Competitive intercontinental entry for 2025 F4 Middle East Championship

UAE, January 13, 2025: The newly-badged Formula 4 Middle East Championship kicks off at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix venue of Yas Marina this week for the first event in the five-round, 15-race series, and the race is on to discover who will emulate reigning champion Freddie Slater who steps up to the Formula Regional Middle East Championship this season.

In its last season as F4 UAE, the championship was a thriller in 2024, when it went down to the chequered flag of the final race, and this year around 30 drivers are expected to vie for glory. F4 Middle East, part of the Formula Middle East showcase organized by Shanghai-based Top Speed, begins this Tuesday and Wednesday (January 14-15) with a two-day test at Yas Marina. After a day’s break, there are more pre-event test sessions on Friday January 17, before the competitive element begins the following day with two qualifying sessions and the first race. Two more races follow on Sunday January 19. Yas Marina is also the host for the second round on January 22-23, before the teams head over to Dubai Autodrome for round three on February 7-9. They return to Yas Marina on February 14-16, before the season finale on February 25-27.

Slater won his 2024 UAE crown with Mumbai Falcons Racing. The team is run by the hugely-successful Italian team Prema Racing, which has assembled a formidable line-up under the banners of both Mumbai Falcons and its own name. All eyes will be on Kean Nakamura-Berta, the London-born Japanese-Slovakian Alpine F1 protégé who was pipped by Slater by just four points in the UAE standings last year. Nakamura-Berta is the Mumbai Falcons star with the most experience, but don’t rule out China’s Chi Zhenrui or Colombian Salim Hanna. Each of them transferred out of karts a couple of months ago into the end-of-season Formula Trophy UAE series, in which they finished fifth and seventh respectively. Indian Arjun Chheda, who has raced in his domestic F4 series as well as the French and South East Asian, joins them.

Meanwhile, under the Prema Racing awning is Latvian Tomass Štolcermanis. He undertook a limited programme in F4 UAE in 2024 before showing well in the Italian and Euro 4 series. Alongside him is a big name for motorsport followers: American Sebastian Wheldon, the son of the late IndyCar hero Dan Wheldon. Fifteen-year-old Wheldon was a title contender in USF Juniors in his homeland last year, before a stunning F4 race debut at Yas Marina in the finale of the Formula Trophy UAE netted him a victory. He is backed by the might of Andretti Global, a team with which his father was synonymous in IndyCar and is due to enter Formula 1 in 2026. Also at Prema Racing is Ukrainian karting star Oleksandr Bondarev, who took his first car-racing steps in Italian F4 last year.

One of the leading Mumbai Falcons drivers last season was Alex Powell. A race winner in 2024, the Mercedes F1-supported Jamaican-American now switches to R-ace GP and will doubtless be a force. Next to him at R-ace GP is Emanuele Olivieri, who ventures to the Middle East for the first time after competing in his home Italian F4 series. Another Ukrainian, in the form of Oleksandr Savinkov, also has Italian F4 experience, while British female driver Emily Cotty raced in the Formula Trophy UAE and continues her fledgling steps in car racing.

Local eyes will doubtless be on the Yas Heat Racing Academy operation, especially after Keanu Al Azhari battled Slater and Nakamura-Berta for the 2024 crown. Al Azhari’s younger brother Adam is now upholding honour for the Dubai family after some promising F4 showings last season, and the all-Emirates line-up is completed by August Raber, who showed well in British F4 and the F4 Trophy UAE in 2024.

Xcel Motorsport is a stalwart in the series and brings South African Cole Hewetson, who impressed on his first F4 steps in the Formula Trophy UAE at the end of last year. Chinese driver Fu Yuhao now has plenty of F4 racing to build upon, while the driver for the team’s other car is yet to be announced.

The squad for Evans GP is bulging at the seams. Macanese Tiago Rodrigues was Chinese F4 champion in 2023 and is back for another crack at this series, while Hungarian Martin Molnár was a podium regular in British F4 last season, his rookie season in car racing. This Australian-run team also brings a home talent in the form of Seth Gilmore, fourth in the Australian F4 points in 2024, while Jia Zhanbin, sixth in the Chinese F4 rankings, stays on after contesting the Formula Trophy UAE. Evans also runs Farah Al-Yousef, the trailblazing Saudi Arabian female driver who aims to build her F4 experience.

Pinnacle Motorsport is out in force with a promising pan-Asian line-up. Wang Yuzhe claimed fifth in Chinese F4 last season before, like Jia, competing in Formula Trophy UAE. Alongside Wang are South Korean Kyuho Lee and Japan’s Yuta Suzuki, each making the step up from karting into cars. Expect a fourth car for Pinnacle, with the driver yet to be named.

The Indian-backed AKCEL GP by PHM squad fields a European driver with a strong reputation already in Formula 4 in the form of Dutchman Reno Francot, who was runner-up in the Central European series in 2023 and looked strong in Italy last season, before claiming two podiums in Formula Trophy UAE. Romanian David Cosma could well also be a force, the karting star making his move into car racing.

Qatar’s QMMF federation, a supporter of this series way back in its first season of 2016-17, is also back in the fold with a three-strong line-up. Brothers Taha and Tamim Hassiba along with Bader Al-Sulaiti will all be flying the Qatari flag as they move out of karting with the aim of mixing it with the best of young international talent.

With a hugely cosmopolitan and exciting line-up, all eyes will therefore be on the action as the huge field fights it out for F4 Middle East honours.

 Provisional Entry List Round 1