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Freddie Slater and Prema seal the Italian F4 championship : Barcelona Race Report

In a stunning display of skill at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Freddie Slater secured the F4 Italy Drivers' Championship while Prema Racing clinched the Teams' Championship in the second race. This victory marks a significant milestone for both the driver and the team in the highly competitive series.

Slater has now equaled Mercedes-bound Andrea Kimi Antonelli's record of 13 race wins in a single season at the Italian Formula 4 Championship.

The race began with multiple drivers stalling on the grid. Jack Beeton, starting on the front row, was fortunately avoided by the rest of the field, similar to Akshay Bohra in Race 1.


                                                            PC: WSK

Enzo Yeh and Enea Frey also stalled, resulting in the PHM-run car of Everett Stack breaking his suspension after colliding with Frey. This caused Stack's car to swerve left towards the stalled car of Yeh. Meanwhile, Nathanaël Berebby of Maffi Racing attempted to take a gap between Yeh and Stack, but was unable to clear them in time, breaking Yeh's rear wing and causing a pile-up—an unavoidable racing incident.

Williams Protege Sasha Bondarev also experienced a stall but was able to continue. Kabir Anurag, having a stellar weekend compared to his previous results, was forced to retire after a couple of laps behind the Safety Car. Andrea Kostic was the biggest gainer, moving up 10 positions at the start.

The race resumed after 15 minutes, with Freddie Slater easily pulling away from VAR's Hiyu Yamakoshi and U.S. Racing's Akshay Bohra. Maxim Rehm immediately passed Gustav Jonsson on the straight, but Jonsson regained the position at Turn 5.

Rehm continued to struggle as Mercedes junior Alex Powell caught up and overtook him at Turn 1 the following lap. Prema teammates soon followed suit and passed him as well.

Meanwhile, Akshay Bohra gradually reduced the gap to Yamakoshi, closing from 1.4 seconds. Kean Nakamura-Berta was unable to keep pace, drifting away from the top three.

Maxim Rehm faced more challenges as Maximillian Popov and Olivieri overtook him in a stunning battle in the dying laps of the race, pushing Rehm out of contention for points.

The top three of Slater, Yamakoshi, and Bohra ran closely together, with Slater proving untouchable and Yamakoshi unable to mount an attack. In the final lap, Bohra drew close to Yamakoshi but couldn't make a move before the checkered flag.

Slater comfortably crossed the line to win Race 2, with Yamakoshi and Bohra finishing just four-tenths apart. Nakamura-Berta took fourth place, while Giancarmo Pradel rounded out the top five. With this race result, Slater secured the drivers' title, and Prema clinched the Teams' Championship, leading U.S. Racing by an impressive 213 points.

Freddie Slater now claims his second title of the year, having also won the popular winter series, the Formula 4 Middle East Championship. He is expected to contend for the Euro 4 title in the final round unless Akshay Bohra or Hiyu Yamakoshi can challenge him at Monza. Slater is anticipated to continue with Prema in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2025, alongside a campaign in GB3, where Prema is rumored to be one of three new entrants for that year.

Tune in to watch Race 3 later today!

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