Payton Westcott Begins UAE F4 Campaign at Yas Marina with Valuable Experience Gained

Payton Westcott kicked off her UAE Formula 4 Championship campaign at the opening round of the season, held at the Yas Marina Circuit from January 16–18. The weekend marked her first competitive outing in the championship and provided important mileage and learning opportunities on one of the most technically demanding circuits on the calendar.

Westcott began the event with P15 in Free Practice, using the session to familiarize herself with both the circuit layout and evolving track conditions. In the two qualifying sessions, she secured P16 in Qualifying 1 and P23 in Qualifying 2, setting the stage for a challenging race weekend amid a tightly packed field.

Race 1 saw Westcott deliver a consistent drive to finish P16, managing traffic and maintaining steady pace throughout the race. Unfortunately, her progress was halted in Race 2, where she was forced to retire with a DNF, cutting short what had been shaping up as a productive run.

She returned to the grid for Race 3, where she gained further experience in wheel-to-wheel competition and brought the car home in P22, completing the weekend and concluding the opening round of the championship.

While the results did not fully reflect her potential, the Yas Marina round provided valuable data and insight as Westcott adapts to the UAE F4 environment. With the opening weekend complete, attention now turns to building consistency and extracting more performance as the season continues.