How a Bangladeshi racer made it to Formula 4

For most children growing up in Bangladesh, motorsport is something to watch from a distance. The races appear on television, the cars flash across the screen, and the idea of becoming a professional driver remains little more than a fantasy.

However, for Arhaam Rahaman, that fantasy began to look different when he was 14.

Having grown up watching motorsport on channels such as ESPN, he was fascinated by racing but had never seriously considered it as a career. Bangladesh had little infrastructure for aspiring drivers, and there was no obvious route from being a motorsport fan to becoming a professional racer.

Then he moved to Australia for his studies.

His first visit to a go-kart track was meant to be a leisure activity. Instead, it became the beginning of a very different journey when Arhaam won his first rental karting session.

The result gave him something more valuable than a trophy: the belief that he might actually have the natural ability to race. He began spending more time on track days and in hire-kart leagues, while also investing in a simulator to develop his racecraft away from the circuit.

Fast forward to the present, this past weekend brought an even bigger milestone: Arhaam claimed a class victory and became the first Bangladeshi ever to win a race in a Formula 4 car. It was his first podium in F4 and a landmark moment not just in his own racing journey, but for Bangladesh's presence in international single-seater motorsport.

From karting to Formula 4

The first major breakthrough came in 2022, when he qualified for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Motorsport Games in France. Supported and nominated by the Automobile Association of Bangladesh (AAB), he became the first Bangladeshi to compete at an FIA event, a milestone that transformed his ambition from a personal pursuit into something larger.

But the road to Formula 4 was anything but straightforward.

In 2023, Arhaam received an offer for a seat in the FIA F4 Central European Championship. It was the opportunity he had been waiting for, but there was one problem that has followed him throughout his career: funding.

Without sufficient sponsorship, he had to turn down the opportunity.

Formula 4, or F4, is the entry-level category in the FIA's single-seater racing ladder. It is designed primarily for young drivers moving up from karting into race cars, giving them their first experience of racing open-wheel, single-seat cars in a professional championship. 

In simple terms, F4 is one of the first rungs on the ladder towards Formula 1, followed by higher categories such as Formula Regional, Formula 3 and Formula 2.

For a young driver trying to establish himself internationally, it could easily have been the point where the dream ended. Instead, Arhaam returned to karting.

It was also one of the most difficult periods of his career. At 18, he was already aware that many European drivers his age had spent more than a decade in karting and were progressing through the single-seater ranks. Drivers in established motorsport countries often begin racing at five or six. Arhaam had started much later, in a country where the sport had barely developed a visible pathway.

Formula 4 is designed primarily for young drivers moving up from karting into race cars.

For a while, the gap felt overwhelming.

His response was not to pretend the problem did not exist, but to accept it and work around it. He returned to the fundamentals of karting and simulator training, focusing on staying sharp rather than dwelling on the opportunity he had lost. 

That patience eventually paid off.

In 2025, Arhaam won the National Karting Championship hosted by the AAB in Malaysia. He followed that with a seventh-place finish in the Asia Pacific Motorsport Championship in Sri Lanka, competing against some of the strongest drivers in the region.

Then came another first.

At the Mandalika Grand Prix Circuit, Arhaam completed his first test in an FIA Formula 4 car, becoming the first Bangladeshi to do so with support from the AAB.

"I see the responsibility of representing Bangladesh as one of the most enjoyable pressures of racing. My ambition is not simply to become a successful driver, but to prove that a Bangladeshi can make it through the international motorsport ladder."

Arhaam Rahaman, Formula 4 racer

The jump from karting to Formula 4 was not a simple upgrade in machinery. It was, in many ways, a completely different physical experience.

The braking was one of the first things that stood out.

A go-kart does not require the same force to slow down. In a Formula 4 car, a driver has to apply enormous pressure to the brake pedal while finding the exact limit of deceleration without locking the tyres. Cornering is another matter altogether.

On the straights, the car can reach around 230km/h. At Mandalika, Arhaam experienced sustained forces of around 4G through high-speed corners, placing considerable demands on the neck and the rest of the body.

The experience reinforced his belief that serious two-stroke karting is one of the best preparations for Formula 4, particularly when it comes to developing the physical strength and feel for speed that cannot be replicated entirely through rental karting or simulator racing.

The race with money

What makes Arhaam's journey particularly striking is that money has rarely been on his side.

He has not come from a family wealthy enough to simply bankroll a racing career. When he completed his first Formula Vee test at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in 2023, he was working at a burger restaurant in Melbourne.

"For six months, I saved as much as I could to pay for that one test," he said.

It was a significant personal sacrifice, but it also marked a turning point for his family. His parents began to understand how seriously he was taking the sport and supported him within their means. The AAB has also remained an important part of his journey, supporting his participation in international events and helping create opportunities for Bangladeshi drivers.

Arhaam has also had to find affordable ways to develop his skills. Simulator racing, which can be started with equipment costing around Tk20,000, became one of those avenues. Gymkhana and four-stroke karting championships offered other ways to compete without the enormous costs associated with professional single-seater racing.

He even secured a podium at the 2024 Malaysia Festival of Speed in Gymkhana alongside teammate Kashfia Arfa.

"The lack of money has undoubtedly slowed my progression. With greater financial backing, I believe I could have entered Formula 4 as early as 2023."

But the years spent finding alternatives have also given him something that cannot simply be bought: resilience.

Arhaam wants to make motorsport seem possible to the next generation of Bangladeshi drivers and to their parents.

There is another element that makes his journey different from that of many young drivers. Every time he competes internationally, he carries the Bangladesh flag.

For an FIA driver, nationality is represented through a race licence, a recommendation from the national federation and the flag beside the driver's name. For Arhaam, that flag is not a burden. It is motivation.

"I see the responsibility of representing Bangladesh as one of the most enjoyable pressures of racing. My ambition is not simply to become a successful driver, but to prove that a Bangladeshi can make it through the international motorsport ladder," he noted.

That ambition also explains why he is increasingly vocal about the need to develop the sport at home.

Building a racing ecosystem

Bangladesh remains far behind countries such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in terms of motorsport infrastructure. Yet Arhaam believes the foundations are beginning to emerge. The AAB has been working to establish a more structured pathway through driver training, motorsport education, fitness programmes, Gymkhana, karting slalom and simulator racing.

The next step, he believes, is proper FIA-grade karting infrastructure.

There is also a broader economic argument for making that investment.

Motorsport is not simply about drivers. A functioning ecosystem can create opportunities for engineers, technicians, mechanics and other professionals while contributing to tourism and attracting international attention. 

Countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia have invested heavily in motorsport, recognising its potential to contribute to their global image. Sri Lanka provides a closer example. Its investment in motorsport has already helped produce drivers competing internationally, supported by local sponsors.

"Bangladesh has the talent," Arhaam argues. "What it lacks is the infrastructure and investment to turn that talent into a sustainable pipeline."

Arhaam's own ambitions extend well beyond Formula 4.

The immediate target is the 2027 Euro Formula 3 Championship, for which he says a seat is ready and local support is currently being explored. Formula 1 remains the ultimate dream, although he also sees Formula 2, GT3 and endurance prototype racing as realistic long-term possibilities.

Yet perhaps his most important ambition has little to do with his own career.

Arhaam wants to make motorsport seem possible to the next generation of Bangladeshi drivers and to their parents.

For decades, the biggest barrier may not have been a lack of talent but the absence of a visible route. A child could dream of becoming a racer without knowing what the first step looked like, where to train or how to progress.

Arhaam is trying to change that.

His own journey has been long, expensive and often uncertain. But by becoming the first Bangladeshi to take an FIA Formula 4 car onto a circuit, he has already done something bigger than set a personal milestone.

He has given the dream a starting point.