Mathilda Paatz makes promising Italian F4 debut at Barcelona
- RACERS
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Despite battling recurring technical issues, Mathilda Paatz impressed in her first Italian F4 appearance at Barcelona, gaining positions in every race and claiming the Female Trophy win in Race 1.
Mathilda Paatz made her Italian F4 debut at Barcelona, sixth round of the season, overcoming technical issues to gain eight positions and secure the Female Trophy win on her first start in the series.
Paatz, who made her single-seater debut in French F4 in 2024 before moving to F4 CEZ in 2025, has been the protagonist of a strong campaign in the Central European Zone series, racing for her family-operated team Mathilda Racing. She consistently battled in the top ten and, after the second round at Red Bull Ring where she secured her maiden podium with a second place, Paatz became a frequent top-five finisher, eventually ending eighth overall in the standings.
The young German also made her F1 Academy debut at Montreal as a wildcard entry, showcasing great pace and only missing out on points due to unlucky circumstances, but establishing herself as one of the most convincing wildcards of the year in the all-female championship.
Continuing to add crucial experience to her resumé, Paatz joined the Italian F4 field at Barcelona for her first outing in the highly competitive series, one of the most prestigious F4 championships globally.
"My championship in the F4 Central European Zone finished quite early, so I was very happy to join here in Barcelona", said Paatz.
In the #18 Mathilda Racing entry supported by AS Motorsport, Paatz set a 1:43.946 in the first practice session to go 29th fastest, just 1.3 seconds off the overall pace-setter in a very tight field. In second practice, she found almost a second, improving to 1:43.155, 28th fastest.
Qualifying followed on Saturday morning, but technical issues hampered Paatz’s full speed on single-lap pace, leaving the German P32 in Q1 with a 1:43.848. In the second qualifying segment she found more time with a 1:43.107, putting her P31, though still a bit disappointed to be outside the top 30 and knowing she would have to make up ground in the races.
"We had problems with the car, which made us suffer in qualifying, and not even a top-30 result was very disappointing, because we know we can do more", Mathilda commented.
On Saturday afternoon, Mathilda Paatz lined up in P32 for race 1. At the start, Cosma Cristofor stalled but was avoided by everyone. Paatz had a great launch, climbing up to P28, as Gomez pitted with damage and dropped down the order.
Mathilda kept pushing, with Emily Cotty now just ahead as the battle for the Female Trophy heated up. Cotty, however, passed Dupe and, with Kostic hitting trouble, Paatz had a few cars in between them.
In a group of cars fighting wheel-to-wheel, Paatz moved into P25, then opened an eight-second gap on Walther and pushed to close back in on Cotty and Dupe.
On lap 15, Cotty lost out to both Dupe and Paatz, handing the Mathilda Racing driver the Female Trophy lead. Paatz pushed hard to catch Dupe as well, but time eventually ran out.
Recovering eight places from 32nd to P24, Mathilda Paatz secured her first Female Trophy win on her first participation in Italian F4.
"We still had the same problem with the car, we couldn't solve it for the rest of the weekend sadly, but we gained a lot of positions, finished P1 on track in the female, which was very nice."
Under grey skies after morning rain and some drops in the pitlane, everyone started race 2 on Saunday morning on slick tyres. Paatz lined up P31 on the grid. The race started behind the safety car on a damp track, and went green at the end of the second lap with big battles throughout the field.
Still fighting the recurring technical issues, Paatz gained two places by lap 4 and slotted into P29, though Weiss fought back and shuffled her to P30. Regaining time, she moved back into P29 with Westcott now her next target. By lap 10, she had closed to the VAR car, part of a four-car train. On lap 11, Mathilda passed Westcott to take P27 and second in the Female Trophy class.
The chance to climb further was lost when, with two and a half minutes left, the safety car was deployed for the stricken R-Ace GP machine of Viisoreanu, who went off and hit the barriers at the final corner. The race ended under safety car, with Mathilda Paatz gaining five positions to finish P26 overall and second in the Female Trophy category.
"In the second race, I struggled a bit with confidence because it was mixed conditions, and we had a bit of problems with the tyres", she explained. "Still, the problem wasn't fixed on the car, so I was just trying to adapt as fast as possible. Still decent results, made up some positions."
In the late evening race to close out the Barcelona weekend, the sky was again threatening. The track was dry at the start, but the sun was setting as dark clouds gathered overhead.
From P28 on the grid, Paatz immediately made progress, taking the lead of the Female Trophy by lap two as Emily Cotty suffered damage and dropped to P30.
Raindrops were reported at Turn 3 as Paatz climbed to P26. Walther and Busso then collided after the latter spun and was collected by the Maffi Racing car, triggering a safety car at the end of lap 3. Paatz’s superb recovery had brought her to P24, and she pitted under safety car for wet-weather tyres as the rain intensified — a strategy call that could have played out perfectly.
However, a sudden heavy downpour flooded the track and the red flag was thrown with 19 minutes to go. With darkness setting in, the race was not resumed and the result was cancelled. It was an unlucky end for Paatz, who had been among the first to switch to wets and might have benefitted had the conditions remained manageable.
"In the last race, I had a pretty good start actually, we made up quite a lot of positions, and we made the right call to go in, because if it would have been less rain, we would have been probably one of the few people on rain tyres, so we would have probably gained a lot of positions", Mathilda recalled. "But sadly it was too much rain, it was very hard to see as well, even before the rain started, it was so dark, I only saw the red flashing lights from the cars ahead, so it was a very interesting race."
Despite the setbacks, it was a very positive debut for Paatz in the competitive Italian F4. She gained places in both completed races and topped the Female Trophy on her first start, battling technical issues but still showing determination and speed.
"We showed our potential, even though we had such bad luck with the car, and tried to optimise our results, and I think we can extract that, and maybe do better the next time."