Payton Westcott claims maiden F4 victory in Formula Trophy at Dubai

Payton Westcott claimed her first-ever single-seater victory during the opening round of Formula Trophy at Dubai Autodrome with a light to flag victory in Race 2.

Photo credits: Formula Trophy

Payton Westcott claimed her first-ever single-seater victory, and the first female win in Formula Trophy history in its current form, during the opening round at Dubai Autodrome. The 16-year-old Mumbai Falcons driver added solid results across the weekend, highlighted by a pole-to-flag win in Race 2.

Westcott made her racing debut in the 2025 Formula Winter Series with Van Amersfoort Racing. Later in the year she competed with the team in both Italian F4 and E4 championships. In the first one, she ended the season in P2 of the women’s trophy standings. The American driver also made her debut in F1 Academy, as she was the wild card for her home round in Las Vegas. In Nevada, she took her best ever finish in a car race up to that point, as in the first race she crossed the finish line in sixth.

The 16-year-old is taking part in Formula Trophy, which is a three-round championship held in the United Arab Emirates, previously called Formula Trophy UAE. Westcott is competing with Mumbai Falcons, which is a sister team of the famous Italian outfit – Prema Racing. She tested the team’s machinery already back in November at Mugello.

Before racing got underway at Dubai Autodrome for the first round of Formula Trophy, five test sessions had taken place – two on Thursday and three on Friday. Across these two days Westcott completed 132 laps, learning the tricky parts of a very twisty and hilly track in the biggest city of the United Arab Emirates.

The first counting sessions of the weekend took place on Saturday morning, as the young F4 drivers headed out for qualifying, which consisted of two separate 15-minute sessions. The first fast laps from the drivers came with around seven minutes to go and after the first set of flying laps Westcott was classified in P7 with a 2:02.523. 

On another lap, she improved by two tenths, but with others improving she stayed in seventh. Another improvement came with three minutes to go, as Westcott still held seventh. This remained the case until the very end, as the American driver finished her first qualifying session in FTrophy in seventh.

The second qualifying looked pretty much the same as the first one. The green flag was shown on track and all drivers headed out to set their times. With seven minutes to go Westcott did a 2:02.425 lap, which put her in P9. On the next lap, she improved by two tenths and went up to eighth. Contrary to the first session, she did not improve for the third time and she finished the session in P8.

Photo credits: Formula Trophy

On Saturday the first race of the weekend took place, to which Westcott started in P7. The beginning was chaotic, as Noah Killion and Yuta Suzuki made contact in the opening corners, bringing out the safety car. Westcott did not have the greatest of starts, because when the neutralization began she was running in ninth. It was brief however, as on lap three drivers resumed the race.

For next laps Westcott remained in ninth, keeping herself close to the Swede Scott Kin Lindblom running in eighth. On lap seven the Hitech driver was engaged in a battle with Westcott, ultimately running her wide. This resulted in him being under investigation by the stewards and eventually getting a five-second time penalty. 

The remainder of the race was calm for the whole pack: Westcott stayed close behind Lindblom and Felipe Reijs was following her just behind. The chequered flag fell and Westcott crossed the line in P9, but thanks to Lindblom’s penalty she was classified eighth in the end.

Photo credits: Formula Trophy

The grid for race two, which took place on Sunday morning, was set by reversing the order of top eight from race one, which resulted in Westcott starting from pole position. This time no incidents took place on the opening lap and the American safely defended her first place. Behind her was Adam Al Azhari, who followed the Mumbai Falcons driver for the remaining laps of the race.

The first half of the race saw Westcott and Al Azhari drive away from the pack, with the Emirati driver staying less than a second behind the leader. Despite that gap, he was unable to make a move on the twisty Dubai Autodrome. His biggest chance came on lap eight, when he tried to make a move on the inside of Westcott, but this was unsuccessful.

By lap nine, the leading two were caught up by David Cosma Cristofor in third. This resulted in Al Azhari having to defend instead of attacking Westcott, which helped her stay in the lead. Cosma Cristofor was also followed closely by Hunter Salvatore. On lap 13 Zakaria Doleh stopped in turn 10, but with that being the penultimate lap of the race safety car did not drive out on the track.

The race ended with Payton Westcott in first place. This was the first win, as well as the first podium, for the American in F4 machinery. The victory was also the first female one in the short history of Formula Trophy.

Photo credits: Formula Trophy

A few hours after her victory Westcott lined up in P8 to start the third race of the weekend. Starting from P8, she went wide in turn one with plenty of other drivers and as a result she dropped to P14. She could not make up the places quickly as Lindblom’s car stood in the middle of turn one after contact with Salvatore. The safety car went out on lap one and it came back to the pits at the end of lap two.

The next laps for Westcott were quite similar. On lap four, she overtook Jia Zhanbin for P13 and lap later she got past Reijs for twelfth. Next, she was engaged in a battle with Rafael Vaessen for eleventh and originally she moved ahead of the Singaporean, but ultimately she held twelfth.

Unfortunately, on lap eight she made a mistake which dropped her to P15. She quickly made up one spot on León Hedfors, but in the end she was not able to make further progress. She crossed the line for the final time in P14. After the race, she received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, but in the end she stayed in P14 even after the penalty was applied.

Westcott will not compete in the second round of Formula Trophy supporting the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as she will make an appearance in Saudi Arabian F4 in Jeddah. The American will be back in the UAE-based championship for the last round of the season, which will take place on 13–14 December also at the Yas Marina Circuit, supporting the Gulf 12 Hours race.