Wheldon wins after Bondarev spins in first Monza Italian F4 encounter

Photo: ACI Sport

Sebastian Wheldon took victory in a typically entertaining Italian Formula 4 race at Monza after his Prema team-mate Sasha Bondarev spun out of an early lead.

Wheldon made a good getaway from pole position to cover the inside into the first chicane, but Williams junior driver Bondarev managed to go hang on around his outside and take the lead.

The safety car was soon deployed for a crash between Enea Frey and Alexander Ruta at the start of lap two, and on the restart, Gabriel Gomez went down the inside of Wheldon to take second. A lap later, US Racing driver Gomez was challenging Bondarev for the lead on the outside, but couldn’t find a way by and ended up conceding second to Wheldon once more into the Roggia chicane.

That put Wheldon in position to inherit the lead later in the lap when Bondarev lost control in the middle of Ascari on the gravel-covered kerb and spun to the rear of the field. The chasing cars had to take avoiding action through the gravel trap but Wheldon emerged with the lead as the safety car was deployed once more.

Wheldon managed to retain the lead ahead of Gomez at the restart, while Alex Powell – having charged from 18th to fifth – ran through the gravel on the exit of the Rettifilo chicane and fell back down to 18th.

Championship leader Kean Nakamura-Berta was also making progress from 13th on the grid, passing team-mates Newman Chi and Salim Hanna to gain fourth before a third and final safety car deployment to retrieve the car of Elia Weiss from inside the first chicane.

Nakamura-Berta gained third from Luka Sammalisto immediately on the restart, before Gomez pulled an Oscar Piastri-style move on Wheldon around the outside into the Roggia chicane to take the lead. Nakamura-Berta capitalised on the exit to demote Wheldon to third.

Gomez then had to defend from Nakamura-Berta into the Parabolica, giving Wheldon the chance to fight back and make it three-wide down the pit straight, reclaiming the lead before the first corner.

Perhaps surprisingly, Wheldon was then able to break away as he clinched his third win of the year, while Gomez took second back from Nakamura-Berta before the end. Chi, Hanna and Sammalisto followed.

Race results (14 laps)