Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Leo Robinson claimed his maiden British Formula 4 victory in a safety car-impacted race on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.
A multi-car accident on the opening lap led to the race being neutralised, and most of the action thereon took place at the safety car’s pace.
The race began with Robinson battling to pass reversed-gird pole-sitter Ella Lloyd off the line, then several drivers behind collided at Becketts and went into the gravel. Among them was Deagen Fairclough and Jack Sherwood. Four cars were left stranded at the side of the track, while Alex Berg and Rowan Campbell-Pilling limped back to the pits with damage.
Robinson had taken the lead by the time the safety car collected the field at the end of lap one, ahead of Alex Ninovic and Joel Bergstrom. Lloyd was sixth after being overtaken several times.
Racing resumed with less than five minutes left on the clock. It was a relatively calm restart, with Robinson and Ninovic breaking away from the rest of the field. Ninovic could not quite stay close enough to challenge for the lead, and finished 0.849 seconds behind as the chequered flag waved at the end of lap eight. The result meant Ninovic reduced Fairclough’s championship lead to 29 points.
Behind, James Higgins was able to get alongside Joel Bergstrom multiple times in the battle for third, but Bergstrom held on to the position for his first podium of the season.
There was a queue of drivers wanting fifth place, with Bart Harrison at the head of the train. Lloyd was closest to him, just 0.449s behind at the finish, with similar gaps to Yuanpu Cui and Reza Seewooruthun behind them. Mika Abrahams and Abbi Pulling completed the top 10.
Update: Post-race there were multiple penalties handed out due to safety car infringements. Fortec Motorsports’ Nina Pothof was demoted one place to 16th, while Ninovic, Bergstrom, Higgins and Harrison were all put below Lloyd in the race results for overtaking her under safety car conditions. That lifted Lloyd to second place, her first podium finish.
Race result (8 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leo Robinson | JHR Developments | 21m35.745s |
| 2 | Ella Lloyd | JHR Developments | +4.772s |
| 3 | Alex Ninovic | Rodin Motorsport | +0.849s |
| 4 | Joel Bergstrom | JHR Developments | +2.198s |
| 5 | James Higgins | Rodin Motorsport | +2.520s |
| 6 | Bart Harrison | Chris Dittmann Racing | +4.323s |
| 7 | Yuanpu Cui | Argenti Motorsport | +5.309s |
| 8 | Reza Seewooruthun | Hitech GP | +5.799s |
| 9 | Mika Abrahams | Hitech GP | +6.239s |
| 10 | Abbi Pulling | Rodin Motorsport | +6.612s |
| 11 | Kai Daryanani | Fortec Motorsports | +7.261s |
| 12 | Matus Ryba | Argenti Motorsport | +7.592 |
| 13 | Zack Scoular | Xcel Motorsport | +7.971s |
| 14 | Chloe Chong | JHR Developmentss | +9.211s |
| 15 | Rowan Campbell-Pilling | Argenti Motorsport | +10.504s |
| 16 | Martin Molnar | Virtuosi Racing | +11.326s |
| 17 | Nina Pothof | Fortec Motorsports | +10.974s |
| 18 | Carrie Schreiner | Chris Dittmann Racing | +15.220s |
| Ret | Alex Berg | Fortec Motorsports | |
| Ret | Maxwell Dodds | Virtuosi Racing | |
| Ret | Deagen Fairclough | Hitech GP | |
| Ret | Jack Sherwood | Rodin Motorsport | |
| Ret | Yuhao Fu | Virtuosi Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Robinson, 2m01.559s
Championship standings |
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