The Kuwaiti driver finishes his first full British F4 campaign third in the Rookie Cup, dedicating a season of race wins and podium finishes to his country and supporters.
Jaber Al Sabah has completed a breakthrough British Formula 4 season with two outright race victories and third place in the Rookie Cup, becoming the first Kuwaiti to win a race in the championship.
Racing for Xcel Motorsport, Al Sabah secured victories at Thruxton and Donington Park before adding another overall podium finish at the season’s closing meeting at Brands Hatch. His campaign established a new milestone for Kuwaiti participation in the series, with success against both fellow newcomers and the wider field.
In an end-of-season statement published on 18 October, Al Sabah dedicated the achievement to Kuwait’s leadership and acknowledged the sponsors, school and supporters who had helped him compete. He also expressed his hope of continuing his racing career and representing Kuwait in the seasons ahead.
From karting to a first full British campaign
Al Sabah’s progression into British F4 followed an existing relationship with Xcel Motorsport. He had been part of the team’s karting programme before advancing into single-seater competition, giving his first full British campaign a foundation built over more than one season.
When Xcel announced his place in its 2026 line-up, the emphasis was on development. British F4 team manager Dan Hart highlighted Al Sabah’s progress through karting and his transition into racing cars, with the team looking to build on that experience throughout his rookie campaign.
Al Sabah described his priorities as learning quickly, developing with the team and challenging himself to deliver his best at each meeting. The results that followed would take him beyond those initial learning objectives and into contention for overall race victories.
Signs of that progress appeared early. A KUNA report published on Kuwait Government Online on 10 May recorded a third-place overall finish and victory in the rookie category. It also noted that he had already finished second among rookies and seventh overall during the championship’s opening round.
Speaking to KUNA, Al Sabah credited his technical team’s efforts and said his participation was driven by a commitment to raising Kuwait’s profile in international motorsport. Those early results provided the first indications that he could compete beyond the newcomer classification.
Two wins against the full field
His first overall British F4 victory came at Thruxton. Al Sabah then followed it with another win in the opening race on Donington Park’s Grand Prix circuit, turning a maiden success into consecutive victories across the two meetings.
The official Donington race report describes a performance built around a decisive start. Al Sabah moved ahead of Tommy Harfield on the approach to Redgate and took control of the race, while Harfield and Ethan Jeff-Hall contested the positions behind him.
The pressure increased as the leading cars closed together. Harfield moved to within half a second of Al Sabah, but the Kuwaiti driver retained the lead and set the fastest lap on the final tour to secure victory.
The result was his second overall career win in British F4 and his fourth Rookie Cup race victory of the season at that point. It demonstrated that the Thruxton breakthrough could be repeated on a different circuit and under a different set of race conditions.
There are two distinct measures of achievement in those results. Rookie Cup honours recognise performance among eligible newcomers, while an overall victory means beating the full race field. Al Sabah’s wins at Thruxton and Donington were outright successes, alongside the rookie results contributing to his season-long category position.
A podium finish at Brands Hatch
Al Sabah remained among the leading contenders as the championship reached its final meeting at Brands Hatch in October.
Starting from pole position in the reverse-grid race on 11 October, he finished third overall behind Virtuosi Racing teammates Joseph Smith and Jarrett Clark. He also won the rookie category in that race, according to the championship’s season-finale report.
The result came in a record 32-car field, providing a substantial competitive setting for another podium finish. Across the full championship, ten events and 30 races produced 13 different race winners.
Belgian driver Dries Van Langendonck secured both the overall championship and Rookie Cup titles. Al Sabah subsequently confirmed that he had finished third in the rookie standings, completing a campaign that combined season-long category performance with individual overall victories.
His results therefore extended across several stages of the year. Early rookie podiums were followed by outright wins, with another overall podium arriving at the closing meeting. The final classification brought those performances together into a top-three finish among the championship’s newcomers.
A season dedicated to Kuwait
Al Sabah’s season-ending message placed the achievement within the support he had received from Kuwait.
He dedicated it to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah and Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
He also thanked Bader Nasser Al Kharafi and Gulf Cable, alongside Kuwait Airways, Warba Insurance, Motorgy and Caribou Coffee. A separate acknowledgement went to his school, the American Creativity Academy, as well as the followers who had encouraged him throughout the campaign.
The statement did not announce a confirmed programme for his next season. Instead, Al Sabah expressed his hope of having the opportunity to continue, pledging to improve and represent Kuwait to the best of his ability.
He approaches that next stage with a different competitive record from the one he held at the start of the year: two overall British F4 victories, podium finishes across the campaign and third place in the Rookie Cup.
