Home Formula 4British F4 McLaughlin gets maiden British F4 victory and points lead at Snetterton

McLaughlin gets maiden British F4 victory and points lead at Snetterton

by Ida Wood

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
1 McLaughlin 103   2 Molnar 94   3 Piszcyk 91   4 Raber 89   5 Harfield 68   6 Al Azhari 57   7 Joslyn 57   8 Jeff-Hall 54   9 Bearman 53   10 Campbell-Pilling 48