Good F4 racing in Austria

The Red Bull Ring had the most beautiful weather, when the 4th round of the ADAC Formula 4 visited the Austrian track.

Unfortunately there were only 18 cars starting this weekend.

Enzo Fittipaldi had secured Pole Position for Race 1 ahead of Frederik Vesti, Liam Lawson og Lirim Zendeli.

The start went quite smoothly, without any chances at the top. Fittipaldi however was almost outbraking himself in Turn 3, and had to use a bit of the run-off to get the car back on track. He did keep the lead, due to the teammates Vesti and Lawson being busy fighting each other.

Charles Weerts overtook David Schumacher with an outbraking manoeuvre into Turn 4, in their fight for 5th. That made it three Van Amersfoort Racing cars in the top five.

Andreas Estner and Niklas Krütten had a close call in Turn 4, where Estner hit the inside curb, and slid out towards Krütten, to had to put two wheels into the gravel to avoid collision. Estner was judged to give the place to Krütten. Since Krütten had dropped a few places back, it actually ended up with Estner dropping five positions, to let Krütten past. And just as he had done that, Estner was handed a drive-through position too for pushing another driver off the track. A bad day at the office for Estner.

There wasn’t any changes out front, where Enzo Fittipaldi won ahead of Frederik Vesti and Liam Lawson.

Enzo Fittipaldi & Leonardo Larandi
Photo: JJ Media

Race 2 started with Enzo Fittipaldi from Pole Position once again, ahead of David Schumacher, Lirim Zendeli and Mick Wishofer.

The clouds were looming in the horizon, so there was a potential of rain during the 30 minutes race.

It was a very chaotic start to the race, where Fittipaldi ran wide in Turn 1, and then was squeezed by Schumacher through Turn 2 and towards Turn 3. Zendeli decided to dive past both of them in the braking zone for Turn 3, where Fittipaldi once again ran a bit wide, to stay in the race.

Schumacher kept falling backwards, and got into a battle with Charles Weerts. Weerts dived very late on Schumacher and both ended up in the gravel. That resulted in a Safety Car period, to get both cars removed from the gravel.

The race was restarted two laps later, so there were 22 minutes left of racing. The new order was Lirim Zendeli ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Mick Wishofer.

Andreas Estner and Niklas Krütten were battling again, but this time, Estner was able to pass without any contact, and continued his advancement in the field.

Joey Alders stopped on the start-finish straight due to a technical problem. That resulted in another Safety Car, since the car couldn’t be retrieved at that point of the track.

The race was restarted with eight and a half minutes left on the clock.

Frederik Vesti went past Oliver Caldwell, by outbraking the Brit on the outside, going into P4. Caldwell fought back and then the pair got under pressure from Liam Lawson, who ended up passing Vesti.

Gianluca Petecof and Lucas Alecco Roy had a clash in Turn 4, but both were able to continue through the gravel. Tom Beckhäuser had a solo spin in Turn 9, but was out of top 10 anyway.

Liam Zendeli won the race ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Mick Wishofer, followed by Oliver Caldwell, Frederik Vesti and Liam Lawson.

Lirim Zendeli
Photo: JJ Media

The third race of the weekend was run on Sunday morning, with Andreas Estner being on Pole Position ahead of Niklas Krütten, Liam Lawson and Frederik Vesti.

Krütten got the best start and took the lead of the race ahead of Estner and Lawson. Vesti closed the door on a rapid Fittipaldi, but no harm, no foul.

Estner lost another position in Turn 5 on the opening lap.

Gianluca Petecof lost his front wing on the first lap, bringing his race to a premature end.

Vesti made it into P3, and Estner continued to drop back. Fittipaldi brushed the rear wheel of his teammate Oliver Caldwell, which was enough to break the front wing of Fittipaldi – so he was out of the race, too.

Teammates Lawson and Vesti got very close to each other in the fight for second, but just about avoided contact.

Lawson took the lead of the race, when he overtook Krütten around the outside of Turn 4, while Vesti had to wait another lap before he could pass the Swede.

Oliver Caldwell instantly started attacking Niklas Krütten but didn’t make it past.

David Schumacher and Charles Weerts were battling once again, but both got away without a contact this time.

The race ended with a Van Amersfoort Racing 1-2 with Liam Lawson ahead of Frederik Vesti, while ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg Mücke Motorsport driver Niklas Krütten finished third.

Liam Lawson
Photo: JJ Media

Lirim Zendeli continues to lead the Championship, but Liam Lawson is closing in. Enzo Fittipaldi is in third ahead of Mick Wishofer and Frederik Vesti. There is a 78 point gap for Vesti to the Championship lead.

US Racing – CHRS leads the Teams Championship ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing and Prema Theodore Racing.

Niklas Krütten leads David Schumacher and Joey Alders in the Rookie Championship.

The teams and drivers have one and a half months of holiday until ADAC Formula 4 is back on track on 20-22 July in Hockenheim, where they will race as support series at the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

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