Kiara Henni & Mathilda Paatz to contest 2025 F4 Central European Championship

At the start of the 2025 F4 CEZ season, two female drivers have been announced on the grid: German drivers Kiara Henni and Mathilda Paatz will join the Central European Zone championship with family-operated teams.

Sally McNulty, Mazda MX-5 Cup 2025 — Photo credits: F4 CEZ / ADAC

As the F4 CEZ championship enters its third season next week, two female drivers will join the grid of the Central European Zone-based feeder series, which takes place in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia to showcase young talents on their way up the formula ladder.

Making the step from karting to formula cars is Kiara Henni, who will compete with her family-operated team, Henni Performance. The young German driver only began karting a few years ago and has the guidance of well-known mentor Laurents Hörr.

Despite a rare genetic condition affecting the FOXP2 gene—often referred to as the "speech gene"—which has resulted in a speech impediment, Henni has not let this hold her back. She has continued to grow, succeed, and even win in motorsport, now embarking on a new adventure in F4 CEZ.

Mathilda Paatz, on the other hand, already has a season of Formula 4 experience under her belt, having competed in French F4 in 2024 with increasingly promising results. A rising star in international karting, she advanced to the OK Senior category at the FIA European and World Championship level in 2023.

Racing under the banner of Fernando Alonso's junior team, Mathilda also competed in the Champions of the Future Euro Series. She previously impressed with a third-place finish in the ADAC Kart Masters and represented Germany at the FIA Motorsport Games.

Paatz was later selected as a Senior finalist for the Girls on Track – Rising Stars program, returning after participating in the Junior selections in 2022. In 2024, she stepped up to F4 machinery in French F4, securing a top-ten finish at Dijon.

To prepare for her main campaign in 2025, Paatz joined the Formula Winter Series, where she achieved multiple top-20 finishes, with a best result of 14th at both Portimão and Barcelona. At the latter, she also secured the Female Trophy win.

Paatz will now make her F4 CEZ debut with Mathilda Racing, marking her first full campaign in the Tatuus T421 car. "Very happy to announce that I’m joining the F4 CEZ field this season," Paatz commented. "And it’s actually just ten days until the season opener at Red Bull Ring—can’t wait to get going."