Williams’ Ukranian driver steps up into Italian F4 championship

Williams has announced that its Academy member Oleksandr ‘Sasha’ Bondarev will make his full-time debut in the Italian Formula 4 Championship with PREMA Racing for the 2025 season.

The announcement follows promising performances in the final two rounds of the 2024 championship, where the Ukrainian graduated from karting to single-seaters, securing three points finishes including a top 5 in the Monza finale.

The 15-year-old driver has had an impressive career so far, winning karting’s WSK Super Master Series and being crowned CIK-FIA European Champion OKJ in 2023. He was announced as a Williams Racing Academy Driver at the end of 2023 and went on to take home the WSK Champions Cup in 2024, before stepping up to Italian F4 with PREMA Racing from Barcelona onwards.

Commenting on the new step of his racing career, Oleksandr Bondarev added: “I’m super happy to continue with PREMA for the 2025 Italian Formula 4 season.

“I enjoyed learning everything about the championship and the team during my first 2 rounds, and I hope we can soon have some really great results with the team.”

Speaking of the Williams Academy driver, the Grove-based outfit’s racing director Sven Smeets noted: “It’s exciting to see Sasha take the next step in his motorsport career by competing in the 2025 Italian F4 season with PREMA.

“Since joining the Williams Racing Driver Academy, he has gone from strength to strength on track and has shown impressive development in his transition from karting to single-seater racing. We will be following his season closely next year and hope to see him continue his positive trajectory.”