Following the drama in Interlagos, the Formula Sprint 1 season came to its thrilling conclusion at the Yas Marina Circuit.
With just 49 points separating Pawel Andrzejewski and his teammate Mateusz Majka, the championship battle came down to the wire. After a first-lap incident in Interlagos, Andrzejewski needed to win both races, while Majka simply needed to score once to secure the title – a scenario that clearly favoured the latter.
Qualifying
Majka carried a back-of-the-grid penalty from Interlagos, giving Andrzejewski a golden opportunity to keep his championship hopes alive. However, it was the Apex GP pairing of Jasse Lahtinen and Oliver Taras who stole the spotlight, locking out the front row. Jesper Eriksson of Zero One Racing lined up just behind the Malta Force driver Pawel Andrzejewski, with Christian Glamseter impressing once again by qualifying fifth in only his second appearance for HGP Motorsports.
Race 1
Right from the start, the top three maintained their positions through the opening corners. Lahtinen led comfortably from Taras, while Andrzejewski faced fierce pressure from Roszak and Eriksson. Their battle came undone at the exit of Turn 7, allowing Lucas Thylin to opportunistically sweep past both drivers into fourth.
Further back, Majka – one of the few drivers to start on hard tyres – made a sensational charge through the field, gaining nine places on the opening lap to move from P26 to P17, putting himself firmly on course to secure the championship.
As pit stops unfolded, the order at the front remained largely unchanged. Andrzejewski couldn’t quite close the gap to the leaders, effectively ending his title hopes. Jasse Lahtinen went on to take victory in the final Race 1 of the season, with Oliver Taras following closely behind to complete an Apex GP 1-2 finish; their first since Jeddah.
Behind them, Mateusz Majka secured a crucial sixth place, which was enough to confirm him as the 2025 Formula Sprint 1 Drivers’ Champion. The result also marked a milestone for Malta Force, who crossed the 1,000-point mark in team standings – a remarkable achievement for the squad.
Race 2
In fitting fashion, newly crowned champion Majka started Race 2 from pole position. Chaos unfolded behind him at Turn 1 as Roszak, struggling for control, ran wide and triggered a chain reaction through Turn 3. On Lap 3, Roszak attempted a move on Thylin into Turn 6, resulting in slight contact that forced Patryk to cut Turn 7 and retake second off-track – a move that stirred up some controversy.
Two corners later, Andrzejewski executed a brilliant move around the outside of Thylin to claim third, while Eriksson pulled off an equally bold pass around the outside at Turn 9, holding the inside line through Turn 12 to secure fourth.
By Lap 7, Eriksson repeated the move, this time against Andrzejewski. The two battled side by side from Turn 9 to Turn 13, where Eriksson finally completed the overtake. Meanwhile, Majka continued to lead but now faced mounting pressure from Roszak and Eriksson, both hungry for their team’s first win of the season.
A few laps later, Andrzejewski lost ground to Frank Hamming and Scott Flack, slipping down the order. Flack’s hopes of a podium ended shortly after with a spin, while Hamming surged forward, overtaking Eriksson at Turn 8 to take third with three laps to go.
In the closing stages, the podium order remained unchanged. Mateusz Majka capped off his championship-winning campaign in style, taking his 10th victory of the season; the most wins by a single driver for Malta Force since Alex Sibil in 2017. The team also matched their all-time record of 16 wins in a season, set during that same 2017 campaign.
Roszak recorded his third P2 finish of the year, while Frank Hamming completed the podium. Further down the field, Lucas Thylin’s difficult Race 2 saw him drop to sixth, losing fifth place in the overall standings to Oliver Taras. Scott Flack’s late spin at Turn 9 cost him seventh in the standings to Saracino. Scott said after the race “For me it was a bit of a disappointing way to end the season. I couldn’t get a setup that felt good and ended up going with my Brazil setup. The sprint was going well until I pushed a bit too much in a lower gear than I should have and spun it into the wall.”
The Champion
It was a dream event for Malta Force and Mateusz Majka, who sealed both the Driver and Team’s Championships with dominant performances.
Remco de Zeeuw summed it up, saying “Having been the main broadcast director for the FS1 series this year I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about it! Let me start by thanking all of the commentators I’ve had the pleasure of working with; Eoin Harmon was amazing as always, newcomers Alex Hallows and Amir Oates both proved to be great additions to the GPVWC Media Group! Last but not least I’d like to thank Fabian Jungbluth for stepping in for me last-minute in times where I wasn’t available.
Now let’s reflect on the season, like I said it’s been nothing but positive all along. Granted, the constructor’s championship was not very competitive with Malta Force delivering a monster tally of over a 1000 points scored. The driver’s championship however was definitely one to watch, with the Malta Force duo Mateusz Majka and Pawel Andrzejewski going head-to-head all the way into the final round. Apex GP, Team Shiba and HGP also put up a great fight that lead to many entertaining battles on track.
Thank you to all drivers who have participated in FS1 this year and I hope to see all of you, along with some new faces hopefully, again in 2026!”
As the paddock now turns its attention to next season, anticipation is high. With teams such as Grifone, Hundred to One, and Pixelate departing the series, the 2026 grid promises a major shake-up. All eyes now look ahead to GPVWC Day, where the first announcements for next season will be revealed, and the next chapter of Formula Sprint 1 will begin.
