Emanuele Olivieri has been named Driver of the Year for the Formula Regional Europe by the team principals, according to the annual survey conducted by Formula Scout.
The driver from the R-ace GP team becomes the first non-Prema driver to receive this recognition and does so with a perfect score, surpassing previous winners such as Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Freddie Slater, who were just one point shy of the maximum.
The voting system asked each team to submit their ranking of the top ten drivers of the 2026 season. To ensure impartiality, team directors were not allowed to vote for their own drivers. Only those who participated in at least half of the races were eligible.
The survey scores were awarded following a system of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. With ten teams competing, each driver could achieve a maximum of 90 points.
The top three positions matched the overall standings, with Sebastian Wheldon from MP Motorsport taking second place, ahead of Kean Nakamura-Berta from Prema. Wheldon was second on six occasions, while Nakamura-Berta was twice.
Another notable driver was Reno Francot, ranked fourth, who achieved a higher position than his in the final standings thanks to his strong performances with CL Motorsport. Rashid Al Dhaheri, also from R-ace GP, finished in fifth place.
In sixth place was Alexander Abkhazava from MP Motorsport, who showed great progress during the season, followed by Jan Przyrowski from RPM, who won a race on the final day in Hockenheim, and Alex Ninovic from Rodin Motorsport.
Although Przyrowski finished twelfth in the points standings, his performances impressed those present in the pit lane. His rise of five places is notable, but it cannot be compared to the nine places gained by Marcus Saeter from G4 Racing.
The list of the top ten drivers was completed with Yuki Sano from R-ace GP, who surpassed Newman Chi by just five points. Both drivers were ranked in the top ten only four times.
Aside from Oleksandr Bondarev, who was not eligible, it is noteworthy that Giovanni Maschio managed to earn a point in this survey before retiring after 77 consecutive races.
A total of 19 drivers received at least one nomination, although surprisingly only five drivers –Olivieri, Wheldon, Nakamura-Berta, Francot, and Abkhazava– were included in each of the top 10 from all teams.
We thank the team principals who participated in the survey, including Maarten De Busser (MP Motorsport) and Keith Donegan (RPM), among others.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
