A trio of Formula 4 series raced this weekend, with Italian F4 at Mugello, British F4 at Thruxton and Brazilian F4 at Velocitta. Feeder Series reviews all the junior single-seater action away from the Hungaroring and F2 and F3’s final rounds before the summer break.

By Feeder Series

In F4, chaos is par for the course, especially with the bulging grids found in the modern-day European series. Yet even with a number of incidents, there were astonishingly no delays to any of Italian F4’s races at Mugello even with a record 50 cars participating – the largest in history in a one-class F4 series.

That series generated three new race winners from its four races, an impressive feat at this point in the season. Two new winners arose from British F4’s round at Thruxton and one, a debuting double winner, from Brazilian F4’s Velocitta event, its first in three months. Read on to find out what happened in each of those series.

Over at Sweden’s Kinnekulle Ring for Nordic 4, Elias Adestam took pole position ahead of title contender Richard Olson. Adestam went on to win the first race of the weekend by just 0.067 seconds from Olson, with Matteis Stigsen passing newcomer Tim Sköld for third. Race two then went the way of Stigsen, followed by Adestam and Mille Hoe on the podium and Olson in fourth. Race three mirrored the first in terms of the podium. Stigsen reclaimed the lead of the championship by three points from Olson with three rounds left.

In NACAM F4, championship leader Alex Bobadilla took pole position at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and went on to win the weekend’s first two races. In the round’s final race, an accident that launched Mariano Alatorre onto two wheels and out of the race, leading to an early safety car. Fernando Rivera took his first series victory, while Alan Zezatti and Oliver Trejo each went three for three on podiums scored with Bobadilla only fourth in race three. Exiting the weekend, Bobadilla extended his lead in the standings over Zezatti to 47 points with Trejo 104 points adrift in third position.

1. Italian F4: R-ace GP impress as Consani and Craigie earn their first series wins
2. British F4: First wins for Palmer and Al Sabah headline chaotic Thruxton weekend
3. Brazilian F4: Arnaudo claims pole position, two victories in debut weekend

Italian F4: R-ace GP impress as Consani and Craigie earn their first series wins

R-ace GP drivers were once again the shining stars of the weekend in Mugello, as both Andy Consani and Kenzo Craigie earned their first Italian F4 wins.

The weekend started with a bizarre set of circumstances in qualifying after Elia Weiss and David Cosma Cristofor topped their qualifying groups with identical times. Cosma Cristofor was initially awarded pole on account of having set it 0.7 seconds earlier within his session, but that was rescinded and Weiss, who was in the first group, was instead listed as having topped the combined classification.

Niccolò Maccagnani triumphing over Craigie and Sammalisto in race one. A bad start meant David Cosma Cristofor lost the lead as soon as the lights went out and fell down the order, ultimately finishing fourth. Bader Al Sulaiti started seventh and finished the race just behind the Romanian driver, but he was hit with a 10-second time penalty after the race for a false start, dropping him to 26th place. 

The race went on quite cleanly until lap eight, when Emily Cotty and Oleksandr Savinkov collided, with both retiring from the race. Just after the restart three laps later, David Walther’s car came to a complete stop, bringing the safety car back on track. A one-lap shootout gave Craigie the chance to get the edge over Maccagnani, to no avail.

After the chequered flag, some drivers received grid penalties for their next race. Pedro Lima dropped four positions for making contact with Rafaela Ferreira; Fabricio Fogaça received the same penalty for colliding with Tamás Gender, puncturing the latter’s left-rear tire; and finally, Walther dropped three places for minor contact with Savinkov earlier in the race.

Race two was full of action, as Ary Bansal, who started ninth, claimed his first win in Italian F4. The Indian driver made up four places on the opening lap and passed Cosma Cristofor on lap seven.

Consani led the race from lap eight after overtaking polesitter Elia Weiss at Turn 2. While doing so, however, the Frenchman punctured Weiss’s rear tyre and damaged his own front wing. Bansal passed Maccagnani that lap and rapidly closed down on Consani.

While the German retired in the pits, Consani couldn’t defend much longer against Bansal with the lack of downforce, losing the lead with three laps left. He was also hit with a staggering 25-second time penalty, which put him back in 22nd place as the race finished. 

Bernardo Bernoldi received a six-place grid drop for colliding with Teo Borenstein, who retired on lap nine, while Fogaça also received another four-place grid drop for contact with Zoe Florescu.

Consani managed to redeem himself by winning race three, with Al Sulaiti getting his first podium by finishing second. Oleksandr Bondarev also took third place and his second podium of the season.

The race started behind the safety car for a few laps on a damp track, but it was quickly redeployed after polesitter Weiss lost control in Turn 1 and got beached in the gravel. When the race restarted, Kingsley Zheng also spun out, leading to another safety car period.

Consani had taken a bold decision by putting slick tyres on a drying track. While those drivers struggled with grip in the early stages of the race, their gamble was rewarded later. Consani went from fifth to first, overtaking Al Sulaiti on the penultimate lap.

The final race saw Craigie win his first Italian F4 race in front of Sammalisto and Maccagnani. The Mercedes junior made a superb comeback from fourth place after losing two spots on the first lap. Drama unfolded that lap after Lyuboslav Ryukov collided with Kirill Kutskov and hit the wall, bringing out the safety car. 

Craigie moved past Bondarev and Maccagnani for second on that restart before a subsequent incident on lap five took out Alexander Ruta and Teo Borenstein. That gave Craigie another restart on which to capitalise on his superior pace, and he did, swiftly passing Maccagnani into Turn 2. The results remain provisional while ACI reviews wheel bearing conformity on the left-front assays of Craigie, Maccagnani and Sammalisto.

Still, with two wins, R-ace GP climbed up to fourth in the teams’ standings, overtaking Van Amersfoort Racing. US Racing still lead Prema there by 96, with Luka Sammalisto extending his drivers’ championship lead to 55 points. In the rookies’ standings, Craigie reduced the gap to leader Alp Aksoy to just 25 points.

Report by Julien Thoinet

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Elia Weiss, 1:49.035	Alp Aksoy, +0.333s	Niccolò Maccagnani, +0.426s
Qualifying 2	David Cosma Cristofor, 1:49.035	Andy Consani, +0.349s	Kenzo Craigie, +0.518s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Niccolò Maccagnani, 28:57.686	Kenzo Craigie, +0.271s	Luka Sammalisto, +0.838s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Ary Bansal, 28:08.535	Niccolò Maccagnani, +5.577s	David Cosma Cristofor, +6.405s
Race 3 (11 laps)	Andy Consani, 29:50.016	Bader Al Sulaiti, +0.866s	Oleksandr Bondarev, +1.264s
Race 4 (13 laps)	Kenzo Craigie, 27:30.704	Luka Sammalisto, +0.642s	Niccolò Maccagnani, +4.668s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Luka Sammalisto, 288	US Racing, 750	Alp Aksoy, 285
P2	David Cosma Cristofor, 233	Prema Racing, 656	Kenzo Craigie, 260
P3	Alp Aksoy, 214	Jenzer Motorsport, 224	Oscar Repetto, 236
P4	Ary Bansal, 198	R-ace GP, 222	Knud Nielsen, 214
P5	Oleksandr Savinkov, 168	Van Amersfoort Racing, 196	Florentin Hattemer, 210
P6	Niccolò Maccagnani, 166	Trident, 174	Christian Costoya, 190
P7	Kenzo Craigie, 144	PHM Racing, 136	Levi Arn, 169
P8	Edu Robinson, 140	Maffi Racing, 110	Dominik Šimek, 169
P9	Oleksandr Bondarev, 135	Real Racing, 56	Bernardo Bernoldi, 145
P10	Thomas Bearman, 127	Cram Motorsport, 42	Iacopo Martinese, 144

Read the previous round’s report here.

British F4: First wins for Palmer and Al Sabah headline chaotic Thruxton weekend

Despite suffering two retirements, Dries Van Langendonck retained the British F4 championship lead leaving Thruxton after a hard-fought third-place finish in race three as Theo Palmer and Jaber Al Sabah scored their first series wins.

The Kuwaiti driver scored his maiden pole when he beat Lewis Wherrell by 0.007s in an extraordinarily close qualifying session, which he later described to Feeder Series as “really tough” to achieve.

“We struggled in the first run,” he said, “but we just put it together after the red flag, which is all that mattered.”

Palmer started race one from pole but lost the lead off the line to Van Langendonck. Behind, Sun Anzhe crashed into a stalled Timo Jüngling, which brought out the red flag. Just as it was flown, Qarrar Firhand hit Henry Mercier’s rear wing at Cobb, breaking his front-right suspension. The Indonesian debutant later withdrew from the rest of the weekend having broken his chassis.

The race restarted from its original grid 20 minutes later, and Palmer managed to fend off Van Langendonck, who quickly faced pressure from fifth-place starter Joseph Smith. The Briton eventually made his move into the Club chicane on the following lap.

On lap five, disaster struck for Van Langendonck as Mercedes junior Ethan Jeff-Hall sideswiped him at Campbell, sending him tumbling through the order and forcing him to pit.

Further drama then ensued on lap eight when Roman Felber made contact with Adam Al Azhari at Goodwood, stranding the Hitech driver in the middle of the track. Haarni Sadiq clipped Al Azhari’s rear wing with his left-rear tyre, shearing off the suspension as well as his own wing. 

The race was red-flagged and ultimately curtailed, with half points being awarded as the race did not reach 75 per cent race distance. Palmer led all seven official laps to win ahead of Smith and George Proudford-Nalder, who inherited third after Jeff-Hall was handed a five-second penalty and demoted to 10th for the collision with Van Langendonck.

“P1’s an excellent result. [It’s my] first one for Hitech, so I’m really proud of that,” Palmer told Feeder Series after the race. “My first start was really messy, but I made sure my second one was better.”

Reverse-grid polesitter Al Azhari held the lead when race two began as Scott Kin Lindblom passed both Tommy Harfield and Proudford-Nalder through the middle sector. Behind them, Jarrett Clark rear-ended Van Langendonck into Club and broke the Belgian’s rear wing, once again forcing him to pit. A lap later, Joseph Smith spun Mate Kobakhidze into Cole Hewetson’s path at the same corner, bringing out the safety car. 

Once racing resumed, Lindblom attempted an attack for the lead, but by lap seven, he had to defend second from Harfield, eventually falling behind both him and Proudford-Nalder. The Red Bull junior attempted to retake third at Club but lost control on the dust, jumped over the kerb and sideswiped Proudford-Nalder. Both were eliminated. 

With insufficient time to recover both cars, the race ended behind the safety car. Al Azhari took Hitech’s second win of the weekend ahead of Harfield and Clark, who was later demoted to 12th with a five-second penalty for the incident with Van Langendonck. Jeff-Hall inherited third.

“It was a nice one, bit of a tricky one,” Al Azhari told Feeder Series afterwards. “I had quite a bit of a lead before the last [safety car] and [that] helped them close in, but fortunately the safety car didn’t come back in so that helped me a bit.”

As race three began, a fast-starting Jeff-Hall and Wherrell battled for second as Palmer sent Ethan Lennon careering towards the barriers at Seagrave. The safety car intervention came a lap later after Lindblom tagged Jüngling on the pit straight, terminally damaging the German’s car.

Racing resumed two laps later, and a close three-way battle for the lead broke out, with Van Langendonck entering the fray at half distance. Behind them on lap 11, Sadiq spun Kit Belofsky at Cobb, catching out Daniella Sutton, who skidded into his side. The safety car was deployed the following lap. 

Four laps remained at the restart. Jeff-Hall’s defence of third ended when Van Langendonck got past exiting Club on the last lap to finish behind Wherrell and winner Al Sabah.

“It’s such a surreal feeling. All the hard work is paying off!” he said to Feeder Series. “Now we want this more consistently because once you get the feeling, you just want it to happen every weekend.”

With this podium, Van Langendonck heads into the month-long August break with a reduced lead of 41 points overall and 26.5 points in the rookies over Wherrell, whilst Hitech extend their teams’ standings advantage to 85.5.

Report by Seb Tirado

Additional reporting by Mitchell Ash

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Jaber Al Sabah, 1:11.805	Lewis Wherrell, +0.007s	Theo Palmer, +0.044s
Race 1 (7 laps)	Theo Palmer, 8:38.809	Joseph Smith, +0.663s	George Proudford-Nalder, +3.652s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Adam Al Azhari, 20:54.920	Tommy Harfield, +1.218s	Ethan Jeff-Hall, +2.154s
Race 3 (18 laps)	Jaber Al Sabah, 25:53.844	Lewis Wherrell, +0.269s	Dries Van Langendonck, +2.552s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Dries Van Langendonck, 194	Hitech, 342.5	Dries Van Langendonck, 248
P2	Lewis Wherrell, 153	Rodin Motorsport, 257	Lewis Wherrell, 221.5
P3	Theo Palmer, 145.5	Virtuosi Racing, 221.5	Jaber Al Sabah, 184
P4	Ethan Jeff-Hall, 133.5	JHR Developments, 202	Cameron Nelson, 160.5
P5	Scott Kin Lindblom, 119	Argenti Motorsport, 131.5	Timo Jüngling, 124
P6	George Proudford-Nalder, 101.5	Fortec Motorsport, 95	León Hedfors, 106
P7	Adam Al Azhari, 98	Xcel Motorsport, 73	Mate Kobakhidze, 94
P8	Ethan Lennon, 83	Chris Dittmann Racing, 73	Jackson Wolny, 67
P9	Tommy Harfield, 82		Vegard Klemetsen, 47
P10	Jaber Al Sabah, 69		Piotr Orzechowski, 34

Read the previous round’s report here.

Brazilian F4: Arnaudo claims pole position, two victories in debut weekend

Brazilian F4 newcomer Fausto Arnaudo stole the show at Autódromo Velocitta, qualifying first and claiming two victories on debut as Bernardo Gentil maintained his championship lead and Pedro Lins drove from 13th to first in race two.

Arnaudo excelled in qualifying, claiming pole position by nearly a full second over Pietro Mesquita and Celo Hahn. The Argentine got a clean getaway in race one as fellow front-row starter Gentil struggled. Nacho Díaz and Enricco Abreu got ahead of him before Turn 1, where contact with Mesquita sent Gentil tumbling to 11th. 

The race’s first safety car came on lap two after Alexandre Louza and Naim Saleh touched, sending Louza spinning into the barriers. Arnaudo kept the lead on the restart, but just three minutes later, the race was again neutralised, this time for a crash between veterans Hahn and Lins, both of whom ended up in the tyre barriers. 

The back half of the race was highlighted by Gentil’s quest to regain spots lost on the opening lap. Ultimately, his bid to reclaim a podium position fell short by 0.321 seconds as Abreu took third place. Arnaudo led every lap en route to victory over Díaz by 3.323s.

Race two was delayed by around 40 minutes by dense fog, but proceedings eventually got underway with front-row starters João Paulo Sanzovo and Guilherme Moleiro leading the way. Behind them, Arnaudo, who started eighth, broke his front wing.

Lap five brought a safety car for Elias Barbosa, whose car stopped on track. As the field paced around, Hahn experienced a mechanical failure of his own, leading to contact between Saleh and Franco Paolini as they took evasive action. Paolini had to retire from the race. 

With five laps left, Lins – who gained seven places on lap one and four more on the next green-flag laps – dove down the inside of Sanzovo at Curva do Museo to take the lead, completing a charge from 13th on the grid. Shortly after, the race’s second safety car came out when Paulo Willemann Filho spun into the barrier after contact with Abreu, who was given a 20-second penalty for the incident. A two-lap shootout ensued, with Lins maintaining the lead and claiming victory over Moleiro and Sanzovo.

Arnaudo again led from the front of the grid in race three, with Mesquita taking second place from Abreu in the first corner. Hahn’s tough weekend continued as a jump start from fourth led to an early drive-through penalty for the 16-year-old.

Although the race was the weekend’s only to go without interruption from the safety car, there was a close call when Díaz spun at high speeds from fourth, ruining his race.

Out front, it was smooth sailing for Arnaudo, who again drove away to victory with Mesquita coming in second and Abreu in third.

Leaving the weekend, Gentil’s margin in the championship shrinks to eight points over Mesquita, with Díaz third and Arnaudo up to fourth despite missing the first round.

Report by Owen White

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Fausto Arnaudo, 1:42.620	Pietro Mesquita, +0.943s	Celo Hahn, +0.949s
Race 1 (20 laps)	Fausto Arnaudo, 32:45.977	Nacho Díaz, +3.323s	Enricco Abreu, +9.035s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Pedro Lins, 22:54.258	Guilherme Moleiro, +1.491s	João Paulo Sanzovo, +3.589s
Race 3 (22 laps)	Fausto Arnaudo, 32:27.781	Pietro Mesquita, +5.774s	Enricco Abreu, +10.598s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Bernardo Gentil, 81	TMG Racing, 172	Bernardo Gentil, 117
P2	Pietro Mesquita, 73	Cavaleiro Sports, 134	Nacho Díaz, 97
P3	Fausto Arnaudo, 58	Bassani Racing, 131	Paulo Willemann Filho, 66
P4	Nacho Díaz, 58		João Paulo Sanzovo, 54
P5	Pedro Lins, 53		Guilherme Moleiro, 35
P6	Enricco Abreu, 46		Gianni Giovanelli, 28
P7	Paulo Willemann Filho, 38		Naim Saleh, 26
P8	João Paulo Sanzovo, 29		Elias Barbosa, 26
P9	Celo Hahn, 23		Alexandre Louza, 24
P10	Guilherme Moleiro, 18		Alan Moraes Soloviov, 20

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Connor Botha