McLaughlin leads British F4 field in practice for series’ grand prix debut

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Fionn McLaughlin led the British Formula 4 field in a single practice session at Silverstone as the series supports Formula 1 for the first time with a non-championship round.

Thomas Ingram Hill set the early pace with a 2m05.339s with Henry Joslyn sat in second just under two tenths behind.

With drivers beginning to find time on track, Mercedes junior Ethan Jeff-Hall jumped to the top of the time sheets with a 2m03.516s.

On the weekend where he races alongside his brother, Thomas Bearman (brother of Haas F1 driver Oliver Bearman) began to find pace. The Hitech driver set a 2m03.230s which put him second.

Quick to respond though was championship leader McLaughlin, the Red Bull junior setting a 2m02.642s, quick enough for the top of the time sheets.

The Irishman improved on his time on the 20-minute mark, setting a 2m02.067s to take back the top spot which had been briefly taken by Jeff-Hall.

With 10 minutes to go, lap times began to fall rapidly with McLaughlin the first driver to slip into the 2m01s. A 2m01.252s saw him cement his place at the top of the timesheets while McLaren junior driver Ella Lloyd secured second.

McLaughlin was clearly comfortable around the Silverstone circuit as he then went even faster with a 2m00.968s with just five minutes left of the session.

Bearman was also showing strong pace, jumping up to second place with a lap time of 2m01.612s. Jeff-Hall would make it two F1 juniors in the top two in the dying moments, still some six tenths away from McLaughlin’s time.

Oleksandr Savinkov took fourth place on his series debut with Virtuosi, 0.034s ahead of Lloyd.

Free practice results