Mathilda Paatz completes F4 CEZ campaign with Top-5 in Brno, secures Female Trophy title

With another top-five result at the F4 CEZ season finale in Brno, Mathilda Paatz once again proved her consistency at the front of the field, scoring three top-ten finishes across the weekend and securing the Women’s Trophy title.

Photo credits: F4 CEZ

With another top-five result at the F4 CEZ season finale in Brno, Mathilda Paatz once again proved her consistency at the front of the field, scoring three top-ten finishes across the weekend and securing the Women’s Trophy title.

Also on the grid were fellow female drivers Nicole Havrda, contesting her second appearance in F4 CEZ alongside her main F1 Academy program, as well as regulars Michalina Sabaj and Kiara Henni. Havrda impressed with her third top-ten finish in as many weekends in the series, while Sabaj and Henni endured a more challenging event with misfortune.

Mathilda Paatz started the first F4 CEZ race in Brno from fifth place, once again the best woman in the field in qualifying. Havrda lined up in eleventh and was the second-best placed female on the grid, showing progress since her debut at Slovakiaring, while Sabaj began in fourteenth and Henni in twentieth.

The start went smoothly and without incidents, with Paatz holding her fifth place close to the leading group. Sabaj dropped to sixteenth, while Henni maintained her position. Havrda settled into P12 in the opening stages, battling just outside the top ten as she led a group of cars and defended well, even pulling away slightly from those behind while getting closer to Schranz.

Henni worked her way up to sixteenth place within ten minutes, while Sabaj could not hold on and slipped back to 17th. Havrda, meanwhile, closed in further on the Renauer Motorsport car ahead, but with Hattemer also closing from behind. On lap 6, Hattemer found a way past, and one lap later Borenstein also went through, dropping Havrda to fourteenth.

Now with a solid gap to the cars behind, Havrda regrouped and settled into her rhythm, while Sabaj gained ground in the final laps and was never under threat from behind. Both gained a position on lap 12 when Nicolas Cortez dropped down the order, allowing Havrda to finish P13 and Sabaj P14 in the first race of the weekend.

In the final minutes, Henni’s pace slowed, and she dropped back to P17.

Mathilda Paatz, meanwhile, spent the entire race in fifth, chasing closely the positions ahead and pushing to capitalize on her pace. She briefly managed to move up to fourth shortly before the finish, but could not hold on and took the chequered flag in fifth.

Photo credits: F4 CEZ

In the second race, Paatz again started from fifth place, while Havrda lined up in thirteenth next to Sabaj, and Henni began from seventeenth. The start was more chaotic, as contact in the midfield saw Mimasi almost roll over, although he was able to continue, while the second Renauer car was forced to pit for repairs.

Paatz capitalized and climbed to fourth place in the opening phase, with Havrda and Henni also making up ground to run eighth and eleventh at the end of the first lap. Only Sabaj lost out, slipping to 15th.

Henni, however, could not convert her strong start into a race result and gradually fell back to P15 within ten minutes, though she managed to defend that position until the end.

In an otherwise quiet race with only a handful of duels, there were few position changes; late in the race, Paatz, Sabaj and Henni each lost one place, with Paatz finishing seventh, Havrda tenth to collect her third top-ten in the series, Sabaj P13, and Henni P16.

In the final race, the starting order for the women remained unchanged. At the start, Paatz slipped to sixth, Havrda maintained thirteenth, and Sabaj and Henni fell to 16th and 18th respectively.

Battles in the midfield soon became tense, and with seventeen minutes remaining, Sabaj misjudged her braking and collided with Henni and two other cars. Both women were forced to retire, which brought out the safety car before the race was red-flagged.

After the restart with 11 minutes to go, Paatz and Havrda were unable to make progress. Havrda lost time to the leading group but held on to her position, while Paatz fought hard with Trappa until the end but could not find a way through, eventually finishing sixth, just ahead of Havrda in P13.

With her strong weekend, Mathilda Paatz sealed the Women’s Trophy title and finished seventh overall in the championship standings. Sabaj ended the season in fourteenth, Henni in seventeenth, and Havrda concluded her brief but competitive campaign with three top-ten finishes in as many rounds.