Following his highly successful weekend in the E4 Championship, Mercedes Junior Team driver Kenzo Craigie secured his maiden victory in the Italian F4 Championship at Mugello. The fourth round of the season featured 49 drivers on the Tuscan circuit, with only the top 36 advancing to the Final based on the results of the opening three races of the weekend.
Starting from the front row, Craigie initially struggled and dropped to fourth place behind three Prema Racing drivers. Lap after lap, however, he mounted an impressive comeback, pulling off a series of decisive overtakes to secure a memorable victory. The win, dedicated to his grandfather, brings the opening half of the season to a close before the championship resumes at Imola after the summer break for the decisive run towards the title.
Luka Sammalisto continues to lead the championship standings. Although the US Racing driver did not add another victory to his tally this weekend, he claimed his second podium finish of the Mugello round. After finishing third in Race 1 and eighth in Race 3, the Finnish driver produced a superb recovery drive in the Final, climbing from sixth on the grid to finish second. His battles with Prema Racing drivers Niccolò Maccagnani and Oleksandr Bondarev for the remaining podium positions were among the highlights of the race. Sammalisto leaves Mugello with 288 championship points, having added another 60 during the fourth round.
Third place went to Ferrari Driver Academy member Niccolò Maccagnani of Prema Racing. Already victorious in Race 1 and runner-up in Race 2, the Roman driver was undoubtedly one of the stars of the Tuscan weekend, scoring an impressive 78 points. Starting from pole position, Maccagnani held the lead off the line before eventually being overtaken by his rivals. Particularly thrilling was his wheel-to-wheel battle with Kenzo Craigie, with the two Tatuus separated by only a few centimetres during the decisive overtaking move.
Oleksandr Bondarev, representing the Williams Driver Academy with Prema Racing, finished fourth after crossing the line ahead of Turkish driver Alp Aksoy.
The pair spent much of the race battling for a place on the podium. Ary Bansal of US Racing came home sixth, adding another strong result after claiming his maiden Italian F4 victory in Race 2 on Saturday.
Jenzer Motorsport's Bader Al Sulaiti finished seventh, capping off an excellent day that had already seen him secure a podium finish in the morning race behind winner Andy Consani. This time, the French Mercedes Junior Team driver from R-ace GP followed him home in eighth position.
Prema Racing's Romanian driver Cristian Cosma-Cristofor remained among the leading contenders in the Final. After scoring fourth and third-place finishes on Saturday, he once again challenged for the podium before taking the chequered flag in ninth place. His 52-point haul from the weekend moves him up to 233 points in the championship, confirming him as Sammalisto's closest challenger.
Monaco's Oscar Repetto completed the overall top ten for PHM Racing while also securing third place in the Rookie classification behind Craigie and Aksoy. Dominik Simek (Trident Motorsport) finished eleventh ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing's Thomas Bearman. Oleksandr Savinkov (US Racing) crossed the line in thirteenth, while Prema Racing's McLaren-backed Christian Costoya and Jenzer Motorsport's Levi Arn completed the points-paying positions.
The championship now heads into its summer break before returning to action at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola from September 4 to 6.
The results of the Final remain provisional until the completion of the post-race sporting and technical checks.
Kenzo Craigie: "The start was tricky. I dropped back to P4, but I stayed calm. I knew I had the pace and the tyres to fight back, and I managed to come through. I struggled a little towards the end, but I had enough to hold on. I'm really happy."
Luka Sammalisto: "The weekend went quite well, even though we struggled a bit in qualifying. It was difficult to find the pace we should have had. In Race 1 I finished P3. Race 2 was a bit more difficult because of the tricky conditions and we finished P8. Then, in the Final, we recovered from P6 to P2, so I think we bounced back really well. The car felt great throughout the race. At the start I had to stay calm and manage the tyres for the final laps. I worked my way up to P2. I tried to catch Kenzo, but there weren't enough laps left. With a couple more laps I think I could have caught him. Our pace was really strong. We still lead the championship, so I'm happy."