In Race 1 at Monza, the final round of the 2024 Italian F.4 Championship, Freddie Slater claimed his fourteenth victory of the season, breaking the Championship record. The Stratford-upon-Avon driver, representing Prema Racing and already crowned Champion one round early, dominated the race in wet conditions, taking the lead right from the starting straight. Due to challenging weather, the first race of the day started behind the safety car, with the green flag dropping only after a few laps. Jack Beeton from US Racing, who started on pole, was overtaken by Slater on the straight. Freddie Slater now looks forward to an exciting season finale, with one victory already secured and two more pole positions to build on this weekend.
Jack Beeton finished second, putting himself firmly in the battle for second place in the standings. It was not an easy race for him, as he faced a tough fight for P2 in the final stages. A collision between Maksimilian Popov (PHM AIX Racing) and Edward Robinson (US Racing) brought the safety car back onto the track in the second half of the race, reigniting the podium battle at the restart.
For the incident, Robinson was penalized with a two-place grid drop in the next race. Beeton defended his position fiercely against attacks from Kean Nakamura-Berta, Akshay Bohra, and Gianmarco Pradel, managing to hold onto P2 until the end, with the race concluding under the safety car due to several cars going off track with one minute + one lap remaining. Among those was Enzo Yeh (R-ace GP), who was later penalized with a four-place grid drop for an incident with Andrei Duna (Real Racing).
Kean Nakamura-Berta, the Alpine Academy driver of Prema Racing, took third place and won the Rookie class race. Starting from eighth, the Japanese-British driver skillfully took advantage of the limited opportunities in Race 1 to climb up to the podium. With this victory in the rookie category, he closes in on teammate Alex Powell, the current Rookie standings leader, who was held back by a rear light malfunction and forced to make a pit stop.
Akshay Bohra from US Racing finished fourth, playing a key role in the podium battle until the end. Rashid Al Dhaheri, who started from tenth, finished fifth thanks to an impressive comeback and notable overtakes, including one on Dutch driver Reno Francot from Jenzer Motorsport. Behind him were Gianmarco Pradel (US Racing) and Dion Gowda (Prema Racing), who dropped out of the points due to a 5-second penalty for a collision with teammate Tomass Stolcermanis. This promoted Gustav Jonsson from Van Amersfoort Racing to seventh, while Maxim Rehm and Alpine Academy driver Kabir Anurag, both from US Racing, completed the Rookie podium in eighth and ninth. Finnish driver Luka Sammalisto from R-ace GP rounded out the top 10.
Race 2 will start at 14:20, with Freddie Slater on pole and Kean Nakamura-Berta alongside him in P2. The grand finale, Race 3, is scheduled for Sunday, October 27, at 10:25.
The three races, each lasting 30 minutes plus one lap, will be broadcast live on the Italian F.4 Championship’s YouTube and Facebook channels, on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivùsat channel 52, and streaming at www.acisport.it), as well as on DAZN and other platforms in the championship’s international network.