August Raber wins British F4 opener at Donington

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

August Raber won the opening race of the 2025 British Formula 4 championship at Donington Park.

Racing was disrupted by two safety car periods, leaving the field with a three-minute dash to the flag to end the race.

Raber held off pressure from Fionn McLaughlin to take the victory while a penalty for James Piszcyk cost him a podium position.

Piszcyk made a storming start from the third row of the grid, taking second from Raber and challenging polesitter Henry Joslyn for the race lead. Before the lap was up, Raber had retaken second position and closed onto the back of Joslyn, while Piszcyk defended his position from McLaughlin.

It didn’t take Raber long to find a way past Joslyn, and he was comfortably ahead when the safety car was brought out 10 minutes into the race. In the middle of the field, Xavier Avramides had spun at the final corner and came to a stop on track. The marshals were able to get his car moving again before the safety car made it onto the track, leading to a quick pause.

The track turned green with 11 minutes remaining, and Raber made a good get away to pull away from the rest of the field. Behind him, Joslyn came under attack from Piszcyk. The two came together and Joslyn was sent straight on at the chicane and hit the barriers, bringing the safety car out again.

Piszcyk was still third on track, now behind McLaughlin, but his race would go from bad to worse when he was hit with a five-second penalty. His strong getaway had come under scrutiny and it was deemed he made a false start.

Racing resumed with just three minutes left on the clock. McLaughlin was able to stay with Raber on the restart, but couldn’t find a way past the Argenti driver. He finished just 0.460s back in second.

In the final laps, the closest battle on track was between Tommy Harfield and Ethan Jeff-Hall, who were battling for what would become third on track. The pair had been battling since the first half of the race, after Harfield passed Jeff-Hall on the opening lap. Despite multiple overtake attempts, Harfield defended his position well and came through to take third place overall, and first in the Challenge Cup.

Thomas Bearman held off Rowan Campbell-Pilling to pick up fifth. They finished just ahead of the battle between Martin Molnar, Ella Lloyd and Adam Al Azhari. Lloyd had been ahead during the safety car period, but Molnar and Al Azhari both found a way through in the brief dash to the flag. Piszcyk, with his penalty applied, broke up the trio, placing ninth overall ahead of Lloyd.

Race results (15 laps)