The sixth round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship in Misano was a very unlucky weekend, where unfortunately we were not able to collect what we wanted.

Friday was strongly affected by the weather, with heavy rain and difficult track conditions. In the second free practice session on wet track, I had good feelings and managed to stay among the front runners of my group, which was definitely a positive aspect of the weekend. In qualifying, again under the rain, I finished with the fifteenth fastest time in my group. It was a pity, because on the best lap of the tyre I made a mistake at Quercia corner and then I was not able to improve anymore.

In Race 1, the pace was good. I was not starting very far up the grid, but I managed to make a good comeback, with several overtakes and nice battles on track. I felt competitive and managed to climb up to the top 10. Unfortunately, right on the final lap, just a few corners from the finish line, I made a mistake and went off track. It was a pity, because until that moment it had definitely been the most positive race of the weekend.

Race 2 was even more unlucky. At the start, I had a problem and the car stalled, making me lose many positions straight away. Shortly after, a problem with the electronic gear selector no longer allowed me to shift gears correctly and I was forced to return to the pits and retire.

Not finishing the first two races did not allow me to get the necessary score to access Sunday’s Final. This makes the weekend even more bitter, because there had been some positive signs, especially in the wet free practice and in Race 1, where the pace and the comeback had been very encouraging.

It is certainly not the result I wanted, but even from weekends like this we need to learn. We will analyse everything with the team to understand where we can improve and to turn this experience into something useful for the next races.

Now a few days of rest, then we will already be focused on the Monza tests on 1 October, in preparation for the next round of the E4 European Championship, again in Monza, on the weekend of 11 October.

Beco Bernoldi