Joseph Smith wins red-flagged Silverstone reversed-grid race

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Joseph Smith won the reversed-grid British Formula 4 race at Silverstone ahead of Ethan Carney and Chiara Battig.

The Virtosi Racing driver made a good initial start to jump into the lead from fourth on the grid, but an opening lap accident brought out the red flags and reset the grid.

Smith managed to achieve the same feat on the second start, taking the race lead from Carney and holding onto it for the remainder of the 10-lap race.

There was drama on the initial start. As Smith pulled away at the front of the field, there was contact in the middle of the pack. Dries Van Langendonck was left with a punctured tyre while championship rival Lewis Wherrell suffered front wing damage. Both cars managed to make it to the pits, but that would be where Van Langendonck’s race ended.

Elsewhere, Emma Felbermayr had ended up in the gravel and Roman Felber and Alfie Slater were also off.

The safety car was initially called out but, before the field could complete a lap, the race was red flagged.

That put Smith back in fourth for the restart, behind polesitter Battig, Carney and Timo Jungling.

His second start wasn’t as strong as his first, but Smith was still able to move into the race lead. This time, Carney was able to get past Battig, but wasn’t able to shake the Red Bull junior driver. As Smith pulled away at the front of the order, Battig kept the pressure on Carney to try to retake second. 

Smith was then unchallenged for the remainder of the race and finished 2.086s clear of the rest of the field.

Battig set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap, but could not find a way through. She finished 0.613s back in third.

Jungling took fourth ahead of an equally close fight for fifth. Adam Al Azhari had made a strong start to move up to the position, ahead of Wherrell and Jarrett Clark.

Wherrell – who had restarted the race in his original position after a front wing change – kept the pressure on Al Azhari throughout the race. He managed to get alonsgide the Hitech driver multiple times but could never get ahead.

The two went side by side again on the final lap, with Wherrell switching sides as he attempted to make an overtake, but there was no way through for the championship leader. The pair were separated by just 0.138s at the chequered flag, with Clark another 0.6s behind.

George Proudford-Nalder took eighth, ahead of Theo Palmer and Ethan Lennon.

It was another race to forget for Van Langendonck. Unlike Wherrell, he was unable to restart the race. The DNF comes after post-race penalties from the opening race of the weekend knocked him off the podium and out of the points. 

Race results (10 laps)