Al Dhaheri makes Italian F4 Championship Rookie Podium at Monza
- Rashid Al Dhaheri finishes 4th in Race 3 at Monza – his highest place of the year – and is on rookie podium
- Two top ten finishes in round four of the 2023 Italian F4 Championship
- Halfway through the season the 15-year-old Emirati is in top six of rookie drivers
July, 3rd, 2023, Monza – Abu Dhabi: The Prema driver Rashid Al Dhaheri continues to impress in the world’s most competitive F4 championship posting two top ten finishes in round four of the championship, at Monza last race. This included fourth place in Race 3, the highest finish he has achieved so far in his first year of racing single-seat F4 cars.
He continues to progress in this highly competitive series making another rookie podium, which the youngest drivers in the championship, with no previous F4 experience, is a great achievement.
Talking after the race, Rashid commented: “This was another challenging race weekend with pressure on all of us to deliver, and as always, I must thank my team and sponsors. Their support allowed me to achieve a fourth place in Race 3 and a top ten finish in Race 2 which underlines the consistent progress we are making. Race 1 showed the closeness of the racing when I sustained some damage to the car which left me at the back of the field. With tenths of seconds between all the drivers the competition is intense and exciting and I am proud that I can show what a UAE driver can achieve.”
Al Dhaheri, in the number 14 car sponsored by Huawei, FAB and Yas Heat has achieved 8 top-ten finishes from 11 race starts and with the 4th place at Monza is getting closer and closer to a main race podium finish.
Reflecting on this past weekend at Monza, Rashid said: “After Spa-Francorchamps, it was an honour racing at the Temple of Speed, with the long straights bringing out a tactical racing mindset where you constantly learn. I was really satisfied with my performance in race two this weekend, a penalty dropped me to P10, but I felt I had one of my better races.
“Fortunately, I was able to sustain the pace in the third race to get fourth overall, which is also my best result to date. And at Monza! I will take it!
“I felt it was one of my better weekends so far in car racing. While the tracks are new, the F4 cockpit feels like home more and more, every time I step into it, in race mode, qualifying, practice or testing, I learn and hopefully improve.
“Obviously the next step is to finish on the podium, and why not the top step? I have never been to Paul Ricard in July where we head to next. Again, the goal is to keep moving forward in all aspects of my driving, in and out of the car, and see where that leads,” added Rashid.
Prema Racing team principal Rene Rosin gave feedback on Rasshid’s progress to date: “The Italian F4 series is the toughest at this level. To do well here, you have to be good. And of course experience counts, thus for Rookies it is the biggest test. Rashid has impressed our team as a first-time car racer, with only Kart racing experience.
“For the Rookies is also important to know, some drivers qualify as Rookies in the Italian series but have F4 experience in their own countries. So for a driver straight out of Karting, we can say confidently that Rashid is ticking the right boxes.
“Incidents happen to all the drivers, year one is particularly tough on the Rookies. Rashid listens and learns, does not make the same mistake twice. Working hard he is heading for a good grade on his ‘F4 Report Card’ at the end of this season,” concluded Rosin.
The next race weekend will be at Mugello Circuit (Florence, Italy) commencing on 6th of July, which will kick off the second championship Al Dhaheri will participate in parallel to the Italian F4 Championship. Mugello is part of the 3-race championship of the European F4 which will meet after Mugello in Monza as well as in Barcelona.