Emily Cotty enjoyed a breakthrough weekend in F4 Middle East, earning her first-ever F4 point at the third round in Dubai with a strong recovery drive in Race 2.
F4 rookie Farah Al Yousef continued her steady progress in Dubai, securing three clean finishes.
Emily Cotty enjoyed her best Formula 4 weekend to date at the third round of the F4 Middle East Championship in Dubai, where a 12th-place finish in the second race earned the British rookie her first-ever points in F4.
Cotty joined the Middle East-based championship for the final two rounds of the 2024 Formula Trophy UAE series, where a strong final weekend resulted in her first top-15 finish. The R-Ace GP driver then committed to a full-time campaign in the 2025 F4 ME Championship and delivered an equally impressive first round, improving her personal best with a P14 finish.
In her first full season of single-seaters—following a one-off appearance in British F4 in 2024—Cotty has been making consistent progress in one of the most competitive F4 fields, featuring top junior talents from around the world.
She went on to secure two more top-20 finishes in the second round, held on the Corkscrew layout of Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, showcasing strong racecraft in the tightly contested midfield battles.
Alongside Cotty, a second female driver, Saudi Arabia's Farah Al Yousef, is also making her single-seater debut in the 2025 F4 Middle East Championship. Al Yousef transitioned from karting to F4 after representing her country in the Formula Woman competition in November, where she drove a Radical prototype. While the F4 ME series presents a significantly greater challenge, she has been working tirelessly to close the gap—making tangible progress at each round, with her lap times steadily improving.
This weekend, the drivers tackled a new circuit in the form of the Dubai Autodrome, racing in support of the Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Dubai. They had two pre-event test sessions and an official free practice on Friday to get up to speed.
Cotty made solid progress across the sessions, running inside the top 20 in the second test session and finding over two seconds of lap time on a rapidly evolving track.
Al Yousef set a best lap of 2:09.3 on Friday, continuing her trend of reducing the gap to the leaders.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning. Cotty qualified 20th in Q1 with a 2:03.602, just over two seconds off the overall pole sitter. Al Yousef lined up 28th.
Q2 proved more challenging for Cotty, as she finished 25th with a 2:03.798 in an extremely tight session. Meanwhile, Al Yousef broke the 2:10 barrier and secured 26th place on the grid. Emanuele Olivieri and Alex Powell claimed pole positions.
RACE 1
Emily Cotty lined up from P20, aiming for another top-20 finish, while Farah Al Yousef lined up in P28 on Saturday afternoon as the first race of the weekend went underway. Emanuele Olivieri started from pole, sharing the front row with Alex Powell.
A sandstorm created extremely windy and dusty conditions, making grip and visibility tricky. Many drivers ran off into the escape road on lap 1; it would be Tomass Stolcermanis to take the lead amid these challenging conditions, while Cotty held her position on the opening lap, battling in the midfield.
Al Yousef made early gains, passing Reno Francot and David Cosma to move up to P26 after they hit trouble on the first lap. On lap 2, a collision between Sebastian Wheldon and Abdullah Ayman Kamel brought out the safety car.
Cotty was looking strong for a midfield position but got caught up in an incident as well, forcing her to pit for a new front wing and dropping her down the order. Fortunately, the safety car period allowed her to catch back up to the rest of the pack.
Meanwhile, Farah Al Yousef avoided the incidents and continued her climb, reaching P22.
With Cole Hewetson also pitting for damage, Cotty settled into P23 under the caution.
Stolcermanis led Olivieri, Nakamura-Berta, and Powell at the restart. The Latvian driver had a strong launch, holding onto the lead, while Olivieri defended against Nakamura-Berta.
Further back, August Raber collided with Chheda, sending the Yas Heat car off at Turn 2, triggering another caution. Cotty had moved up to P22 after overtaking Al Yousef before the race was neutralized again.
With only a few laps remaining, the race resumed, leading to intense battles across the field and another cloud of dust and sand. Al Yousef lost positions to Hewetson and Cosma but kept it clean. Cotty pushed forward in the final two laps, battling Wang Yuzhe and Tameem Hassiba.
A big crash on the back straight on the final lap just ahead of Cotty brought out the red flag, ending the race prematurely: having been pushed wide by Chheda, Wang Yuzhe hit a kerb and took off, with his car flipping mid-air. The massive shunt immediately brought the race to a halt; the drive was luckily checked and released from the medical centre.
Emanuele Olivieri had just managed to pass Stolcermanis before the stoppage and was declared the winner, with Nakamura-Berta taking third.
Emily Cotty completed the race in P22 but was promoted to 20th place following post-race penalties - thus scoring her fifth top-20 of the season up to that point.
Farah Al Yousef finished P23 in a clean run, where she ran a personal best of 2:08.917, improving on her personal best.
RACE 2
Fu Yuhao and Alex Powell started on the front row for Race 2 on Sunday morning, which featured a reverse grid format. Emily Cotty lined up in P20, while Farah Al Yousef started from P23—in her highest grid position to date.
Cotty had a strong launch off the line, holding P21 after the first lap despite Zhuravskyi and Raber got past, but she remained in the thick of the midfield battles. At the front, Fu Yuhao maintained the lead, but Alex Powell applied heavy pressure and made his move on lap 2, just moments before the safety car was deployed due to Yuta Suzuki being stranded at the final corner.
Farah Al Yousef lost positions after issues on the first lap, but rejoined the race.
Seth Gilmore also hit trouble and pitted with damage, allowing Cotty to move into the top 20. With Tiago Rodrigues also dropping down the order, Al Yousef could also climb back into P25.
Powell executed a perfect restart on lap 4, while behind him, Stolcermanis overtook Bondarev for third. The Ukrainian driver struggled for grip, allowing Nakamura-Berta to also slip past. Bondarev’s luck ran out entirely when he collided with his Prema teammate, Chi Zhenrui.
Cotty kept it clean and gained more positions, moving up to P16.
Farah Al Yousef lost a spot to Gilmore but gained on Francot and Chi, reclaiming her starting position in P23 by lap 6.
Cotty then set her sights on Zhuravskyi, running a strong pace of 2:04.2—quicker than the two cars ahead of her. She executed a great overtake on lap 7 and immediately focused on closing in on the Qatari Hassiba brothers. One lap later, she seized an opportunity to pass, climbing into P14.
Now, she had a two-second gap to close on the other QMMF car, who was locked in a battle with Cole Hewetson. Their fight allowed Cotty to close in rapidly.
Al Yousef settled into P23, recording a personal best lap of 2:08.5 while maintaining a safe gap both ahead and behind.
Cotty continued to push, setting a new personal best of 2:04.2 on lap 9—top-10-worthy pace. By lap 11, she had fully joined the group ahead, consistently running just tenths off her best laps. She made another move on Hewetson to take P13, delivering an outstanding race. Now just three-tenths behind Teha Hassiba, she had one final lap to make a move.
Ahead, Alex Powell stormed to victory with an almost seven-second gap, claiming his first win in the series. Behind him, an intense three-way battle for second saw Stolcermanis lose out to Emanuele Olivieri, while Nakamura-Berta snatched a podium finish in the very last corners.
Emily Cotty completed a remarkable recovery, crossing the finish line in P13—just a few tenths short of P12. Nevertheless, Following post-race penalties, Emily was promoted to P12 and earned her first points in the championship, thanks to a remarkable charge from 20th on the grid.
Further down the field, Farah A Yousef delivered one of her best races, finishing a solid P23 and managing to keep Chi and Bondarev behind. Her gap to the front runners was the cl
RACE 3
The third and final race of the weekend in Dubai took place on a cleaner, less dusty circuit in the afternoon. Emily Cotty faced the challenge of recovering from P25 after a tough qualifying session but had already shown strong pace in the previous races.
Farah Al Yousef started in P26, aiming for further progress.
At the front, Powell led the pack from Nakamura-Berta after Olivieri lost second place at lights out. Meanwhile, Cotty had an outstanding start, surging from P25 to P19 on the first lap, gaining six positions.
August Raber and Farah Al Yousef had slow getaways but eventually joined the pack.
Cotty came under pressure from Taha Hassiba and lost one position on lap 2, slotting in between the two QMMF cars. With Tameem Hassiba filling her mirrors, Cotty picked up the pace, setting a personal best of 2:05.3. However, she couldn’t quite stay with Taha Hassiba, who managed to pull away by a few seconds.
Still, she built a one-second gap to the car behind, now occupied by Cole Hewetson by lap 8. Just a few positions ahead, Abdullah Ayman Kamel spun on lap 10, but Cotty remained in P20 as Hewetson found a way through.
Further back, Al Yousef got ahead of her Evans GP teammate Martin Molnar, who dropped down the order. Farah then moved up into P25, focusing on improving her lap times.
In the final laps, Cotty displayed strong consistency, lapping within a few tenths of her best time. However, August Raber, recovering from the back, was closing in quickly. Despite this, Cotty managed her pace well, showing minimal drop-off in her lap times.
On the final lap, Raber launched an attack, but Cotty defended brilliantly and held him off to take the checkered flag in P20, securing another top-20 finish.
At the front, an incredible battle for victory unfolded, with Alex Powell edging out Kean Nakamura-Berta by just 0.057 seconds in a thrilling finish.
Farah Al Yousef completed her third weekend in single-seaters with another clean race, running a more lonely P25 but focusing on consistency. She clocked her best lap on the final lap—a 2:08.369, one of her strongest times of the weekend.
It was another highly encouraging round for the female drivers in the F4 Middle East Championship. Emily Cotty secured three top-20 finishes and achieved her best-ever result in F4, earning her first championship point. With this achievement, she became the first woman to score points in the series since Doriane Pin in 2024.
The next round takes place in just a week's time, as the series returns to Abu Dhabi on 15-16 February, once again supporting the Asian Le Mans Series.
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