It was a positive weekend at Circuit Ricardo Tormo for Mathilda Paatz, who is adapting well to the Tatuus F4-T421 machine and finished twice inside the top-20, narrowly missing out on a top-15 result and gaining 18 positions across the three Formula Winter Series races while displaying mature racecraft.
Mathilda Paatz enjoyed a successful weekend in the second round of the Formula Winter Series at Valencia. The young German racer twice finished inside the top-20, including an excellent 16th place result in race one. Across the three races, the AS Motorsport driver gained 18 places from her grid positions while displaying mature racecraft to complete the trio of races without incident.
Paatz enjoyed an encouraging Formula Winter Series debut in the season opener at Portimao. Competing in the Tatuus F4-T421 machine for the first time, the AS Motorsport driver improved significantly throughout the weekend. Twice finishing inside the top-20, Mathilda’s best result came in race one where she finished in 14th, before ending the event with a commendable 18th place result in a wet race three.
In addition to learning a different car compared to her 2024 French F4 season, Paatz’s Formula Winter Series campaign also saw the young German driver tackle new circuits for the first time. In Thursday’s first test session at Valencia, Mathilda set the 29th fastest time, before finding almost two seconds worth of lap time improvement in session two, while improving to 28th. Paatz ended Thursday in 26th position, before taking significant strides forward on Friday.
Three further test sessions were held on Friday and the AS Motorsport driver closed the gap to the drivers ahead. In session two, Paatz recorded her quickest lap at Circuit Ricardo Tormo to date with her 1:35.072 placing her within a second of the fastest time overall, underlining the close competition in the Formula Winter Series.
Qualifying for the three races was held was on Saturday morning with two back-to-back sessions to determine the grid positions. In the first session, Paatz showed good speed and matched her fastest time from testing. As a result, the young German racer had set the 22nd quickest time with her second fastest lap also inside the top-25 overall.
Using the knowledge gained from session one, Paatz enjoyed a strong second qualifying session in which she set her quickest time of the event to date. This lap of a 1:34.958 placed her 26th overall, just half a second away from the top-15, with her second quickest time also fast enough for 26th position.
Race 1
For race one, Paatz lined up from 22nd on the grid and made a good start to complete lap one in 23rd position. The AS Motorsport showed maturity at the season opener in Portimao to make progress through the races and she was looking to replicate this at Valencia. On lap two, the first safety car of the race was required as David Walther’s car required recovery and following the restart, Paatz overtook Alisha Palmowski who retired to the pits.
After applying considerable pressure to Joanne Ciconte, Mathilda moved ahead on lap seven as the AKM Motorsport driver retired from the race. Now closing in the top-20, Paatz’s speed was encouraging as she lapped on pace with those battling for top-15 positions. On lap 12, a second safety car was required after Alba Hurup Larsen was in the gravel with the race restarting two laps later.
Paatz overtook Jan Koller on the restart, before a third neutralisation period was required for the stopped car of Ricardo Baptista. Two final laps were run under green flag conditions with Mathilda capitalising on a final lap incident between Chloe Chambers, Thomas Bearman and Artem Severiukhin to take the checkered flag in 17th position.
A post-race penalty assessed to Andrija Kostic promoted Paatz to an excellent 16th place after a consistent race of progress.
Race 2
For the second race of the weekend, Paatz started from 24th position and was looking to make similar progress to that of race one. It was a challenging start for the AS Motorsport driver who dropped two positions on lap one, however she was quickly into her rhythm and making up for lost time. After overtaking Aleksander Ruta on lap two and Payton Westcott on lap three, Paatz was back into 24th position.
The young German driver was displaying excellent racecraft at Circuit Ricardo Tormo and she quickly made her way ahead of Teo Borenstein before the Maffi Racing driver brought out the safety car.
Paatz made a quick restart and immediately pressurised fellow female driver Joanne Ciconte before overtaking her rival at the final turn. Mathilda’s pace was extremely consistent as she closed in on the top-15 runners despite the nature of the circuit proving difficult for overtaking.
In the fina stages of the race, Paatz caught Sebastian Bach while Van Amersvoort Racing driver Payton Westcott began closing in on the group. However, Westcott had received a five second penalty for an incident earlier in the race and therefore holding off the American driver was not crucial.
Westcott found a way through on lap 17, however Paatz fought back to reclaim the position and take the checkered flag in 22nd position, before being promoted to 21st following a track limits penalty for Bach.
Race 3
Looking to end the weekend on a high, Paatz started the third race of the event from 26th on the grid. It was a clean start for the AS Motorsport driver who held her position through the first two laps, before passing Jan Koller for 25th on lap three. Although a recovering Edu Robinson moved ahead on lap four, Paatz was quickly back into 25th after a good move on Simon Schranz.
Mathilda’s pace in the middle portion of the race was strong and after setting a personal best time on lap nine, she was faster than the next 11 drivers ahead. Overtaking was still proving challenging and after Robinson pitted with a loose engine cover, Paatz was into 24th before contact from Gino Trappa saw Sebastian Bach retire from the race. Bach’s incident required a safety car intervention with Mathilda now into 23rd position.
On the restart, Paatz overtook Alba Hurup Larsen before the safety car was deployed for a second time as Andrea Dupe’s car required recovery. When the race resumed for two final laps, Paatz showed her racecraft by gaining three positions to take the checkered flag in 19th position, before being promoted to 18th after Trappa was given a five-second time penalty.
It was a positive weekend at Circuit Ricardo Tormo for Paatz who is adapting well to the Tatuus F4-T421 machine. The AS Motorsport driver maximised her speed during the weekend, finishing twice inside the top-20 and narrowly missing out on a top-15 result.
Mathilda will be looking to continue her progress when the Formula Winter Series resumes at Motorland Aragon on the weekend of 2nd/3rd March.
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