Emily Cotty achieved her first top-15 finish in Formula 4 during her second Formula Trophy UAE outing, showcasing significant progress and consistent pace across the weekend at Yas Marina Circuit.
Emily Cotty achieved her best result in F4 to date, securing her first top-15 finish during her second Formula Trophy UAE appearance, which marked her third race weekend in single-seaters.
Following an unfortunate yet promising debut at Yas Marina last week, where she displayed good pace, particularly in the qualifying session, Cotty bounced back a week later, consistently contesting for the top 15 and achieving her personal best finish in a closely fought Race 1.
After a successful career in karting and several F4 tests, Cotty made her racing debut in British Formula 4 earlier this year at Silverstone, securing two top-20 finishes with P19 and P18, moving up the order from 22nd on the grid. Driving for Phinsys by Argenti, Cotty made significant progress during the weekend as she faced changeable weather on her single-seater debut.
The 15-year-old British-New Zealander continued testing F4 machinery and, towards the end of 2024, she was announced as part of the AGI Sport lineup for the inaugural Formula Trophy UAE series, a three-event championship that precedes the full Formula 4 Middle East Championship, scheduled to start in January.
She would join the grid for the second and third rounds at Yas Marina Circuit, making her debut in the supporting event to the Abu Dhabi F1 GP.
On her first visit to the circuit and with just one practice session, Cotty improved with every lap and went into qualifying showing strong pace, finishing 14th fastest in a competitive 22-car field.
Despite a tricky start, Cotty was able to recover and make up positions before receiving contact at the rear, which caused a puncture. Following a pit stop, she had then no opportunities to catch back up with the pack and finished P21. The second race was even more unfortunate, as her car came to a halt in the early stages due to an electrical failure, ending her first Formula Trophy UAE round prematurely.
Despite these results, there were definitely positive signs from her pace, and Cotty aimed to pick up from there for the final Formula Trophy UAE round on the same circuit a week later.
Pre-event testing was held on Friday, offering plenty of driving time for the Formula Trophy UAE drivers. Cotty tried to capitalize on the positives she had shown a week earlier and progressively made improvements over the day, improving by 0.4 seconds between the two open practice sessions.
Official practice was then held on Saturday morning for the one-day event that rounded out the Trophy series season. Emily again started the day strongly, going under the 1:58 barrier and setting a 1:57.794 that placed her 14th fastest and suggesting she would be in contention for a top-15 finish.
The first qualifying session on Saturday afternoon saw Cotty running as high as eighth in the first minutes, with her first timed lap barely one second off pace-setter Sebastian Wheldon. As times tumbled in the final minutes, Cotty remained close to the top-15; despite improving her first sector on the final lap, she couldn’t improve further and secured 16th on the grid for the first race.
Q2 followed, and Cotty again climbed into the top 10 after the first timed laps; she further improved to a 1:57.364, topping her Q1 time. While running in P15 for most of the session, Fu Yuhao improved on his final run, moving ahead of Cotty, who ended the session 16th fastest again, securing another promising starting position for Race 2. Chi Zhenrui took pole position, ahead of Kabir Anurag and Sebastian Wheldon.
Under the Yas Marina lights in Race 1, Cotty gained a position at the start, moving to P15 after passing Fu Yuhao. Soon, she was engaged in a battle for position, however on the second lap Yuzhe Wang managed to find a way past her, dropping her to P16. Cotty nevertheless stayed close, maintaining a half-second gap.
Ahead, Chi Zhenrui passed Wheldon for the lead, but the American regained the position on Lap 3, with Kai Daryanani and Kabir Anurag also battling behind. Ultimately, Anurag climbed the order, passing Daryanani for third after the latter made a small mistake.
On Lap 4, Cotty closed the gap to Wang but, as she got closer, Fu Yuhao seized the opportunity to overtake her for 16th. Cotty tried to fight back, improving her third sector, and continued chasing the two Chinese drivers, with all three separated by mere tenths of a second.
As Fu defended hard, the two lost approximately one second to the cars ahead. They went side by side on Lap 8, but the AGI Sport driver had to back off. Despite this, Cotty and Fu had managed to pull an eight-second gap over Jia Zhanbin behind.
Both drivers eventually caught Wang, with Fu making the overtake. Cotty set her personal best lap time of 1:58.795 on Lap 10 and attacked Wang but struggled to find an opening. She gained a position with two minutes to go when Gustav Jonsson hit trouble and slowed down.
At the front, Wheldon drove away to win with a 5.5-second advantage. Chi Zhenrui took second, while Daryanani reclaimed third in the final corners after an intense battle.
Emily Cotty crossed the line in P16 after several close battles throughout the race. Despite having stronger pace than the cars ahead, she couldn't execute overtakes, finishing two-tenths behind Wang. Post-race penalties for Fu Yuhao, who received a five-second penalty for a practice start infringement, however promoted Cotty to 15th—her personal best result in F4 to date.
Later in the evening came the second and final race of the weekend, as well as the Formula Trophy UAE season. Cotty had a clean start while several cars ran deep into Turn 9; she held her position amidst chaotic battles throughout the field. Meanwhile, Gustav Jonsson pitted again with issues.
Kabir Anurag had taken the lead ahead of Daryanani and Raber after Chi Zhenrui dropped down from pole position. Cotty broke the two-minute barrier, climbing to P15, but then lost out to Yuzhe Wang who passed her on Lap 4.
Cotty continued to push, setting a 1:58.6 and consistently matching her best times. She stayed close to Wang, just half a second behind, while extending her gap to Jia Zhanbin to 18 seconds during the second half of the race.
At the front, Anurag checked out and claimed a well-deserved victory, with Daryanani finishing three seconds behind. August Raber completed the podium, while Wheldon fended off Hanna and Chi Zhenrui in an exciting battle to finish fourth.
With second, Daryanani outscored previous points leader Rashid Al Dhaheri, absent from this round, and secured the inaugural Formula Trophy UAE crown.
While Cotty couldn’t replicate her top-15 result from Race 1, her pace suggested that it was within reach. Finishing P16 in Race 2, she still delivered a much-improved performance compared to her first weekend in the series.
The British driver will now aim to build on this experience at Yas Marina as she prepares for her 2025 season.