Emily Cotty showcased strong racecraft at Lusail, recovering positions in Race 2 and 3 and narrowly missing out on points due to an unfortunate Race 1 crash, as she wrapped up her F4 Middle East campaign with another solid performance.

Farah Al Yousef had one of her strongest weekends, securing her first top-20 finish in race cars.

Emily Cotty completed her first full Formula 4 championship with a positive weekend at Lusail International Circuit, recovering to 16th place in both Race 2 and Race 3 after an unfortunate first race where she was taken out while running as high as tenth.

The British driver, who made her single-seater debut last year with a one-off round in British F4, is tackling her first full season in F4 and chose to develop her racecraft in the highly competitive F4 Middle East Championship, a series that features many of the top F4 racers preparing for their main campaigns, making it a strong learning ground.

Cotty adapted quickly and impressed in this environment with promising performances, often contending for points. She eventually secured her first points finish in the third round at Dubai before achieving a personal best of P11 at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Throughout the season, she consistently battled in the top 15, showing great determination in wheel-to-wheel duels.

Another driver benefiting from the F4 Middle East Championship is young Saudi racer Farah Al Yousef, who is making her single-seater debut after stepping up from karting on home soil. Al Yousef’s season was focused on learning, and she steadily reduced the gap to the front at each race weekend, making notable improvements by the end of each event.

For the first time, the series headed to Qatar for its final round, supporting the prestigious 1812km of Qatar—the season opener of the FIA World Endurance Championship. This provided a major platform for the 27 young drivers in F4 Middle East to showcase their talent in front of one of the biggest audiences in sportscar racing.

From the pre-event test, Cotty maximized her track time to learn the Lusail circuit, which she had never raced on before. This proved beneficial, as she was 16th fastest in official practice with a best time of 1:59.375—marking significant progress.

On Thursday morning, it was time for qualifying. Cotty delivered another strong session, securing 15th place with a lap time of 1:58.058. Meanwhile, Farah Al Yousef qualified 25th with a 2:09.753, improving by a further two seconds from practice.

Q2 followed soon after, and Cotty found even more pace, setting a 1:57.669 to secure 19th on the grid for Race 3. Al Yousef also made more gains, posting a personal best of 2:05.452 to line up 25th once again.

Emily Cotty lined up in P15 after another strong qualifying session; she had a fantastic start, making her way from P15 to P11 by the end of the first lap. Farah Al Yousef also had a strong getaway, moving up from P25 to P22 for Evans GP.

Cotty continued her charge, passing Hassiba on lap 2 to break into the top 10. However, in a tight midfield battle, she was shuffled back to P13 a lap later but remained in the fight. Al Yousef dropped to P24 but stayed ahead of Hewetson, who had fallen down the order.

Cotty then regained a position, passing Savinkov to move back into P12. On lap 5, Arjun Chheda came to a halt, bringing out the safety car. Cotty was running P14 at the time, fourth among the rookies, when the race was neutralized – also among rain threat.

Racing resumed on lap 8 with just over eight minutes to go. Cotty immediately found herself in a fierce battle with Bondarev, the two running extremely close. Al Yousef held P24 and stayed in touch with Ayman Kamel.

However, at the end of lap 8, Cotty was involved in a three-car incident at the final corner: she was battling wheel-to-wheel on the outside line when Bader Al Sulaiti attempted to squeeze through on the inside, making contact with both Cotty and Fu Yuhao. The collision forced all three out of the race, triggering another safety car period.

With a lengthy clean-up required, the race ultimately ended under safety car conditions.

Despite her early retirement, Cotty had shown impressive pace and was once again charging towards a potential points-scoring position on a track where she had limited testing experience. Unfortunately, she was unable to see the chequered flag.

Meanwhile, Farah Al Yousef completed another clean and mistake-free run, crossing the line in P21. Following post-race penalties for Cole Hewetson and Adam Al Azhari—who initially finished as race winner but was later disqualified—Al Yousef was promoted to P19, securing her first top-20 finish in F4.

Later in the day, under the lights of the scenic Lusail International Circuit, Race 2 got underway. Farah Al Yousef started from P19—her highest grid position of the season—while Emily Cotty lined up in P21 following her unfortunate retirement in Race 1.

The final reverse-grid race of the season went green, and despite some contact at the front, the entire field made it through cleanly. Alex Powell took the lead from pole-sitter Savinkov.

Cotty found herself battling with Fu Yuhao early on and dropped to P23, while Al Yousef had a clean start and settled in P25 behind Arjun Chheda, staying with the pack.

On lap 2, Cotty lost a couple more positions, falling to P24. Soon after, Taha Hassiba ran deep and spun, allowing both Cotty and Al Yousef to gain a place.

Cotty then began her recovery drive: she overtook Chheda on lap 3 and quickly closed in on Ayman Kamel, making another pass one lap later. She was running at a 1:58.8 pace—quicker than several cars ahead.

Meanwhile, Al Yousef held her position but was eventually re-passed by Hassiba on lap 4. Cotty continued to gain ground, closing in on Wang, who was nearly a second slower. She soon overtook him to break into the top 20 and set her sights on Fu Yuhao and Tameem Hassiba ahead.

In a tightly packed midfield group, Cotty kept pushing forward and applied pressure on Hassiba. She also gained a position as Adam Al Azhari hit trouble and dropped down before eventually stopping at Turn 16.

Cotty then made her move on Hassiba, taking P18. Once in clean air, she immediately pulled away, opening a gap to Wang and setting her sights on Fu Yuhao, who was two seconds up the road.

On lap 7, Martin Molnar and Salim Hanna clashed in a dramatic crash, with the Mumbai Falcons car nearly taking off over the Evans GP Tatuus. Both drivers ended up in the gravel, triggering the first safety car of the race with 14 minutes remaining.

Now running in P16, Cotty had another opportunity as the field bunched up. Al Yousef also gained positions and was now up to P22.

The race went back to green with three minutes to go. Cotty immediately went on the attack against Fu Yuhao, but the latter managed to overtake Bader Al Sulaiti. Cotty trailed closely behind the Qatari QMMF driver, but was unable to find a way past on the final lap. She crossed the finish line in P16, gaining five positions in a strong recovery drive.

Al Yousef once again completed every lap and continued her learning process, finishing P22 in another clean race.

On Friday morning, Emily Cotty lined up in P19 on the tenth row, once again aiming to move up the order and fight for a top-15 finish. Farah Al Yousef started from P25, looking to end her F4 Middle East campaign on a high by continuing to close the gaps and make personal progress.

As the lights went out for the final contest of the season, Cotty had a challenging start and dropped to P22 – however, she quickly began to push forward, gaining one place as Sebastian Wheldon hit trouble on the first lap. She then overtook Arjun Chheda on lap 2, reclaiming her starting position.

On lap 3, Oleksandr Savinkov retired from the race, bringing out the safety car.

At the restart, Cotty closely pursued Taha Hassiba and managed to gain a few tenths on Wheldon. On lap 6, she overtook Cole Hewetson to move up to P18.

One lap later, both Hassiba and Cotty got past Bondarev, gaining another position. Meanwhile, Al Yousef was lapping impressively, now just three seconds behind the rest of the pack and showing significant personal improvements. As Bondarev pitted with technical issues, Al Yousef gained a position, moving into P23.

On lap 9, Fu Yuhao dropped down the order and eventually pitted with damage. Cotty seized the opportunity and finally found a gap to pass Hassiba, breaking into the top 15. However, she now had Cole Hewetson close behind, matching her pace.

Al Yousef, now running in P22, had a 20-second gap to Bondarev, who had pitted, and was setting some of her best lap times of the race.

Cotty continued her charge up the field and overtook Adam Al Azhari for P14. However, just a few corners later, she was shuffled back to P16 as Hewetson went past and Al Azhari fought back. Still, Cotty remained close to Al Azhari and stayed in the fight.

Al Yousef was running some of her most consistent laps but was eventually caught by Bondarev on the penultimate lap, settling into P23.

In the closing minutes, Cotty found herself in a tight battle, defending against Hassiba and Wheldon. She held her ground and set her personal best sectors on the penultimate lap, opening a small buffer. Despite her efforts to push forward, it wasn’t quite enough to reclaim P15. The British driver crossed the finish line in P16, just two-tenths short of the top 15—still a strong result, having gained three positions from her starting place.

It was also a positive race for Al Yousef, who delivered consistent lap times and a clean run to finish P23.

Emily Cotty wrapped up a promising F4 Middle East campaign—just the beginning of her F4 journey, yet already proving she can battle in the highly competitive midfield.

She ended the season with two rookie podiums and points on the board.

Despite not scoring in the final weekend, she was on the verge of points in Race 1 before her incident and delivered strong recovery drives throughout the event. She can be satisfied with the progress made over the five race weekends, where she also played a role in R-Ace GP’s team championship title.

Farah Al Yousef had one of her strongest weekends in the series, securing her first top-20 finish in race cars. More importantly, she showed steady improvement session after session on a completely new circuit. Keeping her head down and focusing on learning, she completed a streak of 13 races without incidents or mistakes—a testament to her consistency. With more track time, she has the potential to further improve and push her limits as she prepares for her next program.