Fast Freddie Slater wins all three races of Italian F4 championship Misano round

The Misano weekend as it happened. Get ready for Italian F4 in Imola (31st of May)

The British anthem plays at Misano as Freddie Slater lifts the third trophy of the Italian F4 2024 Championship. His round in two words? Total domination. ‘It was a perfect weekend,’ he told the ACI livestream as he stepped out of the car. Better make things clear right away for those who follow. Because Alex Powell was solid since Thursday afternoon, but never really managed to get close enough to attack. Slater was simply uncatchable. Three pole starts, three flawless races despite the threat of the safety cars that continually brought the group back together. 

Freddie Slater taglia il traguardo a Misano © ACI Sport

It’s no secret he’s fast. It was already pretty clear in February, when he won the UAE F4 championship, a winter challenge for many young European drivers. But there the story had been different. Two victories and six podiums in total, only four points more than the second in the standings. While at Misano he gained 75. Powell, rising star of the Mercedes Junior Team, had to be content with second place on the podium in all three races. The consolation prize is that the gap to Slater is only 21 points, not impossible to make up for in the six remaining weekends on the calendar. ‘The pace was there from the start,’ explained the Jamaican. ‘The three second places were the best we could get from this weekend.’ All eyes will be on the next round, starting on the 31st May at Imola, with the certainty of a team, Prema, that boasts seven championship titles and seems to have enough to aim for an eighth.

Alex Powell durante il round di Misano del Campionato Italiano F4 © ACI Sport

Less clear, however, are the hierarchies between the drivers from third position down. Akshay Bohra, US Racing driver and big favourite in the first half of the weekend, closed Race 3 in 18th position, a result that dropped him to fourth place behind a less brilliant but more solid Hiyu Yamakoshi and ahead of Gianmarco Pradel, the Australian who made the podium in Race 1. It was a difficult start to the season also for F4 UAE vice-champion Kean Nakamura-Berta. The Alpine Academy driver finished eighth in Race 1. In Race 2 an uncertain start relegated him to seventh from the second row until a collision with Davide Larini forced him to retire. Zero points and plenty of frustration, then recovered with a splendid Race 3 podium together with his two Prema teammates.

Davide Larini, uno dei tre piloti italiani in griglia a Misano © ACI Sport

Onwards and upwards for the only three Italians on the grid. Larini is thirteenth in the drivers' championship after a P8 in Race 3. Emanuele Olivieri managed to improve over the weekend, taking fourteenth place in the last race and ninth in the rookie classification. Alvise Rodella is twenty-eighth in a championship that boasts the record of being the most competitive in the world among the Formula 4 ones. The last Italian to win it, in 2022, was Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was present at the race wall with his father Marco during the Misano round and who is ever closer to a future in Formula 1. For the thirty-seven drivers on the grid it is still a distant dream, but the climb starts here.