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This year’s F4 Central European Championship featured the highest number of female drivers in its history. Throughout the season, at least three young women took part in the races and in the final two rounds there were even four on the grid. The best among them was Germany’s Mathilda Paatz, who won the Women’s Trophy classification and finished seventh in the overall standings.

Mathilda Paatz (Germany), Michalina Sabaj (Poland), Kiara Henni (Germany) and Nicole Havrda (Canada), these were the four female drivers who competed in the third season of F4 CEZ.

The determined Paatz, racing for Mathilda Racing, proved to be the strongest of the group. She won the Women’s Trophy standings, taking victory in 14 out of 18 races in the category, while also showing consistent progress and speed throughout the season. She finished second overall at the Red Bull Ring, becoming the first-ever woman to stand on the overall podium in the championship.

Paatz scored five top-five finishes and especially during the final race weekend of the season in Brno, she had the pace to fight with the leading drivers. Although her seventh place in the overall standings looks promising, Paatz herself has a different view. After a season of ups and downs, she feel the results could have been better, but believes the experiences will make her stronger for the future: “I think you’ll see a much stronger version of me in 2026. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, unfortunately more downs, but I’ve learned a lot, especially here in Brno, about how to position myself on track. I’ve also gained a lot of confidence. I know what I can do, I know I can fight with the boys and nothing can stop me,” said Paatz.

Second in the Women’s Trophy and 14th overall was Michalina Sabaj. The Polish driver debuted in F4 CEZ last year and in her second season she faced an exceptionally competitive midfield where scoring points was tougher than ever. Racing with AS Motorsport, Sabaj won the Women’s Trophy classification three times. Her best weekend came at the Salzburgring, where she scored points in two races for the overall standings.

Rookie Kiara Henni made her debut with the small family-run Henni Performance team, stepping up from karting to Formula 4. Despite a limited budget, she showed steady progress, closing the gap to her rivals at every round and making important steps in her career. Her best results came at the Salzburgring, where she finished twice in 12th overall. In the Women’s Trophy, she took four runner-up finishes.

The trio was joined later in the season by F1 Academy driver Nicole Havrda, who contested the final two rounds at Slovakia Ring and Brno. “We learned a lot and I am so grateful to have had this experience,” Havrda wrote on her Instagram after Brno, where she finished all three races second in the Women’s Trophy and added top-ten overall results, repeating her performance from Slovakia Ring. For Havrda, the year is not over yet, as she now prepares for her final two F1 Academy races in Singapore and the USA.

Overall and Women Trophy standings

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