For the Williams Racing Driver Academy, the 2025 season is officially underway!

This weekend, all eyes were on the Yas Marina Circuit for the opening round of the F4 Middle East Championship.

The venue that hosted our final race of 2024 held our first racing interests of 2025, with Oleksandr Bondarev eager to showcase his talent in an always competitive field.

Read on to find out how Sacha fared as he launched his 2025 campaign!

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Oleksandr’s first outing of the 2025 season was a mixed weekend at Yas Marina, with the young Ukrainian ending the weekend with a promising fight through the field.

Racing in the No.27 Prema car, Bondi qualified P17 and P19 in Qualifying 1 and 2, respectively, setting the stage for him to fight in the middle of this 29-car field.

Race 1 saw Oleksandr finish P16 whilst Race 2, the reverse grid race, brought heartbreak as a technical issue on the opening lap forced him into a DNF.

However, Race 3 marked a turning point, as Sasha drove brilliantly from P19 to finish P11, securing his first points of the season and a strong third place amongst the rookies.

After Round 1, Oleksandr sits P16 in the Drivers’ Championship and P8 in the Rookies’ Championship. The action resumes this weekend at Yas Marina, where the Corkscrew Circuit configuration promises more opportunities to learn and progress.

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Oleksandr has been karting since the age of five. His first major title came at the Ukrainian Karting Championship, becoming the series' youngest champion in its history at only 7 years old. The following year, Oleksandr entered his first international championship including the WSK Final Cup 60 Mini class and the CEE Rotax Max Challenge, which he won.

In 2021, he competed in the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy, securing a podium and a third overall result in the highly competitive championship.

The following year, he joined the Ricky Flynn Motorsport team, best known for supporting numerous Formula 1 drivers in their karting careers. He went on to win the 2022 WSK OKJ Super Master Series, achieving podiums at all four races and wins at three.

Later in the year, Oleksandr began the CIK-FIA OKJ European Championship season before he was involved in a serious karting accident in the second round, ending his season prematurely. His stationary kart was hit head-on in Zuera, Spain, causing him to sustain a compound fracture in his leg which required ten surgeries and multiple months of rehabilitation. Oleksandr made a full recovery by Autumn 2022.

In the first full season after his injury, Oleksandr was crowned 2023 CIK-FIA Karting European Champion, becoming the first Ukrainian driver in the history of karting to win the championship. Throughout the season, he stood on the podium a total of four times, including two wins.

The 14-year-old driver joined the Williams Racing Driver Academy in September 2023.

For 2024, Oleksandr will continue in karting in European and global championships, including the FIA European Karting Championship and the WSK Super Master Series.

More from Oleksandr Bondarev

Oleksandr Bondarev

Find out how Oleksandr Bondarev fared in Round 1 of the F4 Middle East Championship over the weekend

Academy Report: Sasha Starts our 2025 Action

Find out how Oleksandr Bondarev fared in Round 1 of the F4 Middle East Championship over the weekend

F4 Middle East

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