Rashid's Journey: Plan for final F4 races is simple, more podiums!
F1 NewsThursday, 05 October 2023 at 07:30
Rashid Al Dhaheri has been ticking the boxes on his journey from Karting to Formula 4 (F4), now nine months into his first season in single-seater racing career it can be said that the Emirati youngster has impressed but also continues to learn while delivering with Prema Racing.
The biggest step for young race drivers is, after years of Karting at the highest level - where they were the 'big fish' in the very competitive racing landscape - only to enter F4 and find they are up against experienced rivals, and suddenly they have to work hard at it to surface among the pool of new talent. Pretty much like transitioning from Primary school to Secondary school!
Notably, one of the youngest drivers on the 2023 F4 grid, 15-year-old Al Dhaheri is backed by Yas Heat and run by the Prema Racing team, experts in developing young drivers and thus with illustrious alumni including the likes of Charles Leclerc, Guanyu Zhou, Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri to name a few.
In this team, with the pedigree it has and a line-up of the best F4 drivers in 2023, Al Dhaheri has adapted well and fits the criteria expected of young pro drivers with the ambition to reach the top. The importance of Prema Racing, their engineers, coaches, mechanics and management is vital as the transition from Karting to F4 ramps up, especially for rookies.
Apart from the vastly new 'work' environment in the cockpit of a F4, drivers are also thrust into the deep end of learning new tracks, places many of them have only read about in magazines or seen in videos or TV.
Al Dhaheri's graduation to F4 straight from karting came with less seat time in the Tatuus single-seater chassis used in the series. Most of his rivals had experience in other F4 series before the Italian seaosn kicked off.
Rashid: Humbling to race at such amazing motor racing venues
Among these are great Grand Prix arenas such as Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Imola, Monza and Paul Ricard which Al Dhaheri admits can be daunting for a driver: "Sometimes I have to pinch myself as I had to one of these great tracks. Knowing the history of these places can be intimidating, but it can also be inspiring which is the energy I tap into.
"Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and all the F1 greats raced at these tracks. Like at Monza this past weekend. Two weeks ago Ferrari won the Grand Prix there, and you can still feel the passion. Every morning you walk past the statue of Juan Manuel Fangio. It's special.
"But at the same time, it is humbling and comes with responsibility for me. I realise the privilege it is to be racing at these dream venues, thanks to the support from my family and our backers in the UAE who have made this possible. Also, with Prema, I have one of the best teams in motorsport in my corner with great teammates. So, I must at all times deliver my best," explained Al Dhaheri.
And his best has been very good including this past weekend. The Italian F4 Championship - where in April, Al Dhaheri made his car racing debut at Imola - headed to Mugello on 1 October for Round 6 of seven. The series had been on a summer break pause since Round 5 at Paul Ricard in July.
Al Dhaheri shook off the 'holiday feeling' fast at Mugello
After the summer break, he went on to finish fourth overall in the first race in sight of the podium, and was the second-placed Rookie for his efforts. He followed that up with a solid fifth in Race 2, but bad luck intervened with a puncture that compromised Race 3.
Prior to that, a rookie podium and a seventh-place finish in the three-round Euro4 Championship at Monza last Month put him ninth in the series standings with three points-scoring races remaining in the final round in Barcelona, at the Spanish Grand Prix venue.
In the 2023 Italian F4 points table, Al Dhaheri lies sixth in the 2023 F4 Rookie Standings, out of 22 on the grid. He is 10th overall out of 37 drivers entered for the series. One round remains with three points scoring opportunities on the table, at Vallelunga in two weekends.
Speaking about Al Dhaheri, Prema Racing boss Rene Rosin commented: "All season we have witnessed Rashid grow in experience and stature. He has shown good pace, and ongoing improvements. The first year of F4 is a tough one for rookies where they are up against rivals with set goals to reach the top.
"Rashid shows he has the pace to stay with the front runners, has intelligent racecraft and just needs to carry on gaining experience. We see how he becomes a stronger driver with every race, also, he is a team player when called upon," added Rosin.
The target is podiums in the final three races at Vallelunga
In the end, drivers are judged by their results. Fresh from a summer break, and fired up for the season, Al Dhaheri showed his podium credentials at Monza and now has a final flurry of opportunities to end his season on a high.
Up next is the final round of the Italian F4 Championship at Vallelunga on the weekend of 15 October. The season Euro4 finale takes place a week later at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. (There are three points scoring races on each F4 weekend.)
Ahead of what will be a challenging three weeks of intense racing, Al Dhaheri said: “The plan is simple, points and more podiums! There are still good opportunities to score points in both F4 championships.
"So the battle plan for all three race weekends is to execute my races as best as possible, with everything I have learnt, aim for podiums - the top step always of course - and pick up as many points as possible, to end the season on a high," added Al Dhaheri.
Helping to make Rashid’s inaugural F4 campaign happen this year are backers that include ADMM, Yas Heat, Huawei with Prema Racing providing him a solid environment for rookies to thrive in.
Useful Links to follow Rashid's progress:
Rashid's F4 Postcards
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