Slater sails to record 14th Italian F4 victory at wet Monza

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Freddie Slater took the chequered flag behind the safety car to win his 14th Italian Formula 4 race of the year, breaking Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s record.

Slater charged into an immediate lead from second on the grid, pulling away rapidly before a series of incidents brought the safety car out, with the race starting and finishing under yellow flags.

Due to persistent rain, the first three laps ran behind the safety car. When racing finally got underway, Slater was right on the tail of US Racing’s Jack Beeton out of Parabolica, drawing alongside past the pits, before easing into the lead around the outside into the first chicane.

Slater immediately sprinted away, building a gap of two seconds by the end of the lap as Beeton focused on watching his mirrors.

Behind him, Tomass Stolcermanis spun at the second chicane after contact with Prema team-mate Dion Gowda, while Alex Powell was called into the pits with a defective rain light.

Jenzer Motorsport’s Reno Francot initially held onto third but gradually dropped back down the field as first Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta and then US’s Akshay Bohra found a way past, followed a lap later by US’s Gianmarco Pradel and the Prema pair of Rashid Al Dhaheri and Gowda.

Slater’s 3.5s lead was wiped out when the safety car reappeared on lap six after Maximilian Popov and Edu Robinson skated off under braking for the opening corner.

Slater made another perfect restart as the safety car pulled in with four minutes remaining. Behind him, Beeton had to defend from Nakamura and Bohra into the first chicane.

Nakamura attacked again into the della Roggia chicane, with Beeton getting sideways on the exit, giving his rival a run on the inside which Beeton blocked, earning a warning flag in the process.

However, when Francot ran wide into Ascari and collected R-ace GP’s Enzo Yeh as he rejoined, the safety car was required again. With only a minute plus one lap remaining, the race finished behind it with Beeton holding onto second from Nakamura Berta.

Race results (12 laps)