Saudi F4: Nina Gademan scores back-to-back podiums, Chiara Bättig shows speed on F4 debut
- RACERS
- Oct 13
- 6 min read
The 2025 Saudi Arabian F4 season began with six female drivers on the grid, led by F1 Academy race winner Nina Gademan scoring two podiums and Red Bull Junior Chiara Bättig impressing on single seater debut, showcasing superb speed despite unfortunate races at Bahrain International Circuit.
The start of the 2025 Saudi Arabian F4 Championship featured one of the highest rates of female participation in regional F4 competitions, with six women on the grid—making up 42% of the entries.
Among them, F1 Academy racer Nina Gademan opened her campaign with back-to-back podium finishes, taking second and third place at Bahrain International Circuit to start the season on a high.
Eyes were also on the highly anticipated F4 debut of Red Bull junior Chiara Bättig, the 15-year-old Swiss talent stepping up from karting. Bättig has collected impressive results in karting, having won three consecutive Swiss karting titles, along with strong experience across top European competitions.
Currently competing in the Champions of the Future Academy Program, she was selected for the Red Bull Junior Team earlier this year. Her debut in Bahrain marked her first-ever F4 race weekend, and she certainly made an impression—topping both practice sessions and showcasing superb one-lap pace. Eventually difficult qualifying sessions set her back and made for difficult races, but surely made the young Swiss a driver to watch and proved she has speed to win races.
There were also other notable debuts: Rachel Robertson, who took part in the inaugural F1 Academy Rookie Test, made her F4 racing debut after her first season in car racing in the British Radical Championship.
F1 Academy race winner Nina Gademan was joined on the grid by Megan Bruce, who made her F1 debut as a wildcard in Singapore and has been a full-time contender for top female honours in the GB4 Championship all season. Also on the grid was Ava Dobson, the winner of GB4’s top female driver award, who recently scored her first podium in the season finale at Donington Park. Returning to the cockpit was Farah Al Yousef, who debuted in F4 Middle East last year and later made a wildcard appearance at her home round of F1 Academy in Jeddah—now back racing full-time in the Saudi series.
On Friday, the drivers enjoyed plenty of track time in testing. The first official practice session on Saturday morning saw Chiara Bättig leading the timesheets with a 2:07.393, 0.051 seconds ahead of Theo Palmer. Nina Gademan was third fastest, just 0.053s off the top. Megan Bruce and Ava Dobson were 10th and 11th respectively, with rookie Rachel Robertson in P12 and Al Yousef in P14.
The first qualifying session of the season began with a red flag before anyone could set a time. When the session resumed, Dobson briefly broke into the top three as lap times dropped quickly. Gademan settled in the top five, setting a 2:07.827 to take P5. Bättig, however, suffered technical issues early on and couldn’t fully capitalise on her pace; with her tyres already worn, she managed a 2:08.009 for P6. Ava Dobson clocked a 2:08.7, staying just ahead of Megan Bruce and Rachel Robertson, who improved to a 2:10.302. Al Yousef improved on her final run with a 2:13.306 for P14. Theo Palmer took pole position, ahead of Scott Lindblom.
The first race of the season delivered plenty of excitement. Lindblom got a great launch to take the lead into Turn 1, while Bättig and Farah Al Yousef encountered issues at the start.
Gademan slotted into fifth and immediately put Ramaekers under pressure, though she briefly lost out to Kamel. Ava Dobson made a good start, moving up to eighth, with Bruce also gaining a spot to P11.
Rachel Robertson, however, retired on lap 1 after contact with Faris Organji, both cars out with damage. The race stayed green as Bättig began her recovery, climbing to P11 with five seconds to close to the pack ahead.
Bättig however quickly made up the gap in two laps and was soon behind Megan Bruce. Ahead, Palmer fought back to retake the lead from Lindblom, with Kit Belofsky joining the battle.
Further back, Gademan, two seconds behind the leading trio, repassed Kamel and then brilliantly overtook both Al Azhari and Ramaekers in one move to climb up to fourth.
Bättig cleared Bruce on lap 3 and hunted down Dobson, who had just been passed by Micallef for ninth. Lapping in the 2:09.8s, the Swiss rookie caught and passed Dobson, closing the two-second gap to the next cars.
Al Yousef, running in P12, continued to improve, setting personal bests down to 2:12.5 and showing good progress.
Now in clear air, Gademan began gaining half a second per lap on the leading trio, setting 2:08.8 and 2:09.0 laps to close within 1.5 seconds. By lap 7, she joined the fight for the lead. In a hectic wheel-to-wheel battle among five cars, Ramaekers briefly reclaimed fourth from Gademan, but she switched back a few corners later.
Meanwhile, Bättig caught and passed Micallef and Al Azhari after strong duels. Amid the chaos, Lindblom lost his front wing after contact with Palmer, and Gademan seized the opportunity to climb into third—just before the Safety Car was deployed for debris.
The neutralisation allowed Bättig to catch the pack, setting up a one-lap shootout to the finish.
At the restart, Gademan launched an attack for victory, pulling off a fantastic move for second place on Theo Palmer and defending valiantly to the end to claim P2 in a spectacular race. Chiara Bättig completed a stellar recovery to eighth, with Ava Dobson in P10, just ahead of Megan Bruce. Farah Al Yousef finished P12 after a clean race.
The female drivers continued to shine on Sunday morning in Practice 2, as Chiara Bättig again set the fastest lap of the entire weekend with a 2:06.783, ahead of Nina Gademan’s 2:06.907. Ava Dobson was tenth fastest with a 2:08.010, narrowly ahead of Megan Bruce, while Rachel Robertson continued her learning curve in P13 (2:10.217) and Farah Al Yousef improved to P14.
In the second qualifying session, Dobson was up to P3 after her first flying lap, with Bättig in P4 and Gademan in P5. Soon after, the Swiss rookie seized provisional pole.
After a red flag, the session resumed for the final minutes, but with tyres past their peak for most drivers, Adam Al Azhari claimed pole position ahead of Theo Palmer and Thibaut Ramaekers. Ava Dobson delivered a great performance to go fourth fastest, while Bättig took sixth. Gademan would start ninth, Megan Bruce eleventh, less than a tenth ahead of Rachel Robertson, and Farah Al Yousef fourteenth.
After post-qualifying penalties, Dobson lined up from P4, Bättig from P5, Gademan from P8, Al Yousef from P11, Bruce from P12, and Robertson from P14.
As the lights went out, Bättig had a slow start, but Gademan launched brilliantly—going side by side with Dobson and eventually taking third place at Turn 4. Dobson then lost a position to Ramaekers, before the Safety Car was deployed following an incident for Rachel Robertson, who picked up damage after contact. Megan Bruce was also involved in the lap 1 melee and had to pit, along with Abdullah Kamel. The chaos promoted Farah Al Yousef to tenth, the Saudi driver making the most of a clean first lap.
When racing resumed on lap 3, the top four broke away while Micallef pulled off a double pass on Dobson and Lindblom into Turn 1. Bättig, meanwhile, began her charge back.
Chasing Dobson for seventh, Bättig and Dobson made contact at Turn 4, with Chiara’s car climbing over Ava’s rear wing—ending both drivers’ races in an unfortunate accident. The Safety Car was deployed once again.
At the restart on lap 7, Gademan stayed close behind Palmer, ready to strike, while further back Megan Bruce had rejoined the pack thanks to the caution and was now running P9, with Al Yousef in P11. Farah continued to improve, setting her best lap of the weekend with a 2:10.839, matching the pace of the cars ahead. Bruce battled Kamel for eighth.
At the front, Gademan kept up the pressure on Palmer, ultimately crossing the line just six-tenths behind to secure third place, in her second podium of the weekend and an excellent start to her Saudi F4 campaign.
Megan Bruce finished P9 after recovering from the opening-lap incident, while Farah Al Yousef claimed P11 after a promising run that showed clear improvement in pace.
It was an unfortunate end to the weekend for Ava Dobson, Chiara Bättig, and Rachel Robertson, as the latter barely had the chance to complete a lap on her maiden weekend in single-seaters.
However, the signs were encouraging across the field, and all drivers will have the opportunity to regroup quickly, with the second round of the Saudi F4 Championship set to take place at the same circuit on 15–16 October.
