Bartek Marszalek, Poland’s F1H2O driver, was caught in Iranian attacks on the United Arab Emirates during pre-season preparations and has returned safely to Poland, crediting diplomatic assistance from Polish Ambassador Robert Rostek for helping him through the crisis.
The Warsaw-based driver posted on Facebook that he had been in the UAE for sporting and logistical preparations for the 2026 season when the attacks occurred. Posting alongside Ambassador Rostek, he wrote: “Everything is fine and I am already back in Poland,” before paying tribute to the diplomat publicly.
“Mr Ambassador, I thank you with all my heart for your professionalism, for your care and support. You are a wonderful diplomat, a professional, a great patriot and a man with a big heart, who is always ready 24/7 to act for his fellow countrymen.” – Bartek Marszalek, Facebook
The incident brings a sharp personal dimension to the geopolitical disruption that has shadowed Gulf racing. For Marszalek, the UAE is far more than a race venue – it has been one of the defining stages of a fifteen-year F1H2O career.
Poland’s F1H2O standard-bearer
Marszalek made his championship debut in 2011 with Team Nautica, competing in four races and collecting a single point. It was a modest start that would have ended many careers. He returned in 2013 with Singha F1 Racing Team and worked his way steadily upward through successive teams before landing a career-defining drive with Emirates Racing Team alongside Marit Strømøy in 2019.
That season proved his best to that point. Marszalek finished fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and claimed his first podium in Sharjah – results that confirmed him as a genuine front-runner.
A strong finish to 2022 reinforced that status, with back-to-back podiums at Sharjah lifting him to sixth in the overall standings. He carried that momentum into 2023, claiming pole position and victory at the inaugural Kopiko Grand Prix of Indonesia at Lake Toba – his first race win in a career spanning more than a decade and his first pole position too, both taken in the same race.
His most recent podium came in November 2025 at the Grand Prix of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where he finished third – his sixth career podium and the result that confirmed his place in the unchanged Strømøy Racing line-up for 2026 alongside team owner Marit Strømøy. He finished ninth in the 2025 Drivers’ Championship.
F1H2O Debut
Career Podiums
Grand Prix Starts
Best Championship Finish
Roots and the ORLEN backing
Marszalek comes from a family with a racing background and started in the Formula 250 class in 2005, winning the Polish Championship before stepping up to Formula 350, where he finished second in the World Championship the following season. He has also competed in world endurance racing.
Polish energy company ORLEN has been a key backer of his career, financing his F1H2O programme and broadening his profile in Poland. That association produced one of the more inventive off-water moments in the sport’s recent history: a 2020 event on the Vistula River in Warsaw, staged to mark the centenary of the Battle of Warsaw, in which Marszalek raced his F1H2O boat against Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica in a car on the adjacent road. The course was 1,920 metres long – chosen to reflect the year of the battle – and both drivers crossed the finish line with one second between them.
2026 season ahead
Now in his 15th season in the championship, Marszalek is racing with Strømøy Racing under team manager Andrea Colombo. The UAE trip was for pre-season sporting and logistical preparation, and the Iranian attacks cut it short.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
