Academy Report: Browning, Bondarev and Matsui in Action

The Atlassian Williams Racing on-track activity wasn’t restricted to Bahrain as three Driver Academy members also jumped into cars and karts over the past week.

Luke Browning returned to work after his winter in F2's test in Spain, while Oleksandr Bondarev and Sara Matsui enjoyed competitive action in Qatar and Portugal.

After a busy 2024, Luke's winter break ended with the Formula 2 pre-season test ahead of the opening round in Melbourne.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya welcomed the 22 F2 cars for three days of running after hosting Formula 3 one week earlier.

Luke used his late-season Formula 2 experience from last year to be consistently quick over the first two days.

Not failing to end any of the first four sessions outside the top 10 positions, Luke set a 1:23.870 on Day 2 to be the third-fastest driver overall.

Day 3 saw Luke and new 2025 teammate Dino Beganovic concentrate on different run plans from others, with the duo clocking up 120 laps in a very interrupted day.

Sasha's first series finale in single-seater machinery came in Qatar as F4 Middle East ended the five-round championship at Lusail.

More point-scoring finishes came, too, as Bondi concluded the series with top-12 results at every round, securing a P12 classification in the standings.

That encouraging championship result followed a less-than-ideal Qatari weekend, however, where a stall in Race 1 meant Sasha had to make up places from his original P10 start, and he recovered to P12.

P12 turned to P11 under the night sky in Race 2, but Bondi ended his Middle Eastern adventure with a P22 in Race 3.

"I learnt a lot from this championship," said Bondi.

"It was a very good preparation for the Italian F4 in a few months.

"We have a lot of work to do before that but hoping to keep improving to have a better European season.

With the winter series over, Bondi can be happy that his consistency earned him a P3 in the Rookie's Championship – a great confidence boost ahead of his upcoming Italian F4 season.

The opening round of 2025's Champions of the Future Academy Program began in the Algarve, where Sara spent a weekend racing at Portimao's Kartódromo.

Driving in the OK-N Senior category, our Japanese hopeful dealt with a soaking circuit on Saturday for the first race.

Involvement in an opening-lap incident with fellow F1 Academy-backed Ella Häkkinen meant Sara's P16 start wouldn't become anything more by the race finish.

Nonetheless, she continued racing, navigating through a chaotic race to finish P20 after falling to P31.

Overcast skies and dry conditions greeted the karters on Sunday. A poor start from P13 led to a drop through the order to P21 by Lap 3.

Again, Sara recovered, crossing the line in P16, but with a P17 classification after a 5-second penalty for a technical infringement.