Photo: Mat Acton
The contenders for this year’s Autosport BRDC Award, which is now backed by Silverstone but still provides a prize Formula 1 test with Aston Martin, have been named.
The long-standing award is for young British drivers and “primarily competing in a category below FIA Formula 3 or be an FIA F3 rookie”, must be 16 by the time of the Award final in October and no older than 24 at the start of 2024.
A MotorSport Vision Formula 2 car, a GT3 car and a LMP3 prototype sportscar will be the cars used to test the four finalists at Silverstone aross two days in October, with the winner revealed at the 2025 Autosport Awards next January.
The judges “reserve the right to introduce a wild card for drivers excelling during the closing stages of the season” as several eligible series featuring British drivers do not actually conclude until October.
This year’s longlist age spread is 16 to 21, and in addition to the F1 test there is a £200,000 cheque included in the prize package. Oldest of the 10 drivers is F1 Academy points leader, British Formula 4 race-winner and Alpine Academy member Abbi Pulling, who along with FIA F3 Championship race-winner Callum Voisin has been nominated for a third time.
Red Bull’s 17-year-old junior Arvid Lindblad, who is contending for the F3 title at Monza this weekend, has made the longlist for a second year in a row.
The other seven drivers are all first-time nominees and not affiliated to any F1 teams. From GB3 are Louis Sharp (17), John Bennett (20) and Will Macintyre (17) who are currently first, second and fourth in the standings there, USF Juniors title contender Liam McNeilly (18) is the only driver to make the longlist by racing in a series outside of Europe, and the others are all F4 stars: British F4 dominator Deagen Fairclough (18), F4 United Arab Emirates champion and Italian F4 dominator Freddie Slater (16), and GB4 title contender Alisha Palmowski (17). The latter two are the only single-seater rookies to make the longlist this year.