
Photo: Red Bull
Fionn McLaughlin moved to the top of the British Formula 4 standings by claiming his maiden victory in race three at Snetterton.
The Red Bull junior started from pole and dominated, setting fastest lap after fastest lap in the first half of the 14-lap race and adding to his lead after that to win by 4.827 seconds.
Fortec Motorsports’ Henry Joslyn joined him on the front row, with Virtuosi Racing’s Martin Molnar and Xcel Motorsport’s Theo Palmer on row two. Palmer made a very slow start, and Molnar got into second at turn one.
At turn two, JHR Developments’ Rowan Campbell-Pilling got sandwiched and made unavoidable contact with Argenti Motorsport’s Ethan Jeff-Hall which sent the latter down the order and required Campbell-Pilling to pit for a new front wing.
Molnar admitted to “struggling a bit with my tyres” as McLaughlin pulled away from him, and he had a gap of his own to Joslyn initially. They were close again by lap eight, and Joslyn was really applying pressure through lap 11. But a lap 13 mistake led to him losing a second and ended the prospect of a fight for position.
Xcel Motorsport’s Yuhao Fu occupied fourth place at first, and Rodin Motorsport’s Adam Al Azhari dived down the inside of Hitech’s Leo Robinson at turn two on lap three for fifth place. Robinson soon had a train of cars behind him, and on lap five he began a descent down the order which led to him being outside of the top 10 before he pitted on lap seven.
From 13th on the grid, Rodin’s James Piszcyk got to the front of the pack that formed behind Robinson and his rise up the order including a huge lunging move at Agostini to go past Palmer.
He made it to fourth thanks to Al Azhari and Fu making contact. Al Azhari got front wing damage and did hold off Piszyck and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Tommy Harfield for a period before being passed by both and then pitting, and Fu stopped off-track as he had a puncture. Despite his car being left in the grass, there was no safety car interruption.
Argenti’s August Raber lost the points lead by finishing seventh from 12th on the grid, Palmer was eighth and Rodin’s Ella Lloyd held off Hitech’s Thomas Bearman as she made her way up to ninth.
Race results (14 laps)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | 25m42.818s |
2 | Martin Molnar | Virtuosi Racing | +4.827s |
3 | Henry Joslyn | Fortec Motorsports | +5.795s |
4 | James Piszcyk | Rodin Motorsport | +15.817s |
5 | Tommy Harfield | Chris Dittmann Racing | +17.830s |
6 | Joel Bergstrom | JHR Developments | +21.323s |
7 | August Raber | Argenti Motorsport | +21.948s |
8 | Theo Palmer | Xcel Motorsport | +22.752s |
9 | Ella Lloyd | Rodin Motorsport | +25.573s |
10 | Thomas Bearman | Hitech GP | +26.427s |
11 | Xavier Avramides | Hitech GP | +26.781s |
12 | Chase Fernandez | Xcel Motorsport | +38.518s |
13 | Ethan Jeff-Hall | Argenti Motorsport | +38.774s |
14 | Chloe Chong | Rodin Motorsport | +39.225s |
15 | Henry Mercier | Argenti Motorsport | +39.339s |
16 | Alba Hurup Larsen | Chris Dittmann Racing | +39.840s |
17 | Rowan Campbell-Pilling | JHR Developments | +1m05.721s |
18 | Charlie Edge | Chris Dittmann Racing | +1m08.650s |
19 | Adam Al Azhari | Rodin Motorsport | +1m11.188s |
Ret | Esmee Kosterman | JHR Developments | |
Ret | Yuhao Fu | Xcel Motorsport | |
Ret | Leo Robinson | Hitech GP | |
Ret | Cole Hewetson | Xcel Motorsport | |
Fastest lap: McLaughlin, 1m48.996s
Championship standings |