Photo: F4 UAE
Ferrari junior James Wharton will see out the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates season, despite missing the most recent round having been down for a part-time campaign.
The single-seater rookie will race for Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema in the remaining two rounds over the next two weekends, and also contested the first two rounds but did not race last weekend. He will now lose rookie status in Italian F4 for this year.
He was replaced by Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the first of two rounds on Dubai Autodrome’s Grand Prix layout, and that seat is now taken by Danish F4 champion Conrad Laursen. But the team is adding a third car to field Wharton as well.
“Just want to get some more experience under my belt,” Wharton said to Formula Scout as he explained his return.
“Still so new [to F4] and have a lot to learn. I am not sure about cars [I’m in], and yes to both last rounds.”
Christian Ho is staying on the grid with MP Motorsport after making his debut last weekend, with Hitech GP retaining Luke Browning too. Ruhaan Alva makes his first appearance in one of Mumbai Falcons’ cars receiving technical support from Xcel Motorsport.
Alva, son of a rally driver, was Indian X30 Junior karting champion in 2019 and ’20 and contested the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals on a Rotax Junior kart last year. He transitioned into cars in Formula LGB 1300, and has been a winner in the 2021-22 season.
On Wednesday a private F4 UAE test took place at Dubai, and PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin set the pace by 0.007s over points leader and the third Abu Dhabi Racing driver Aiden Neate.
Prema duo Charlie Wurz and Rafael Camara were also within 0.020s of Bedrin’s fastest lap, and Xcel Motorsport’s Ivan Domingues was just 0.091s slower. JHR Developments’ Joseph Loake was absent.
Bedrin’s team-mate Taylor Barnard was on top at one point, but only set 14 laps.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | 2m01.266s | 23 |
| 2 | Aiden Neate | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +0.007s | 39 |
| 3 | Charlie Wurz | Prema | +0.012s | 36 |
| 4 | Rafael Camara | Prema | +0.020s | 41 |
| 5 | Ivan Domingues | Xcel Motorsport | +0.091s | 44 |
| 6 | Luke Browning | MP Motorsport | +0.224s | 37 |
| 7 | Martinius Stenshorne | 3Y by R-ace GP | +0.453s | 40 |
| 8 | Brando Badoer | AKM Motorsport | +0.633s | 39 |
| 9 | Alex Dunne | Hitech GP | +0.644s | 37 |
| 10 | Christian Ho | MP Motorsport | +0.690s | 36 |
| 11 | Anshul Gandhi | Cram-Hitech GP | +0.746s | 46 |
| 12 | Nikhil Bohra | 3Y by R-ace GP | +0.753s | 41 |
| 13 | Miron Pingasov | MP Motorsport | +0.769s | 36 |
| 14 | James Wharton | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +0.840s | 40 |
| 15 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | MP Motorsport | +0.848s | 35 |
| 16 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | +0.900s | 14 |
| 17 | Ricardo Escotto | Cram-Hitech GP | +0.946s | 42 |
| 18 | Conrad Laursen | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +1.021s | 41 |
| 19 | Michael Shin | JHR Developments | +1.148s | 37 |
| 20 | Valerio Rinicella | MP Motorsport | +1.151s | 37 |
| 21 | Vladislav Ryabov | GRS | +1.156s | 40 |
| 22 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | Xcel Motorsport | +1.189s | 42 |
| 23 | Jamie Day | Xcel Motorsport | +1.209s | 28 |
| 24 | Victoria Blokhina | 3Y by R-ace GP | +1.774s | 37 |
| 25 | Rober De Haan | Pinnacle Motorsport | +1.798s | 38 |
| 26 | Yash Aradhya | Mumbai Falcons by Xcel | +1.863s | 41 |
| 27 | Suleiman Zanfari | MP Motorsport | +1.890s | 36 |
| 28 | Ruhaan Alva | Mumbai Falcons by Xcel | +2.016s | 43 |
| 29 | Jonas Ried | PHM Racing | +2.481s | 20 |
| 30 | Jef Machiels | Pinnacle Motorsport | +3.159s | 40 |
| 31 | Ismoilkhuja Akhmedkhodjaev | Xcel Motorsport | +3.509s | 39 |