race result of 19th.
P41 after two P23 finishes however left Ferreira wanting more from the opening round of the Italian Formula 4 weekend. But with the strong performances she’s shown previously in her career, you wouldn’t want to bet against the Brazilian bouncing back later in the season.
Ginevra Panzeri PA Racing by AS Motorsport (#64)
The 17-year-old Italian driver is competing in Italian F4 and E4 on a part-time schedule this year with AS Motorsport. Last year, she competed in E4, finishing 38th overall with a best result of 20th. Ginevra also competed in the Formula Winter Series, finishing 36th by season’s end with a best result of 17th.
Like Ferreira, Panzeri competed again in the Formula Winter Series earlier this year, finishing 29th overall but this time, with a best result of ninth. But that’s not all. Panzeri is also racing in French Formula and Czech Formula 4. She sits in 18th place in the latter overall after taking two top-15 finishes in the first round of the season at the Red Bull Ring.
P20 and P29 in the two races that Ginevra competed in was good enough for P37 overall in the standings come the end of the weekend. Her progress will be difficult to measure over the course of the season, owing to her part time schedule. If she can finish above P38, as she is currently doing, this year’s outing in Italian F4 can be considered a success.
Up Next: Italian F4 Heads to Vallelunga
Based on recent results in UEA4, Emily Cotty is the firm favourite. Payton Westcott is not to be counted out just yet, however. Her history of producing comeback drives shows that she doesn’t give up without a fight. Perhaps this applies more than ever this year, with Payton aiming to dethrone the reigning Women’s Trophy holder. But with Emma Felbermayr having already had such a strong outing in China with F1 ACADEMY, followed by Rafaela Ferreira perhaps both drivers will have to contend more with her for the top spot, rather than each other as the season progresses. Panzeri is worth keeping an eye on too. While only on a part time schedule, her experience in other F4 series this year will surely benefit her too.
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We’re in for some thrilling on-track battles this year between these five powerhouses. Don’t miss the 2026 Italian F4 season, which continues with its second round in Vallelunga from May 22nd-24th.
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