Photos: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Bethonie Waring reviews the 2023 British F4 season, the second to feature the halo-shod Tatuus T-421 car
British Formula 4’s first season with a second-generation car and engine in 2022 got the new era of the series off to a great start, but the gap between champion Alex Dunne and runner-up Ollie Gray may have left some wondering if close title battles were a thing of the past – especially considering Dunne missed the last round of the season.
Louis Sharp and William Macintyre proved that wasn’t the case in 2023.
As the highest-placed returning driver, there was definitely high expectations on Sharp at the start of the season. Racing with Rodin Carlin put him in the best position to take the title at the second time of trying.
Sharp responded to that high expectation by winning the first two races, gaining 19 positions to win the reversed-grid race two. He didn’t have it all his own way, with team-mate Noah Lisle winning race three, but it was still an ominous start.
Early on, Lisle looked like Sharp’s closest challenger. Clashing commitments – he was also racing in Spanish F4 – meant he missed the second round of the season, but he had shown promise. Unfortunately for Lisle, the consistency was never quite there. He put in some stunning performances, with more victories than anybody other than Sharp and Dion Gowda. But a mixture of bad luck and some off-the-pace races meant he couldn’t up that high performance.
In contrast, when Sharp wasn’t winning, he was banking solid points with third and fourth places.
As Lisle’s title challenge faded away, three other drivers came to rival Sharp.
Gowda stepped up into cars with a mixed karting CV. His maiden victory came in a reversed-grid race, but he backed up that performance with a pair of poles and a lights-to-flag win in the next round. He was also lacking the consistency that Sharp showed, but he was able to sustain his title challenge for longer than Lisle.
Dion Gowda
Unfortunately, that challenge eventually faded away. The double pole position did offer hope of re-ignighting that though. The opening race at Snetterton was rained off, meaning Gowda would start from pole when the race was rearranged for later in the season. That came at Donington Park, and Gowda converted that pole into a win. He couldn’t even break into the top eight in the five races after that though, meaning he finished fourth in the championship.
The second of this trio of drivers was Deagen Fairclough, arguably the most exciting driver on the grid. Fairclough had some limited car racing experience before he came to British F4, but he earned his place on the grid by winning the ROKiT Racing Star Esports contest. Extra preparation was required for him to be fit enough to race in single seaters.
Fairclough showed that the simulator-to-real world racing pathway was far from a gimmick. He was more than comfortable in and out of the car, and developed significantly over the course of the season. He consistently brought home solid points, recording more top 10 finishes than anyone else, but it wasn’t until the reversed-grid race at Knockhill in round eight that he bame a winner. Another victory came in the reversed-grid race at Donington, then he won the final race of the season, with a conventionally-set grid, though it was widely overshadowed by the title fight.
What made Fairclough so impressive was his growth. If there had been an 11th round, Fairclough would have likely won again such was his form. As it is, he has already announced he will be back in 2024, and will be one to watch.
Since Fairclough wan’t contending for wins until late in the year, it left only Macintyre to bring the title fight to Sharp. Having stepped up from Ginetta Junior – where he was championship runner-up in his rookie year – he was another driver that came into F4 with a lot of attention.
It was a quiet start to the season, with a sixth and a fifth place, but he made the podium twice at Brands Hatch. From that point onwards, this was a regular occurrence for Macintyre. He was on the podium almost as often as not – 14 times in 30 races – but he only stood on the top step twice.
William Macintyre
There was very little difference between Sharp and Macintyre. Both were consistent. Both did impressive jobs in the reversed-grid races. Sharp scored 55 points from positions gained, Macintyre scored 54. It’s little wonder that they came into the final round fighting for the title – with a battle much closer than that Dunne was engaged in 12 months earlier.
Sharp only just had the edge, going that extra mile a few more times and therefore making the difference in points as he claimed four wins to Macintyre’s two.
In the final race, Sharp just had to stay ahead of Macintyre to become champion. Despite losing the lead to Fairclough at the start, he kept his head and didn’t risk anything. Macintyre mounted on the pressure, but Sharp put in a calm drive to finish second and take the title.
A total of 12 drivers took victories this season, with more coming close to the top step of the podium. So far Fairclough is the only driver on the 2023 grid confirmed to be staying in the series, but he should be joined by others who showed progress further down the order, and that should lead to another exciting season in 2024.
If there was any doubt this new era of F4 would lead to close title fights, that now has to be far from anybody’s mind.