Prema Racing’s Freddie Slater was undoubtedly the driver to beat in this year’s Italian F4 season, bagging the championship title in Barcelona with four races left, but the three second-year F4 drivers fighting for the series’ runner-up spot gave Slater a tough challenge. Feeder Series sat down with Akshay Bohra, Hiyu Yamakoshi and Jack Beeton to reflect on the season from their perspectives.

By Francesca Brusa

Akshay Bohra (P4, 217 points): ‘I can’t really be mad about this campaign’

With two podiums and 14 points finishes, Bohra ended his first season in Italian F4 in 2023 eighth in the overall standings and fourth in the rookie category. 

This year, the New York–born racer made significant progress, as he explained while talking to Feeder Series during the Monza weekend.

“I’ve been faster than I was last year, and with the experience I have, I’m obviously qualifying better and making less mistakes,” Bohra said. “I’m still making a lot of mistakes I’m learning from, but I’m making those mistakes at the front of the field, which I think is important. 

“You always want to get experience fighting in the mid-pack but also leading races and being in the front. So definitely, doing my second year of F4, I feel like I gained a lot more experience being one of the people to win each race.”

Bohra scored three top-three finishes in the first two rounds of the season, but a difficult weekend in Vallelunga with no top fives put the US Racing driver’s championship hopes on the backburner as Slater took his seventh victory from nine races.

“Even from the first round, I had a pretty big point deficit,” he said. “Then I caught up, and then I lost again. 

“But to be honest, I was never really concerned fully with the championship standings. I was just trying to do my best every weekend. I wasn’t really focused on just, ‘Oh, we need to win this and that and that.’ I just tried to focus on my process to do my best.”

From the round in Mugello to Catalunya, Bohra claimed five podiums from nine races. That included race one at Paul Ricard, where, starting from pole position, the Indian-American clinched his first win in the series.

Nevertheless, it was his campaign in Euro 4, Italian F4’s sister series, that Bohra chose when asked by Feeder Series to pick a highlight of the year.

“I’d say the highlights were probably Mugello Euro 4 because I walked away with three poles and two wins. Also Monza Euro 4, that’s when I won the championship, obviously, which was a pretty good high,” he said.

“It wasn’t my greatest weekend ever. I think qualifying we did well, especially in Monza, to have three consistent results, which was really rare for most people. I just stayed out of trouble, had good results. 

“I don’t think I maximised each race. I probably could have won one of the first two and maybe had a stronger result in the last one. But I think the biggest thing was the consistency, which helped me take the title especially when everyone else was struggling.”

With a total of 217 championship points, Bohra rounded out his second year in Italian F4 fourth in the standings. The Indian-American driver said Slater had “for sure done a good job” and that reaching his performance level wasn’t “something unattainable”.

“Maybe I’ve had a bit of misfortune in Barcelona and here and there,” he said. “I think I did pretty much the best I could this season. And everything I didn’t do well I learned from, so I can’t really be mad about this campaign.”

In 2025, Bohra will join forces with R-ace GP in the FRegional European Championship.

Hiyu Yamakoshi (P3, 220 points): ‘I wasn’t expecting to fight in the championship’

While US Racing’s Bohra claimed that experience was one of his strong points this season in Italian F4, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi confessed he felt limited by his lack thereof.

“Slater did have quite a lot [more] experience than me about Italian F4, Pirelli tyre. It was the first time in my career [in] Italian F4, [with the] Pirelli and Tatuus car,” he told Feeder Series in Monza. “This inexperience [was] quite a big problem because Bohra, Jack Beeton have one year [in] Italian F4 already. But actually, we did quite a lot of winter tests, so it quite helped me.”

Yamakoshi completed a full season in French F4 in 2023, finishing fifth with five podiums, as well as partial campaigns in Spanish F4 and F4 UAE, with best results of seventh in both. Having previously taken part in three other F4 championships before his Italian F4 season, the Japanese racer was not considered a rookie.

He quickly proved why in round two at Imola by claiming three pole positions and two race wins, slashing the gap to Slater from 43 points to 18 and proving the title was not yet sealed. 

“I [was] struggling round one, but I won two races and three pole positions in round two and another triple podium in Vallelunga, round three,” Yamakoshi said.

“Actually, I wasn’t expecting that I could fight in the championship! Especially since I was quite struggling in Spanish F4 and French F4. The last few races went quite well, but I know Italian F4 is a very, very high, rapid racing series.”

Fortune didn’t work out in the Van Amersfoort Racing driver’s favour later in the year. As the races went by and Slater kept collecting wins, Yamakoshi lost sight of the trophy even though he finished in the top six consistently. 

“I struggled in two rounds, but I was back to the podium in round six in Barcelona,” the Japanese driver said. “It’s two months of just no luck at all, so hopefully I have some luck for just the last race of this year.”

Yamakoshi’s Euro 4 hopes fell apart with two non-scores in the first two rounds and only six points total from the Monza finale. Similarly, Italian F4’s Monza round brought no points for the Tokyo-born racer, who saw US Racing’s Jack Beeton steal second position in the standings as the curtain closed on the season.

Despite the disappointing ending, Yamakoshi still managed to come third, with 220 points to his name. 

“It’s [gone] quite well this season, thinking about the driving technique. All the struggling will make [me] stronger for next year,” he said. “I’m very sad I lost the championship. It’s a bit nervous, but it’s not a bad feeling.”

In 2025, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver will stick to the Dutch outfit and make the step up to FR Europe. 

Jack Beeton (P2, 222 points): ‘We found something within the team, within myself’

Jack Beeton’s 2024 Italian F4 campaign was one for the books. As the first round unfolded, however, few would’ve guessed so.

“Misano wasn’t my greatest round, only getting points in one race,” the Australian told Feeder Series. “I started off pretty slowly. We’re still learning everything. We’re in F4, right? We’re all still learning. We’re all still developing a lot. And I started off decently low and then just slowly progressed.”

The season opener was the odd one out in the US Racing driver’s season. From the second round onwards, the Australian claimed at least one podium at every circuit on the calendar.

“In Imola, we qualified on the front row and got one podium,” Beeton said. “Then in Vallelunga, I managed to qualify in pole [and] get another podium. And then just as it progressed, I was feeling really comfortable with the car, with the team. Especially once we got to that middle part of the season, Mugello, Paul Ricard, I think we really started to hit our stride.”

In the first five rounds, Beeton had six non-scores, three of them retirements. But he also had six second places, and all of his points finishes were top-five results. By year’s end, he had a total of 10 podiums, second only to Slater’s 16.

“We’ve been working hard with the team from the beginning of the season, especially in testing. We knew that to win a championship, you’ve got to be consistent. Obviously we didn’t win, but P2, consistency was for sure probably the biggest thing that contributed to it. Consistently being on the podium, being up the front at the end. It took qualifying at the front consistently, which makes the races a lot easier. It’s a lot easier to finish at the front when you start there.”

Just like teammate Bohra and championship rival Yamakoshi, the Gold Coast–born racer was one of six winners in Italian F4 this year, doing so in the final race of the penultimate round in Barcelona.

“It definitely took a lot longer than I would have wanted,” he said. “Qualifying on pole in round three and then not winning until round six, leading races in between then and having the pace to win races as well. It made it feel like it was never coming, but eventually it got there. And it was so special to finally get it.

“The pace was really good all weekend in Barcelona. It went back to testing and testing. We were fast straight away even compared to my teammates. I was really quick, and you just continued with that and kept building and building. And once we got to the race weekend, the pace was really good and [I] was able to win the race. It was managed pretty well, to be honest – managed the tyres, the track position, the safety car restart.

“It was really special to finally get the win. I was super happy after. It was a long time coming.”

Coming into the final round of the season at Monza, Beeton was fourth in the standings, 37 points behind second-placed Yamakoshi and at a six-point distance from Bohra. By collecting two podium finishes and outscoring both of his rivals, the Queenslander earned himself the runner-up spot with 222 points under his belt.

“Speaking with my manager, my driver coach and my parents and everything, we were almost just trying to forget about [the points]. We knew we’re close with P3 in the championship already, and P2 seemed quite far away, but we had momentum. Those last few rounds, [I was] arguably the strongest driver apart from Slater, who was winning every race,” Beeton said.“I’m not sure where I was expecting to come out at the start of the season. In testing we were always okay. We were in the top 10, but nothing really special. In the end, we found something for sure within the team, within myself and came out P2, which is good.

“South East Asian F4 last year was really special to win. My first championship win [in] anything basically outside of local karting events in Australia,” he continued.

“And then once we came to Europe, it’s another league. European-rate motorsport is just such a high level. I mean, it’s essentially the world championship. So to come out second in, I would say, the highest F4 championship was certainly a good result. It definitely feels the same specialness as our South East Asian F4 championship last year.”

Next year, Beeton will compete in FR Europe with Prema Racing. Since the end of his main campaign, the Gold Coast native has tested with his future team.

“It’s a fairly decent step,” he told Feeder Series. “It’s not like going straight from F4 to FIA F3, which is a completely different world. It’s a fair step. I think it’s something that most drivers should be taking.

“I mean, it took me a few sessions. I’m still learning the car and everything. I’m not saying I’m P1 straight away because obviously I’m not, so it’ll take some time for sure. 

“It’s a different car to drive. It’s a lot heavier. Low speed, you’ve got to really be direct with the car and make it go where you want it to go,” he continued. “The F4 you can sort of dance around and use the rear to rotate and everything, whereas in the Regional, you’ve just got to point it and that’s where it goes.

“It definitely takes some time to get used to. F4 doesn’t have a lot of downforce. Now you’re going to cars with a diffuser and everything, so it’s definitely a different kettle of fish. You’ve got to adapt to it, and I think slowly and surely I will get there.”

Prema have fielded the last three drivers’ champions in FR Europe – Dino Beganovic, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Rafael Câmara – and won the teams’ title each of those years. Beeton, who joins Slater and Rashid Al Dhaheri at the team, aspires to be the fourth in a row.

“This year, coming second, obviously next year I’ll try and win. It’s going to be very difficult, but I’ll try my best. I’m a racing driver – I just want to win, but it won’t happen straight away. I’ll try my best, see what happens in the end, just try and keep improving myself, and I’m sure the results will come.

“Slater, Bohra, Yamakoshi, all the front runners for sure will be going up to FRECA. For those drivers, I’ll know how they race. They’re also going to be developing and getting better as a driver. My goal is to just try and develop quicker than them. It definitely gives me an advantage knowing how they race, but there’s 30-odd other drivers that I haven’t raced before on that grid.

“Going to a new car, a new championship, many new drivers I’m racing against, it’ll be something different to get used to, but I’m excited to see what the future holds.”

Header photo credit: Alex Galli