Wherrell dominates Silverstone opener to continue British F4 run

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Lewis Wherrell continued his British Formula 4 winning run by dominating the opening race of the weekend at Silverstone.

The JHR Developments driver took the race lead after polesitter George Proudford-Nalder stalled on the line. From that point onwards he was untouchable, pulling out an advantage of over five seconds before a safety car neutralised the race.

With only a minute left on the clock, racing resumed for one final flying lap. Wherrell quickly pulled away from the rest of the field to finish 3.844 seconds clear with the fastest lap of the race.

Ethan Jeff-Hall jumped up to second off the line, but was soon under attack from Hitech’s Theo Palmer. The pair went side-by-side multiple times, and Palmer was just able to get his nose ahead on one occasion before Jeff-Hall reclaimed the position. 

As they fought, that allowed Wherrell to escape up the road.

Dries Van Langendonck at first was close behind the battling Jeff-Hall and Palmer, but then came under pressure himself from Jaber Alsabah. Alsabah found a way through into fourth, but was then handed a five second penalty for a starting infringement.

Further down the order, an off for Mate Kobakhidze sent him into the gravel and brought out the safety car. Wherrell’s then five second lead was reduced to nothing.

Racing resumed with just one minute remaining. Wherrell got a good restart and Palmer immediately began challenging Jeff-Hall again, leaving him unable to attack forwards.

The pair went side by side in the battle for second. Late in the lap, they made slight contact, and Palmer was shuffled backwards. Jeff-Hall held on to take second, but was demoted to sixth post-race as a penalty for the contact

Van Langendonck finished third, but also received a penalty for contact with Joseph Smith at the start, relegating him to 16th in the results. Alsabah was third on track, but his penalty dropped him to 17th on the corrected timings. 

Adam Al Azhari was promoted to fourth, just ahead of Jarrett Clark and Timo Jungling. Palmer slipped back to fifth by the chequered flag, while Cameron Nelson, Cash Felber and Chiara Battig and Scott Kin Lindblom completed the top 10.

Race results (9 laps)