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16-Year-Old Ukrainian Racer Makes History With First Formula 4 Victory in Italy
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
Oleksandr Bondarev, a 16-year-old Ukrainian racing for Prema Racing, secured his first career victory in the Italian Formula 4 Championship during the third race of the fifth round in Imola.
Bondarev started from pole position following a successful qualifying session on August 1. Although he lost the lead early in the race to teammate Kimu Nakamura-Berta, the Ukrainian driver regained first place three minutes before the finish and held the position until the end.
🥇 16-year-old Oleksandr Bondarev made history for Ukraine by winning the third race of the fifth round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship in Imola. pic.twitter.com/09A7FaNL2N
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) August 3, 2025
The win earned him 25 championship points and improved his standings in both the overall and rookie classifications.
This marks the first Formula 4 race victory by a Ukrainian driver in the Italian series. Previously, Ivan Peklin had won a race in the French Formula 4 Championship in 2019 at Magny-Cours.
Following the race, Bondarev said, “We lost the lead on the first lap, but I knew we had the speed. I waited for the right moment to make the move and then managed the race from there,” as quoted by Tribuna.com.
According to reports from Champion and Prema Racing’s official channels, the race concluded with a Prema Racing 1-2-3 finish. Nakamura-Berta finished second, 0.445 seconds behind Bondarev, and Newman Chi completed the podium in third.
The win comes amid Bondarev’s growing international profile. In 2023, he became the first Ukrainian to join the Williams Racing Driver Academy, a program that supports young talents on the path to Formula 1.
The same year, he also became the first Ukrainian to win the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship.
Bondarev began karting at the age of five and became the youngest national champion in Ukraine by the age of seven. He has also won the Rotax Max Challenge Ukraine.
Formula 4 (FIA F4) is an entry-level category for single-seater racing, designed to prepare young drivers for higher-level competitions, including Formula 1. National and regional F4 championships are held around the world according to standardized technical and sporting regulations set by the FIA.
Earlier, Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh claimed her 20th career Diamond League victory by winning the opening event in Xiamen, China, with a 1.97-meter clearance—her first competition since an injury at the 2025 World Indoor Championships.
