Photo: F4 UAE
Freddie Slater led home Mumbai Falcons team-mate Alex Powell to take his second Formula 4 United Arab Emirates win at Yas Marina Circuit.
The pair lined up on the front row for the opening race of the weekend, with Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Powell converting pole into the lead at the start. PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin held third, while Prema’s Doriane Pin made up two positions to fourth.
There was an early safety car period after several cars ran into trouble. Xcel Motorsport’s Tina Hausmann and R-ace GP’s Enzo Yeh retired while Keanu Al Azhari and Kean Nakamura Berta, who had qualified in fourth and fifth respectively, both headed for the pitlane with damage.
Racing resumed with 19 minutes left on the clock. Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough, who made up three places to ninth at the start, capitalised on a battle between Alvise Rodella and Jules Caranta to sneak up the inside of the pair into seventh.
Tiago Rodrigues then joined the squabble, but ended up colliding with Xcel team-mate Rodella, with Caranta also collected and spun around. All three were able to rejoin initially, but Caranta eventually retired.
Moments later the lead of the race changed hands, with Slater diving down the inside of Powell at the first corner. Rashid Al Dhaheri also took fourth away from Prema team-mate Pin.
R-ace’s Luka Sammalisto triggered the second safety car period of the race after locking up with an issue and crashing out shortly after dicing with Yas Heat Academy’s Zack Scoular for 10th place.
Slater maintained the lead when green flags waved again with nine minutes remaining, and he pulled clear after that to win by 2.335 seconds from Powell, with Bedrin completing the podium.
Al Dhaheri came home behind the trio, with Pin finishing fifth ahead of Gabriel Stilp, who edged Hitech team-mate Fairclough to sixth after an earlier side-by-side battle.
Matteo Quintarelli was eighth for Sainteloc Racing ahead of R-ace’s Raphael Narac. Scoular was 10th ahead of his team-mate Al Azhari, who recovered from the back of the field to 11th. Dion Gowda was 12th for Mumbai Falcons, one place ahead of team-mate Nakamura, to secure reversed-grid pole for race two.
Rodriques had his second collision of the race with an Xcel team-mate late on, coming together with Kaishun Liu.
Race results (14 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freddie Slater | Mumbai Falcons | 31m50.611s |
| 2 | Alex Powell | Mumbai Falcons | +2.335s |
| 3 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | +2.729s |
| 4 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | +3.120s |
| 5 | Doriane Pin | Prema | +4.958s |
| 6 | Gabriel Stilp | Hitech GP | +6.006s |
| 7 | Deagen Fairclough | Hitech GP | +6.421s |
| 8 | Matteo Quintarelli | Sainteloc Racing | +7.455s |
| 9 | Raphael Narac | R-ace GP | +8.324s |
| 10 | Zack Scoular | Yas Heat | +15.321s |
| 11 | Keanu Al Azhari | Yas Heat | +15.331s |
| 12 | Dion Gowda | Mumbai Falcons | +15.585s |
| 13 | Kean Nakamura Berta | Mumbai Falcons | +15.639s |
| 14 | Maximilian Popov | PHM Racing | +17.309s |
| 15 | Seb Murray | Hitech GP | +17.473s |
| 16 | Kai Daryanani | Pinnacle Motorsport | +17.703s |
| 17 | Jack Beeton | AGI Sport | +18.057s |
| 18 | Kamal Mrad | PHM Racing | +18.124s |
| 19 | Aurelia Nobels | Sainteloc Racing | +19.624s |
| 20 | Peter Bouzinelos | AGI Sport | +20.391s |
| 21 | Carrie Schreiner | AGI Sport | +20.983s |
| 22 | Yevan David | Sainteloc Racing | +21.916s |
| 23 | Alvise Rodella | Xcel Motorsport | +22.232s |
| 24 | Reza Seewooruthun | Hitech GP | +22.709s |
| 25 | Everett Stack | PHM Racing | +23.420s |
| 26 | Yuhao Fu | Pinnacle Motorsport | +24.284s |
| 27 | Maxi Restrepo | Sainteloc Racing | +25.635s |
| 28 | Yuanpu Cui | Xcel Motorsport | +29.224s |
| 29 | Nicolas Stati | AGI Sport | +29.708s |
| 30 | Tiago Rodrigues | Xcel Motorsport | +37.334s |
| 31 | Kaishun Liu | Xcel Motorsport | +42.553s |
| Ret | Luka Sammalisto | R-ace GP | |
| Ret | Jules Caranta | R-ace GP | |
| Ret | Enzo Yeh | R-ace GP | |
| Ret | Tina Hausmann | Xcel Motorsport | |
| Fastest lap: Slater, 1m56.401s
Championship standings |
|||