BRDC Formula 4 2014 - Silverstone

18/08/2014

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We speculated last time that HHC Motorsport's Sennan Fielding was overdue a race win. Perhaps he took it to heart, because the 18 year old from Chesterfield in Derbyshire did it the hard way and thrillingly, inscribing the pages of the BRDC Formula 4 record books with an historic hat-trick of wins – all by less than 1 second! – when the series returned to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit over the weekend of August 16/17th. In the process, he set another new record for the greatest number of points - 95 – scored from a single Formula 4 event, which vaulted him from fifth to third in the championship table, just 20 points behind his HHC team-mate, South Africa's Raoul Hyman and within easy striking distance of Lanan Racing's 16 year old George Russell from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire who has led the championship from the start of the season.

Untypically, Russell went through a whole event weekend without once visiting the podium, but fifth in Race 1 on Saturday, followed by sixth in both Races 2 and 3 on Sunday kept him – just - with an eleven point lead at the head of the table. In the intensely competitive world of Formula 4 which is now firmly established as the UK's premier junior single-seater championship, it's not much of a lead at all, and Russell will be anxious to get back on the rostrum at Brands Hatch for Rounds 16/17/18 on August 30/31st. Hanging on to his second place in the championship after early season victories at Silverstone and Oulton Park, Hyman surrendered only a single point to Russell during the weekend, with a second place podium in Race 3 to add to his sixth place finish in Race 1 and seventh in Race 2.

Comma-sponsored Will Palmer paid dearly for a mechanical glitch which eliminated his HHC Motorsport machine early in Race 1 after starting from the front row, but on Sunday he re-grouped brilliantly from starting twentieth on a tricky damp track to finish second in Race 2 and seventh in Race 3. Coming up empty handed from Race 1 dropped the Horsham, West Sussex 16 year old him from second to fourth championship place by the end of the Silverstone proceedings, just seven points behind Fielding and four ahead of India's Arjun Maini who had a solid weekend for Lanan Racing with a third place podium on Saturday, followed on Sunday by eighth in Race 2 and fourth in Race 3. Among the top five drivers – who are separated by just 40 points - Maini is now the only one without a race win to his credit, but that too could change in a blink. Just ask Fielding!

Spurred by his maiden victory last time out at Oulton Park – Channel Islander Struan Moore retained his sixth place in the championship for Lanan Racing with second place to Fielding by a scant two tenths of a second in Race 1 and a further third place podium in Race 3. Seventh place in the points table also remained unchanged, with Mark Godwin Racing's Chris Middlehurst finishing tenth in Race 1 and eighth in Race 3 after being excluded from the results – along with Douglas Motorsport's Diego Menchaca from Mexico - for a pretty serious infraction of the racing rules in Race 2. Menchaca remains eighth in the title race, ahead of the only other race winner so far this season, Hillspeed's Brazilian driver, Gustavo Lima from Brazil, and his 17 year old compatriot, PetroBall Racing's Gaetano di Mauro, who did his prospects no harm at all with a nip-and-tuck second place to Fielding in Race 2 and ninth in Race 3.
The 17 year old newcomer Alex Palou caught the eye at Silverstone. Driving for Sean Walkinshaw Racing, he quickly got into the BRDC Formula 4 groove with fourth place in Race 1, thirteenth in Race 2 and fifth in Race 3. With 48 points from his debut weekend in the series, the Spaniard is firmly on the radar and one to watch as the season unfolds.

Comma – a brand of Cosan Lubricants International - is Technical Partner to BRDC Formula 4, and in addition to sponsoring Will Palmer in the 24 race series, supplies lubricants, coolants and maintenance chemicals to all teams competing in the championship. All rounds of the BRDC F4 Championship are broadcast free-to-air on ITV 4 in an hour-long standalone show screened one week after each of the eight events in a prime-time Sunday evening slot. Coverage on ITV4 also includes a further weekday evening repeat.

For live race reports, championship details, driver interviews, news and inside information on the championship, teams and drivers, visit the excellent BRDC Formula 4 website at www.formula4.com