
Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Fionn McLaughlin won the first British Formula 4 race of the weekend at Oulton Park after a multi-car crash took out multiple drivers.
The race was red-flagged just moments after the lights went out after a staller caused problems further back. Theo Palmer seemed to have problems getting away from fifth on the grid, and those behind had to run wide to avoid.
Thomas Bearman, who started directly behind Palmer on track, was left with heavy damage, while Rowan Campbell-Pilling had damage to his front wing. Ahead of that incident, Chase Fernandez also ran into problems that took him out of the race.
When the field returned to the grid, slots three, five, seven and eight were empty. August Raber in ninth had seemed to avoid the drama, but then came into the pits rather than return to the grid, taking him out of the race.
Despite McLaughlin snatching the lead on the initial start, he was back to second on the grid behind Martin Molnar for the restart.
The Hitech driver once again dived into the lead off the line and would remain unchallenged through the remainder of the race. The gap between himself and Molnar hovered at about a second as they both pulled away from Henry Joslyn in third. The pair swapped fastest laps, but it was McLaughlin who had the advantage by the end of the race.
He took the chequered flag 0.904 seconds ahead of Molnar, reducing the gap to the championship leader to just four points.
Joslyn had a quiet race in third ahead of Tommy Harfield, who started 11th and was the first driver on the left-hand side of the restart grid after Molnar. He shot up to fifth off the line, then passed Ary Bansal to secure fourth.
Leo Robinson climbed up from 12th to finish sixth, ahead of Ethan Jeff-Hall and Ella Lloyd. Yuhao Fu and Cole Hewetson completed the top 10.
Race results (15 laps)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | 20m25.096s |
2 | Martin Molnar | Virtuosi Racing | +0.904s |
3 | Henry Joslyn | Fortec Motorsports | +3.155s |
4 | Tommy Harfield | Chris Dittmann Racing | +4.965s |
5 | Ary Bansal | Fortec Motorsports | +6.246s |
6 | Leo Robinson | Hitech GP | +8.144s |
7 | Ethan Jeff-Hall | Argenti Motorsport | +9.714s |
8 | Ella Lloyd | Rodin Motorsport | +14.639s |
9 | Yuhao Fu | Xcel Motorsport | +15.453s |
10 | Cole Hewetson | Xcel Motorsport | +16.734s |
11 | Xavier Avramides | Hitech GP | +17.008s |
12 | Adam Al Azhari | Rodin Motorsport | +18.825s |
13 | James Piszcyk | Rodin Motorsport | +19.145s |
14 | Alba Hurup Larsen | Chris Dittmann Racing | +21.506s |
15 | Henry Mercier | Argenti Motorsport | +22.615s |
Ret | Chase Fernandez | Xcel Motorsport | |
Ret | Theo Palmer | Xcel Motorsport | |
Ret | Thomas Bearman | Hitech GP | |
Ret | Rowan Campbell-Pilling | JHR Developments | |
Ret | August Raber | Argenti Motorsport | |
Fastest lap: McLaughlin, 1m20.908s
Championship standings |