Race driver sets sights on F1 after first victory

A teenage Ukrainian racing driver who recently won his first Formula 4 race in Italy is hoping to become the first Formula One driver representing his country.

Oleksandr Bondarev,16, is part of Williams Racing Driver Academy, which helps develop young motorsport talent by offering support from the F1 team in Grove, Oxfordshire.

Having recovered from a career-threatening injury, he said his victory in single-seater machinery in Imola on 3 August was "a really proud moment".

Oleksandr said Ukrainian sporting victories could help boost morale while the war with Russia continued, adding that he was "trying to win for my country as well".

In Italy, the 16-year-old driver is part of the Prema Racing team

He began karting when he was five and kept up with his passion throughout his childhood.

Oleksandr said the Pixar animated film Cars was his inspiration for a career in racing.

"It is about race car Lightning McQueen - all the lads watch this movie when they're young," he said.

The teenager said transitioning to F4 had been "a really big step" and that, despite all his testing, he had to be "really conscious of all the things to improve".

Oleksandr said it had boosted his confidence to "finally" see progression

In Italy, Oleksandr is part of the Prema Racing team.

"We struggled with getting a clean weekend together for a big part of the season just due to driving mistakes and some moments of bad luck," he said.

"It took a lot of analysing and understanding what I could do better as a driver.

"A lot of work was also done with my engineer and with the whole of the Prema team and, in the end, that brought the result."

Oleksandr said it had boosted his confidence to "finally start to see the progression", adding that he had not expected to "get the win that early".

It had been a "really proud moment" for his family too, he said, explaining they had supported him "so much" throughout his career.

Oleksandr descrobed Williams Racing as a "top team"

His success comes after a crash in 2022, which took him six months to recover from.

"I couldn't walk for five months at least and I just had to continue training my upper body," Oleksandr said.

"Everyone in the hospitals worked hard to get me back on track really fast and that's probably the reason why I still have a leg right now."

He has since been training at Williams, where he said he had been able to improve in areas he was lacking, such as tyre management.

"They straight away found solutions that can help me in the race weekend and we saw the result change straight away."

The 16-year-old has also been training in a simulator.

He said: "You don't really get a lot of on-track time when you're at the race weekend.

"Being able to do all the work in the simulator before - and know exactly what you need to improve when you get to the track - is the most important thing.

"Williams is a really top team, it's a pleasure to work with them."

The driver recently recovered from a career-threatening injury

Oleksandr said his long-term goal was to become a Williams F1 driver in the main championship.

With 22 drivers in F1 next year, he said it would take "a lot of hard work and dedication", adding: "You have to be one of the best to get a seat in the lower categories.

"If you can be really, really prepared for F1 when you get there, then that's what's going to give you the advantage straight away."

The support from his home country "has been amazing over the year", he said.

"To finally get the result and to see how well they reacted to that has been a really nice feeling.

"These little boosts when the Ukrainian athletes perform really well is what helps cheer them up at least a little bit.

"I'm trying to win for my country as well."

Oleksandr said seeing how Ukrainians had reacted to his success had been "a really nice feeling"