After making his Formula 4 debut in Italian F4 last year, Emirati Rashid Al Dhaheri has already scored highly in 2024, sitting fifth in the F4 UAE standings after the first two rounds. Having already stood on the podium, his hopes are high for the rest of the season, which includes upcoming Italian F4 and Euro 4 campaigns with junior single-seater stalwarts Prema Racing. Al Dhaheri spoke to Feeder Series to discuss his rookie campaigns and what’s to come in 2024.

By George Brabner

Al Dhaheri began his karting career on Emirati soil before moving to Italy, where he spent much of his younger years chasing European karting titles. Prior to his F4 graduation, he picked up multiple WSK championship wins, took a record-breaking five Dubai O Plate victories and twice won the Macau International Kart Grand Prix Championship, simultaneously forging his own path in Italy, competing back at home in the UAE and following his father Ali Al Dhaheri, the UAE’s former Ambassador to China, to Asia.

However, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused global travel disruption in 2020, Modena-based Al Dhaheri was unable to see his parents. Only accompanied by his trainer some 4500 kilometres from his family, his maturity was forcibly accelerated.

“The past two years I’ve been spending a lot of time in Italy due to COVID, which made it very hard to travel around. So it was actually around maybe two years that I hadn’t seen my parents because of that. So it’s always been Zoom calls,” Al Dhaheri told Feeder Series.

“It’s very weird in a way. It’s very different. You have a lot of time to spend on racing, but also you have to be very focused on making sure that you complete all your school studies. 

“It was a bit tough in the beginning to make sure that I balanced out my time well, but overall then you get used to it… You have to learn a lot of things really fast, but I think it was an experience that definitely helped me learn a lot and definitely let me follow what I love.”

Picked up by the Yas Heat Racing Academy programme in late 2022, Al Dhaheri was eased into F4 driving with tests at the Yas Marina Circuit and Dubai Autodrome before he jumped full-time into single-seaters. 

However, he was unable to race in the 2023 F4 UAE season because he turned 15 a month after the season concluded, which put him on the back foot when he debuted in Italian F4 under Prema’s wing.

“At the beginning, it was a bit tough because I was missing on a few points, like getting the start-off reaction and having that perfect distance from your front nose of the car to the other car; it’s actually a point that you don’t see and if you look at the races, we’re super tight, and you want to make sure that those distances are really as tight as possible.

“Those small factors were something I had to learn quite fast, but I think that year we were able to do quite a good improvement and definitely know this year we want to put everything together, do a full season and definitely we’re gonna hope to be ready to push at the start,” Al Dhaheri said.

Having the right conditions to grow

Al Dhaheri took 18 top-ten finishes in 29 races across joint Italian F4 and Euro 4 campaigns, claiming tenth and 12th respectively in the final championship standings. Neither season yielded a podium, but as Italian F4’s youngest full-time driver, Al Dhaheri placed his focus on learning as much as possible rather than instant results.

“I knew it was going to be very tough,” he said. “So, of course, as a driver, we always want more. I think all of us, if we get ninth, we want eight. If we get eighth, we want seventh and so on. We’re never happy with what we get, but I think the season, most importantly, I learned a lot, and I was able to bring home a lot of information, a lot of improvements on myself. I think that’s one of the most important parts. 

“The results, I feel like they were good. When they weren’t as good as I really wanted, I felt like I learned much more. I feel like a lot of drivers said this, that when you lose, you actually learn more. So definitely from those less happy race results, I learned much more.”

Sporting Yas Heat’s colours on his Prema-operated Tatuus F4-T421, Al Dhaheri had Italy and the UAE’s two single-seater superpowers in his corner throughout his rookie season, which will continue in 2024.

“Prema is very strong in Europe – actually, it’s very strong all over the world – and they have definitely had a lot of amazing drivers. 

“They are able to still able to teach us very, very well. And also Yas Heat has been very supportive. So I think definitely I have great opportunities, and I’m very happy to be able to learn as much as possible from every part,” he explained.

“Yas Heat is the UAE team in a way. They’ve been supporting Emiratis to help them pursue their goals in single-seater racing, and I think it’s amazing that there’s a support from the entire country to reach our goals, which is something amazing in every sector.”

A sweet end to 2023

Al Dhaheri continued to race with Prema following the conclusion of the Italian F4 season, competing in the non-championship F4 SEA round on the streets of Macau and the series finale at Sepang. 

After falling short of a top-three finish in Europe, he took his maiden competitive podium in Macau, four years after his last triumph there as a karter, executing a clean weekend across the wet qualifying race and Sunday’s finale. To race on the iconic Guia Circuit left a lasting impression on the Emirati, both personally and as a driver.

“Macau is one of the best race tracks you can race at. We definitely got an exciting weekend because we had actually rain, so it was the first time for me to race in a city track. I feel like Macau is one of the hardest racetracks in the world, and you get also the rain, so we had all of it all in one!

“I think Macau, the way you approach the race weekend is very different to the other race weekends. You want to just go for it from the moment you get out of the pit lane because there are a lot of red flags, but at the same time, you need to make sure you don’t hit the wall because that’s a very important detail, but I think that weekend was very exciting. 

“It was very different because of the surroundings in Asia. I did live for a couple of years in China because of my father’s work, so I was a bit familiar, but every time you go to Asia, there’s a lot of different things that are very cool, and I think Macau demonstrates that amazingly. So not only we were able to race an amazing track but also had quite a different experience,” Al Dhaheri explained.

“I think what makes a racing driver very good is the adaptability, so the more situations you have been in… For example, Macau being a city track. In Sepang, the conditions changed incredibly fast, so you’d have rain, then it would dry out, then under the grandstands, it would dry out less. So you had to understand where those points are going to be wet, so each of those two, three races that we did outside of Europe were quite different.”

Al Dhaheri was quick to continue his success in Asia. He claimed his first win three weeks later at Sepang, signifying definite progression after his European campaigns.

“It showed how the experience that we gained throughout the season developed me and shows also how it’s important to keep developing to keep learning from experiences. Those results show that we were able to improve. But definitely, it makes us more motivated, especially me, to keep improving for the last three rounds of the UAE championship and the entire season in Europe.”

Becoming a front-runner

Al Dhaheri, just like his fellow Yas Heat driver Keanu Al Azhari, has carried the success of late 2023 into the start of the 2024 season. Sitting fifth in the F4 UAE standings after the Yas Marina double-header, he has finished inside the top five on four separate occasions.

However, two pointless results, one caused by an incident with Pin that the Frenchwoman received a ten-second time penalty for and another put down to a pit lane start caused by a mechanical failure, have left potential on the table. 

Nevertheless, Al Dhaheri believes his results, spearheaded by a podium at the end of round one, have formed an encouraging opening stanza to the year.

“Of course, we always want more, but I think so far we’ve been able to be consistently in the top positions. Unfortunately, there were moments where we weren’t able to capitalise as well as we’d like, but I think overall we’ve been able to start off quite consistent in the top,” he said.

“When you’re with Prema, you always have strong drivers next to you, and it’s important and I think it’s very good because you’re able to learn a lot from them. It’s good to have always a reference in the team, and I think all of us were learning off of each other, we’re growing based on what we can steal off of each other, but I think we’ve been able to do a really good start to the season, at least Prema and Mumbai Falcons as a team.”

What does the rest of the UAE season hold?

After a two-week break, F4 UAE will continue its 2024 schedule at the Dubai Autodrome, where the status quo at the front of the field will likely change after two rounds at the same venue, albeit on different layouts.

When living in the UAE, Al Dhaheri is only a short distance from the Dubai Autodrome, but he has had limited time on the circuit in recent months, similar to Yas Marina before the season began.

“The thing is, I’m quite a lot of time in Italy, at least during the Formula 4 Italian season. I think on both tracks, we haven’t been able to have a super amount of track time. For me, it would be nice to be every day at the track, but that’s not possible,” he said.

Both venues feature highly technical sectors and pose unique challenges such as frequent changes in grip caused by sand buildup on their track surfaces. Thus, Al Dhaheri stressed the importance of focusing on minute details to find his performance in a field where fractions of a second split tens of cars.

“In Dubai or Abu Dhabi, if there’s a really windy night, you can find the track that’s like a second slower. So it’s very important to understand on the go how the track is, and I feel like Dubai and Abu Dhabi are very technical tracks. 

“In Abu Dhabi, there’s the hotel section, and then sector one in Dubai is quite technical, has very particular corners, so I think It’s very important to understand them as well as possible. Make sure the car is ready. Make sure the driving is on point, and make sure that we put everything together in quali because, in the end, everything is dictated by maybe a tenth or two, at least in the top five, six. 

“It’s definitely important to put your lap together, to understand how to put every small detail together, and then make sure that you’re starting at the top for the races,” he explained.

However, running on a high from his visit to the podium during the season opener, Al Dhaheri is as upbeat as ever about returning to the track.

“Of course, racing at home is always something amazing and especially being able to have a podium, raise the UAE flag at home, to show that we’re there is something amazing. And I can’t wait to get back on track and try to redo it.”

Hopes for the summer

Al Dhaheri will turn his attention to sophomore campaigns in Italian F4 and Euro 4 once the F4 UAE season is complete.

In sharp contrast to last year, experience is on his side, not only with the Tatuus F4 car but tracks such as Monza and Spa-Francorchamps, as well as Europe’s Pirelli compound, which differs in characteristics from the Giti tyre used throughout Asia and the Middle East. 

“I think we’re definitely in a better position compared to last year. I think it’s always important to understand what we need to improve and try to put [procedures] in place going forward,” Al Dhaheri said.

“The tires are a bit different compared to the Formula 4 UAE Championship, but definitely we were able to make sure that we adapt as fast as possible. And, at the end, the goal is always to learn and to make sure that we’re as consistent as possible being at the top positions.”

The opportunity to compete against the same drivers that will be racing in Europe’s premier F4 championships, gain track time on FIA Grade 1 circuits and be forced to hone race management skills by reversed grids in F4 UAE puts Al Dhaheri in a superior position before the summer, advantages he couldn’t reap the rewards of in 2023.

“Every time you go for a race, you learn something new, and I think it definitely makes sure that I know a bit how my competitors are, and also how I can maximise what I can do or improve what I can do. So definitely I think it’s so far been quite educating. 

“I’ve been able to improve quite a bit, and definitely everything that I gain here is something that I can use in the Italian championship,” he explained.

As a result, his target is set.

“I feel like when you go to the track and you don’t work to win, it’s not the same. It’s a lot more hard work, a lot more determination than just saying it, but definitely that’s what we want to achieve. We’re going to work hard to get it.”

Header photo credit: F4 UAE