Photo: ACI Sport
Elia Weiss controlled the third heat in the Italian Formula 4 finale at Mugello to take his first win in the championship and Jenzer Motorsport’s first win since Filip Ugran’s victory at Imola in August 2020.
The victory goes some way to compensate Weiss for his first visit of the year to Mugello in July when a double retirement meant that his two pole positions failed to yield a single point
The German had failed to make the most of his front row start in heat one, but this time managed to grab the lead from polesitter David Cosma-Cristofor around the outside at San Donato, with his Jenzer team-mate Levi Arn slotting into second.
Weiss looked to have the race under control as he gradually extended the gap to his pursuers with Arn ahead of Cosma-Cristofor, R-ace GP’s Kenzo Craigie and Prema’s Christian Costoya.
However, the McLaren junior was unable to keep the pace of the leading quartet, dropping behind Andy Consani on lap three and Edu Robinson next time around.
Just as Weiss seemed to have built up a comfortable lead, his work was undone by the appearance of the safety car as Kingsley Zheng punted Diminik Simek into the Turn 1 gravel. Zheng was given a drive through penalty while the Trident driver’s race was over.
Weiss managed the restart to perfection, while behind him Consani jumped his fellow Mercedes-AMG F1 junior Craigie for fourth.
With a one-two in sight for the Swiss team, Arn began to lose pace, dropping behind Cosma-Cristofor and Consani on successive laps and ultimately falling away to sixth at the flag.
An “overjoyed” Weiss told Formula Scout after the victory ceremony that “we had a really good start. We had great pace already yesterday, so I am just really satisfied to reproduce it today and to give this win back to the team.”
Having already secured the F4 Central Europe crown, Weiss said winning in Italy too was “a really great feeling. I think this is the hardest F4 series in the world, and I thin it also shows how hard the Central European Zone championship was this year.
Race results (14 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elia Weiss | Jenzer Motorsport | 28m28.014s |
| 2 | David Cosma-Cristofor | Prema | +1.343s |
| 3 | Andy Consani | R-ace GP | +2.243s |
| 4 | Edward Robinson | US Racing | +4.193s |
| 5 | Kenzo Craigie | R-ace GP | +4.854s |
| 6 | Levi Arn | Jenzer Motorsport | +5.919s |
| 7 | Oleksandr Savinkov | US Racing | +6.909s |
| 8 | Jensen Burnett | R-ace GP | +10.218s |
| 9 | Nicolas Cortes | Jenzer Motorsport | +13.568s |
| 10 | Christian Costoya | Prema | +14.593s |
| 11 | Payton Westcott | R-ace GP | +14.788s |
| 12 | David Walther | Maffi Racing | +15.837s |
| 13 | Oscar Repetto | PHM Racing | +15.979s |
| 14 | Florentin Hattemer | Trident Motorsport | +17.506s |
| 15 | Noah Killion | US Racing | +18.987s |
| 16 | Jesse Phillips | R-ace GP | +19.993s |
| 17 | Roland Kuklane | PHM Racing | +20.415s |
| 18 | Lyuboslav Ruykov | Prema | +21.095s |
| 19 | Dean Pedersen | CRAM Motorsport | +22.150s |
| 20 | Knud Nielsen | Real Racing | +22.580s |
| 21 | Antonio Errigo | Technorace Competition | +23.250s |
| 22 | Andre Rodriguez | CRAM Motorsport | +23.487s |
| 23 | Yibei Sun | Trident Motorsport | +23.845s |
| 24 | Filippo Sala | Prema | +24.661s |
| 25 | Joaquin Pagola | Alpha 54 Racing | +30.118s |
| 26 | Musaad Albassam | Technorace Competition | +30.347s |
| 27 | Lucas Pasquinetti | Trident Motorsport | +30.773s |
| 28 | Ginevra Panzeri | Prema | +32.216s |
| 29 | Igor Polak | Maffi Racing | +32.396s |
| 30 | Nikolaj Dyrved | Maffi Racing | +32.693s |
| 31 | Kwan Ho Kingsley Zheng | Prema | +44.888s |
| Ret | Fabricio Fogaca | AKM Motorsport | Retired |
| Ret | Dominik Simek | Trident Motorsport | Retired |
Fastest lap: Robinson, 1m50.502s