Despite an issue in qualifying, Alexandra Mohnhaupt charged back to a seventh and a sixth place finish in the final race of the F4 NACAM season, in support of the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix. Having contested only 8 races out of 20, Mohnhaupt still completed the season ninth in the championship standings.
Alexandra Mohnhaupt contested the final championship round of the 2023 NACAM F4 in a support event of the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix, completing two recovery drives after a qualifying issue. Mohnhaupt, who has entered only three rounds this year, was still able to charge back to a seventh and a sixth place from the back of the grid, in the biggest field of the year for the Mexican series.
Mohnhaupt made history in 2018, when she became the first ever woman worldwide to win a FIA-sanctioned Formula 4 race: she did so at Puebla, in a historic victory in race 1, before she repeated the success in race 2. Over the course of the 2018 season, she collected eight podiums and finished fifth in the championship standings.
While her career saw a sudden halt in 2019 due to a serious testing crash that eventually resulted in Mohnhaupt announcing her retirement from competitions, the 23 year old Mexican made a welcomed surprise return in 2023, as she announced she had joined Ram Racing for the first round of the F4 NACAM championship at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Mohnhaupt's return was a highly successful one, as the young woman impressed with two podium finishes and showed that she had not lost her touch.
She contested the second round at Queretaro, securing yet another top five finish, but she then halted her campaign. Having scored 56 points in only two race meetings, Mohnhaupt was then back behind the wheel for the season finale on the Formula 1 support bill.
And every time she steps back in the F4 car, it's like she had never left. Racing under the banner of HRI Mexico, Mohnhaupt's weekend was off to a great start, as she set the second fastest time in practice.
Unfortunately, a technical issue in qualifying left her down the field in tenth place - which meant that the only woman on the field would be forced to climb back in the races.
Cristian Cantú scored pole position ahead of Arturo Flores and Jose Carlo Hernandez - with Pedro Juan Moreno - who had already sealed the title - absent from the weekend to the clash with the Ferrari Driver Academy Scouting Camp in Italy.
Cantú's run to victory, though, was all but easy as a technical issue before the start forced him to start from pit lane. Despite the hurdle, he started his comeback and half-way through the race he was already up to the top three.
Cantú overtook Antonio Flores for second - before the latter retired from the race - and then hunted down José Carlos Hernández; the pole sitter caught his rival with three laps to go and completed the pass for the win at turn 1. Hernández and David Cárdenas completed the podium.
Behind them, Alexandra Mohnhaupt was also the protagonist of a remarkable comeback, as she had to make her way from the very back of the pack on the first lap to seventh, gaining seven places over the 14 laps of race 1.
Despite the qualifying setback, Alexandra was eager to climb even higher in race 2, on Sunday morning.
A top-6 reverse grid meant that Cantú started from sixth on the grid - but his recovery was even quicker and, once in the lead, he built a 10 second gap to take back-to-back victory in front of the big F1 attendance. Marco Alquicira was second and Arturo Flores rounded out the podium.
Alexandra Mohnhaupt had another strong run and made up positions to finish sixth in the final race of the weekend - therefore scoring more valuable points for the championship: having only contested 8 races out of 20, Mohnhaupt still finished ninth in the final standings, having totalled 70 points, 2 podiums, three top-five and seven top-tens.
"Mexico GP weekend and I’m full of emotions", Mohnhaupt wrote. "P7 and P6 was everything we could do this weekend. I maximized everything but sometimes it is just not meant to be. But I’ll build myself up and come back stronger."
"I didn’t imagine to be back racing let alone in an Formula 1 event and this weekend it became true. This is a reality. I’m back and I’m here to stay."
Mohnhaupt's part-time season in F4 NACAM highlighted once again her too-often underestimated potential.