Hamda al-Qubaisi

Hamda al-Qubaisi is Abu Dhabi-born driver who won three rounds of the 2020 UAE F4 championship.

After a short period of international karting in Rotax Max, she began her senior racing career in 2019, in Formula 4. She competed against her older sister Amna al-Qubaisi in the last rounds of the Italian F4 championship at Red Bull Ring and Monza. Her best finish was 21st at Monza. Both sisters were driving for the Abu Dhabi Racing team. 

She did better in the UAE F4 race that supported the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, qualifying third and finishing fifth in her first race, which Amna won. Hamda ran into problems in the second and was eleventh. 

The GP support was a non-championship prelude to the UAE F4 series, which Hamda entered with the Abu Dhabi team. She was on the pace straight away, picking up pole position for the first race at Dubai Autodrome. She could not hold on to the lead on a wet track and finished sixth, although she fought back in Race 2 to second. The terrible weather was partly to blame for her DNF in Race 3 and the fourth race was cancelled due to track flooding.

She earned another two podiums at Yas Marina, both second places, although she was still not quite able to capitalise on her qualifying pace and suffered a couple of offs. She also admitted later that her race starts were not the best. The second Abu Dhabi round began with another pole position, but this weekend she managed to turn it into a win in the third race, after two more seconds She crossed the line for her victory ten seconds ahead of her nearest rival, set a fastest lap and an F4 track record. 

A straight run of podiums at Dubai followed, then a four-race weekend bookended by two wins for the season finale, also at Dubai.

She was fourth in the championship.

Hamda intended to race in Europe for the rest of the 2020 season but the global coronavirus pandemic put a stop to motorsport for the first half of the year. She made it into the Italian F4 championship in August and had a rocky start, recording a DNF in her first race and then an 18th and 14th place at Misano. By the time the series reached the Red Bull Ring her confidence had increased and she picked up her first top ten, a tenth place, Her second top-ten was a ninth place at Monza, which must have been satisfying after a pair of non-finishes. She was 25th in the championship.

In September, she made a guest appearance in the German F4 championship at Hockenheim, earning herself another tenth place.

Making up for a slow 2020, she entered 47 races in 2021. Her schedule took in the complete UAE and Italian championships, plus some appearances in German F4. The UAE series began the year and she was fourth overall, with two wins at Dubai and Yas Marina. Only some inconsistency dropped her out of title contention.

Her season in Italy was also very inconsistent, but she did show flashes of really good speed, finishing third at Misano and then seventh at Vallelunga mid-season. She was 17th overall. Her German season was something of a write-off, with only two finishes from six races.

She decided to move up to F3 in 2022, entering the Formula Regional Asian Series with her sister Amna and their father, Emirati sportscar racer, Khaled al-Qubaisi. It was a tricky championship for her and she was 27th overall. Her best finish was a twelfth place at Yas Marina in the first race of the season.

The main season began in April and Prema ran Hamda in the Formula Regional European Championship, alongside Amna. The jump up in the level of competition showed and she could only muster a 24th place at the Red Bull Ring in the final race of the season. Another go at the UAE F4 championship also did not really go her way; she was 20th overall and only managed a pair of top-ten finishes. These were seventh places in Kuwait and Bahrain.

For 2024, she was announced as one of the first drivers in the all-female F1 Academy series, racing an F4 car for MP Motorsport. Amna was one of her rivals and also her team-mate. She was third overall, winning four times at Valencia, Zandvoort and Circuit of the Americas.

(Image from khaleejtimes.com)