Photo: Formula Renault UK

As Lewis Hamilton turns 36, we look back at his first days in junior single-seaters in FR2.0 UK in 2001

The recently-knighted Lewis Hamilton will start this year’s Formula 1 season as the most successful driver the series has ever had. He now has seven world championship titles, 95 wins and 98 pole positions to his name, and he could take several more records in the 23 grands prix planned for 2021.

Hamilton’s first ever run in a single-seater car came in one of Manor Motorsport’s Formula Renault 2.0 cars on October 17, 2001 at the Mallory Park circuit in Leicestershire. According to those present he drove with the “typically committed” style he has became known for, and had an off at the high-speed Gerard’s Bend that opens the lap during his first day in the car.

His time in testing wasn’t the most rewarding. In the official pre-season test for the Formula Renault UK Winter Series a week later at Snetterton he had his track time reduced by wet conditions, and then an engine change that prevented him from setting a representative laptime.

The then-16-year-old signed with Manor for the two-round series, making him the youngest ever driver at the time to race in the category in Britain. Joining him at the team would be Dutch karting sensation Nelson van der Pol, while other drivers to watch included old karting rival Colin Brown (Aztec International), British Karting Championship runner-up Jamie Green and his Fortec Motorsports team-mate Dominic Cicero, who had last raced in single-seaters in 1998.

“Formula Renault looks fantastic and I can’t wait to get out on the track,” said Hamilton, then a McLaren junior, at the time.

“I have got my feet on the ground as I know I have a lot to learn and face good drivers with more car racing experience than I have right now.

“It will be very interesting to see how Colin, Nelson, Jamie and I all rate against one another once the new boys find our feet.”

Hamilton karting in 2001

Manor’s team manager was Tony Shaw, who recently shared his impressions of the debuting Hamilton, and the quality of that year’s FR2.0 UK Winter Series, with Formula Scout.

“The first thing about that particular winter series is I remember it being really strong,” says Shaw.

“I remember a lot of quite experienced drivers, that had all been in Formula Ford, or Formula Vauxhall Junior, and getting used to handling a heavy car [there].

“So it was strong from that perspective, but also I think from the fact that so many top karters were coming in. Jamie Green, Alex Lloyd, Lewis of course, and a number of others.

“I don’t think we had a great deal of time to prepare for Lewis’s [debut]. He had that first test at Mallory, and I’m sure the reason we did that was probably just timing. Maybe Lewis had come back from his last kart event, can’t remember exactly why, maybe it was just a true Yorkshire way of doing it and it was dead cheap!

“He was attacking straight away. Not scared of it, very, very easy to get along with, and a sponge for information, really.”

T Cars champion Ben Reeves was also supposed to race for Manor in round one at Rockingham, but his car couldn’t be repaired after he binned it in pre-event testing, and FR2.0 BARC champion Martin Wallbank had a dismal test too ahead of his first FR2.0 UK appearance due to a hole in the engine sump in his Scorpio Motorsport-run car.

None of the above names, Hamilton included, were the drivers at the front once the competitive action began though as proven Formula Ford racer (and future GT World Challenge Europe Endurance champion) Rob Bell set the pace in qualifying for Motaworld and was followed by Formula 3 racer Julien Piguet driving for France’s Team Chistel Sport.

Bell had raced a FR2.0 car once before, but his inexperience at getting the car off the line showed and he was immediately passed by Piguet at the start of race one at Rockingham.

Red flags were being waved soon after due a multi-car crash further back in the field, and in the restarted fixture Piguet got the jump on Bell again. The race had to be restarted once more though, as van der Pol had failed to get going from his grid spot.

Piguet was the faster starter on the third attempt at a race, but this time Bell responded by getting past into the Deene hairpin. Bell ended up then going wide, and dropped back behind Piguet and Saxon International’s Alex Kapadia.

An early lead was built by Piguet, while Bell picked Deene again to make a move when he overtook Kapadia for second. Come lap five of the shortened six-lap encounter and the top two were close, with Bell getting ahead in the final corners. There was just one lap more before another red flag brought the race to a permanent halt, and Hamilton was classified 15th.

Race two went far better for Hamilton, while Bell and Piguet were a step above everyone else again. Piguet bettered poleman Bell off the line for the fourth time in two races, but this time when Bell came back past at Deene for the first time he actually made it stick and then romped to a 6.81s victory.

Hamilton was initially stuck down in seventh place behind team-mate Matt Howson, who couldn’t match the early pace of the top five and had more worn tyres than the F1 junior. Being pressured by Hamilton led to him upping his game though, and the pair had closed in on Brown for fifth by lap five of a scheduled 14.

A failed pass by Howson on Brown allowed Hamilton to gain a place at the Tarzan hairpin, and he took another when Brown spun down the order. The two Manor drivers went chasing Kapadia for fourth, until Howson also span on lap 11. That allowed Hamilton to focus all of his efforts on attacking Kapadia, and on the next lap he set up his attack into Tarzan. He locked up, but ran alongside his rival until the final Gretton hairpin where he got the move done for fourth.

By that point a podium was way out of reach though, with Bell having sprinted away from Piguet and Paston Racing’s Martin Steyn being a comfortable third. Despite the fruitless first race, Hamilton’s race two result was enough to vault him up to sixth in the points.

Hamilton on the way to the FR2.0 UK title in 2003

The title-deciding second round took place at Donington Park a week later, and Bell took another double win to become champion. Surprisingly, he would win the title again in 2002.

Hamilton’s Donington weekend was even more dramatic than his time at Rockingham, and it certainly caught the attention of McLaren’s managing director Martin Whitmarsh.

Race one began with a ride over a kerb and the grass that destroyed the floor of Hamilton’s car, and started sending debris into the path of his rivals before he was forced to retire in the pitlane. Bell meanwhile hunted down Brown for his third win.

Brown and Wallbank stalled at the start of race two, and Green led Motaworld duo Andrew Thompson and Bell through the opening corners. Hamilton made it a four-car scrap at the front on lap two, as Bell passed Thompson for second. It took another two laps for Bell to clear Green for the lead, while Thompson backed up several cars in a battle for third place.

Thompson’s defences worked to hold off Hamilton for several laps, and when he did concede third he then reclaimed it a lap later and made his defence of the position even tougher. This allowed the train of cars behind him to build back up, and Kapadia passed Hamilton for fourth when the latter locked his front brakes while trying to clear Thompson again.

Going into the chicane on the final lap, Hamilton tried a move on Kapadia. Rather than emerge in fourth, he finished fifth behind Piguet as Kapadia spun. There were some passionate paddock discussion from various parties afterwards.

Hamilton came eighth in the points, and he only had to wait one more race for a maiden podium as he finished third in the opening round of the 2002 FR2.0 UK season. That year included three wins at home, as well as a four-race Eurocup stint that featured a win, a pole, two other podiums and two fastest laps. His scoring rate there was better than anyone else’s.

“I certainly remember at Donington [in 2001], from the second race at Rockingham and the races at Donington as well, I thought he was doing rather well,” Shaw adds.

Hamilton with Whitmarsh while racing in GP2 in 2006

“As usual, the new guys coming in, they often find that when they’re having to deal with the peak of the tyre in qualifying – a short period of time to get used to a slightly different grip level in a qualifying session and probably changing conditions being a winter series – that maybe they don’t do their best work.

“But in the race, when the laps are consecutive and they’ve got more references about them in terms of other drivers and that sort of thing, you’ve got more time to move forward, then they would inevitably all move forward – the newer guys into the championship [from karting].

“Lewis came in with a bit of fanfare with McLaren [backing him], so if there was any pressure I suppose the team felt more pressure than the driver. He was always very relaxed, very easy to get along with with his engineer and mechanic, and I never had any trouble with him. What an amazing talent he seemed then, and what an amazing talent he turned out to be.”

Simon Finnis and Paul Hibbins were the two lucky members of the Manor crew who can call themselves Hamilton’s first engineer and first mechanic in car racing, and while perhaps they probably can’t claim they’ve influenced Hamilton’s success in recent years, they definitely had an impact on his improving FR2.0 form at the time with Manor, which culminated in title domination in his second full season in 2003. He took 10 wins, seven poles and nine fastest laps from the year.

Two years were spent in Formula 3 after that, winning the Bahrain Superprix, Masters of F3 and then the Euro Series, before taking the GP2 title as a rookie in 2006. That earned him a F1 seat with McLaren aged 22. The rest, as they say, is history.

The post Revisiting the impact Lewis Hamilton made on his single-seater debut appeared first on Formula Scout.

All photos: Jakob Ebrey Photography

With no Carlin on the grid, a new pecking order was guaranteed to emerge from the 2018 British Formula 4 season. Four teams stepped up to the plate, but it was the conflict-riddled title fight between Double R Racing’s Kiern Jewiss and JHR Developments’ Ayrton Simmons that gripped the imagination.

The season started with Simmons, now entering his third year in the series, showing his experience with two wins and a second at Brands Hatch Indy. Having won the reversed-grid encounter there in 2017, Simmons’ wins put the wind in his sails going forward. “I?d say pretty much the best weekend of racing I?ve had in my single-seater career,” was how he recounted it to Formula Scout.

In qualifying it was close, with Ginetta Junior graduate Jewiss leading most of the session before Simmons put in a late lap. The top four were covered by less than a tenth of a second. Jewiss stayed in Simmons mirrors for the duration of the first race, with the pair split by 0.362s at the chequered flag. It was a sign of things to come.

Simmons finished fourth on the road in race two, but Johnathan Hoggard and Patrik Pasma had both jumped the start, promoting Arden’s Seb Priaulx to victory and Simmons to second. Despite the damp conditions, Jewiss’s confidence had grown and by the third race, he was challenging Simmons more closely. He took the lead on the first lap, before a mega slide through Clearways demoted him to third. That became second when Dennis Hauger made a mistake while attacking leader Simmons. Fourth for Priaulx put him second in the standings, but the Guernseyman would not win again until the season finale.

“I?ve learned a lot. It?s been a tough year, to be fair. I was very unlucky with some mechanical issues, and I don?t think I’ve always had the package to win. But that?s how it is sometimes,” was Priaulx’s season summary, which ended with him in seventh.

Jewiss and Fortec Motorsports’ Hoggard responded to Simmons’ title marker at Donington Park, both taking their first wins. Hoggard left Brands with one top-five finish, but bounced back with two wins, one by 11.575s. When Hoggard stood on the podium he was winning, otherwise, he was rarely finishing in the top-five. He ended up doing eight of the former, and 16 of the latter.

“At the start of the season, the goal was to be champion,” explained Hoggard.?“Brands Hatch I was there or thereabouts, Donington was really good, and then it went downhill until the summer break. We came back from that with the goal to win the most races. I completed that, so really happy. In the summer when it was very hot, I struggled a bit more than others. We lacked that little bit, and in my driving as well. The combination of the two put me around just the bottom of the top pack.”

Jewiss retired from the Donington opener, but came from the back row of the grid to win race two, beating Simmons in a straight battle for what would be victory after leader Hauger was penalised for exceeding track limits.

At Thruxton, Hauger replicated his rapid pre-season testing pace by taking pole twice. Jewiss won the first race though, beating Simmons. He won again from the reversed grid, benefiting from a Pasma and Simmons collision and then overtaking Jack Doohan, and took the championship lead too.

Doohan beat Hauger in becoming the first Red Bull junior to win in race three. A well-judged move by Simmons earned him second and the points lead back, with Hauger heading Pasma and Jewiss in the third place battle.

Oulton Park was another Jewiss-led round, but he only won once after a steward decision. After taking his first pole, he made a slow start and lost out to Hauger and Pasma. He reclaimed second quickly and hounded Hauger until the penultimate lap. The pair made contact at Island Bend and Jewiss emerged as the leader, only to be relegated a spot post-race. The championship lead switched once again.

Hauger’s first win was long awaited, but he quickly added three more at Croft and Snetterton.

However, engine issues and incidents including an intra-team collision put him out of title contention and left him fourth in the standings after failing to stand on the podium in the last third of the season.

“There were a few ups and downs throughout the season. I lost a few points on the engine issues, but not too bad since,” Hauger summarised.?“I’ve got a few wins, been learning as a driver throughout. If we look at the end, it could?ve been better if we didn?t have those issues and stuff.”

Simmons took back top spot with victory in the second Oulton race, which came under pressure from Doohan and Jewiss, who dominated the final race and gained a 16 point lead.

Hauger took two wins and two poles at Croft, with the first coming under pressure from Jewiss, who chose not to risk a late race move. Doohan retired with mechanical problems, meaning Hauger passed him for third in the standings, a position he would hold until the final race of the season.

Simmons suffered problems in the second race, and coupled with another Jewiss win from the third row, signalled the beginning of the end of his title ambitions. For Jewiss it was another display of his overtaking talent, while team-mate Paavo Tonteri matched his best result of the season in second. Hauger beat 14th-placed starter Doohan to third.

Doohan had to come from the back once again in race two, demonstrating why he’s on Red Bull’s books with some brilliant moves to finish third behind Hauger and Jewiss. Although he won twice more, it was the Croft weekend that was the peak of the Australian’s season.

“It?s not been too bad of a season, for a rookie. It?s not been too good either,” Doohan said. He finished one point short of Hauger in the standings but did win the Rookie Cup.?“We?ve had our ups and downs. I?ve won three races and had three DNFs through mechanical failure and driving error. A bit of fault on my side there as well. I’m learning as a rookie, so tried to minimise those mistakes this year.

“This season could?ve been better. I had bigger expectations, of course, but three wins are good; it was always a target to get the first win. I’d like to have brought?the challenge to Kiern more. The team has been working hard all year to get the best outcome possible, and I don?t think there?s much more than I could?ve done, as looking back, the mistakes I made we moved on from and tried to make it better.”

Hauger took his second win in a row in Snetterton race one, which also marked a surge in confidence for Pasma. The Finn took pole twice but lost the first to a 10-place grid penalty carried over from Croft. Simmons led the first half of the opening race, as a frantic scrap took place for second. Doohan was the first to break clear and overtook Simmons before contact between the pair let Hauger and Priaulx through.

Another Hauger and Jewiss collision sent the latter spinning to the back of the order, cutting his points lead as Simmons finished third. Tonteri took a well-deserved maiden win from the front row of the reversed grid race, ahead of Priaulx and Simmons. Jewiss demonstrated why he would become champion by salvaging fourth from 12th on the grid. The third place took place in damp conditions, and Doohan led a controlling Red Bull 1-2. Simmons finished fifth, as Jewiss broke his front wing but continued to race to a pointless 12th place, ending a “very disappointing weekend”.

Pasma controlled qualifying again at Rockingham, with Doohan and Jewiss filling the front row for races one and three. Simmons could only manage seventh, which he put down to a deficient engine. A strong race by the Anglo-Spaniard meant he beat Jewiss, who was treating the weekend as “damage limitation”, while second-year driver Pasma received the plaudits for finally taking his first win.

Despite spinning on the warm-up, Hoggard took a lights-to-flag win in race two, as the title fight started to get more intense. On the opening lap, Simmons pulled off a move on the outside of Jewiss for third at the Deene hairpin, then cut inside to pass Priaulx. The trio made contact after Jewiss locked up at the first apex, putting Priaulx and Simmons out and handing Jewiss second. Front wing damage then hampered Jewiss, but he kept position to the end and extended his points lead. Doohan was third after a pulling off a well-executed move on Hauger.

Simmons filed a report to the MSA about the incident, and Jewiss was initially excluded. After an appeal by Double R he was reinstated, but with a 10-place grid penalty for race three.

?Plain simple, turning into Deene, Jewiss hit us and I hit Priaulx. Nothing I could do really,? Simmons said at the time.

?On the green flag lap the track seemed to be completely dry, so I don?t think it being damp can be an excuse. I gave him plenty of room, and there was quite a lot of space between the cars, then halfway through the corner, I was hit from behind. I was a passenger and it?s unfortunate that two cars retired from it.

Jewiss saw the incident differently when he spoke to Formula Scout immediately after the race.

?It was a bit of a tight one really. I had two cars, obviously, I was lining up behind Hoggard, had Priaulx trying to go round the outside of him and Simmons trying to go round the outside of me. And they both just chopped across the front.

?At the end of the day, three doesn?t go into one. Unfortunately, Simmons hit my front wing, and then they both hit each other and ended up out of the race. It?s not the way I wanted it to be, but at the end of the day there?s nothing I can do, and I did the best I could for the rest of the race.”

Pasma took his second victory in race three, and the drama continued as the Red Bull juniors collided. The poleman came under pressure at the start from Doohan, who was followed by Hauger. Approaching Deene, Doohan took a wide entry, with Hauger in sticking to the inside. As Doohan moved to the racing line, Pasma made a small lock-up, and the hesitation from Hauger behind led to him colliding with Doohan and retiring.

Priaulx inherited second, with Simmons taking third. He spent the rest of the race preoccupied with holding off a train of cars and was having to trailbrake once Jewiss came to the head of the queue. What he’d actually done was help Jewiss back up the grid, and a last-lap mistake proved costly.

With Jewiss up his inside, Simmons’ exit from the Brook chicane was poor, and the title leader’s stronger run enabled him to take third. Simmons only just held off Hoggard and JHR team-mate Josh Skelton, who took his only Rookie Cup win of the season.

The visit to Knockhill in Scotland provided the second double Hoggard win of the season. Pasma continued his run of form by finishing second to him both times, and third in the reversed grid race, proof that the Rockingham pace was no fluke.

Simmons beat the rain to take victory in the middle race, his first in the wet and “pretty good to get that out of the way”. A steamed-up visor didn’t stop Priaulx from taking second, but Jewiss was less successful in the spray and was fourth, making mistakes and contact with Doohan.

“We seemed pretty quick in the dry free practice, but in the rain I just couldn?t see and I struggled with the car,” explained Jewiss.?The lack of visibility continued in race three, but Jewiss did see Simmons when they made contact this time, with Simmons for once coming off the better of the two.

Hoggard narrowly beat Jewiss to both Silverstone poles, and the pair stayed close in the first race of the weekend. A poor qualifying session for Simmons put him on the back foot, and he rose one spot to sixth. What this did do was hand him reverse-grid pole, but his defence of the lead didn’t last long and most of his time was spent holding on to third.

In a similar vein to Rockingham, the extraordinary overtaking ability of Jewiss combined with Simmons’ staunch defensive style meant it was Jewiss who somehow came out on top once again. He overtook Hoggard for fifth at Copse on the final lap, then quickly closed up on Hauger, who had had his attacks rebuffed by Simmons numerous times. Simmons? defence through Brooklands allowed Jewiss to draw alongside Hauger through Luffield, and then inside Simmons through Woodcote. The three drivers crossed the line in a photo finish, with Jewiss beating both.

Although Simmons felt aggrieved on that occasion, he had even more to rue in the final race, when the two title rivals once again clashed. A tap from Tonteri had dropped Jewiss behind Simmons early on, who held off his attacks for several laps. A mistake at?Luffield allowed Jewiss to get his nose and front left wheel in, and the pair touched. Simmons lost the place, and then another to Hauger on the next lap despite more defending.

Manuel Sulaiman got alongside the two of them down the Wellington Straight, and when they went three wide at Brooklands it was Simmons who came out behind. His race only got worse from there, going wide at Copse and losing multiple places, then spinning at the same corner when being passed again. He ended his race early in the pits.

With Simmons out of the picture, Jewiss had nothing to lose and hunted down the battling pair of Hoggard and Doohan.

Doohan made it easy for him, but Hoggard wasn?t going to let up the lead and in the closing laps the top four were racing nose-to-tail. Simmons once again took the incident to the stewards, but this time Jewiss was not charged.

?I got an okay start off the line. Stayed out of trouble at Maggotts and went from seventh to third, which was positive,? Simmons explained. ?I was comfortable in third but after that [Jewiss] move I carried some damage at the rear, and after that, it was just downhill really.

?It?s pretty disappointing. We were running quite well, it would’ve been the best result of the weekend. Then all of a sudden there?s this hit, and I was like: where?s that come from? Because I hadn?t left any room, and then I saw a lot of dust and his tyres were full of grass, so I thought he must?ve gone on the grass to try the overtake. It ruined my race, and my championship hopes as well.?

?[Sebastian Alvarez] didn?t leave enough room. But when you?re with guys that are running towards the back, they?re usually more aggressive because they haven?t got to think about the championship.?

The extension of the points lead meant Simmons had to go “full attack” for the Brands Hatch Grand Prix finale if he wanted to snatch the title from Jewiss, who believed he’d “got the job done” with his performance at Silverstone.

At Brands, they were both caught out in qualifying, but there were no stunning fightbacks from either in the first race, with the tile being secured in undramatic style for Jewiss in sixth. Priaulx took his first pole and second win up front, beating Hoggard, who had now got himself up to fifth in the standings.

With the pressure off, Jewiss took an easy sixth win of the season in race two, as Simmons hashed his start and ended fifth. Third place in the standings was up for grabs in the final race, and Hoggard’s eighth win of the season was enough to vault him past both Red Bull juniors, who had struggled all weekend.

Serial misfortune meant reigning Challenge Cup champion Hampus Ericsson ended his season with Fortec early, with Jamie Sharp (Sharp Motorsport) and Lucca Allen (Fortec) also failing to make the expected second-year improvements.

2018’s hidden star

After a controversial 2017, French firm Sodemo was replaced as engine tuner by Neil Brown Engineering, which avoided most of the bad press its predecessor did.

“It?s the hottest summer we?ve ever had and it?s going to take its toll on things. NBE has done an amazing job to keep them all under control and still going around. I think they managed it very well,” Jewiss said of the engines.

“The engines this year have been more reliable,” added his Double R boss?Anthony ‘Boyo’?Hieatt. “NBE’s made a big difference. We suffered with Sodemo, in previous years there were chronic unreliability and performance differences. NBE made it a much better championship.”

One driver who wasn’t always happy was Simmons, who complained about engine issues or disparity for much of the year.

“My engine was old [homologated by Sodemo in 2015], and it didn?t work in the heat. When it?s cool, it?s fine. But after two or three laps in the race, the temperatures were through the roof and it was so hard to even maintain a position. Credit to NBE and Ford for sorting that, but I think if they?d sorted it a bit earlier it might?ve made a difference.”

The post British F4 season review: How another potential superstar Brit was crowned appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Pastrik Pasma took his second British Formula 4 win of the weekend and his career at Rockingham, as Arden lost a potential top four lockout to a lap one crash.

Pasma came under immediate pressure at the start of the race from team-mate Jack Doohan, who was followed by fellow Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger. Approaching the Deene hairpin, Doohan took a wide entry line, with Hauger in third sticking to the inside kerb.

As Doohan swept back on to the racing line, Pasma made a small lock up after the first apex of the corner, and the hesitation from Hauger behind led to him colliding with Doohan. Both retired at the end of the lap.

The fourth Arden car of Seb Priaulx inherited second, with JHR Developments’ Ayrton Simmons taking third from sixth on the grid.

Pasma and Priaulx immediately pulled away, with a queue of cars forming behind Simmons. This helped rival and chamionship leader Kiern Jewiss, who had started 12th thanks to a 10-place grid penalty handed to the Double R Racing driver for his involvement in a collision with Simmons in the previous race.

Jewiss was up to fifth by the sixth lap, making up the last position after team-mate Paavo Tonteri pulled off on the pit straight with mechanical problems. The placement of Tonteri’s car meant a safety car was required, putting Simmons back on to the rear of the leaders.

When racing got under away the two Arden drivers once again pulled away, and Jewiss didn’t waste time in taking fourth from race two winner Johnathan Hoggard around the outside of Deene.

He couldn’t get past Simmons though, who put on a defensive masterclass for the remainder of the race. This made it easier for Pasma and Priaulx, with the latter never getting quite close enough to challenge Pasma for victory.

Fourth down to eighth place ended up bunched up behind Simmons, whose only mistake came at the last corner. With Jewiss up his inside, his exit from the the Brook chicane was poor, and with a stronger run Jewiss edged past to take third, extending his championship lead by another three points.

Hoggard finished fifth for Fortec Motorsports, almost moving past Simmons and Jewiss at Deene at one point, with Simmons’s team-mate Josh Skelton taking his first rookie class win in sixth.

Hampus Ericsson got his best result since Oulton Park in seventh, prevailing in an agressive battle with Jamie Sharp, who harpooned him out of the previous race.

Lucca Allen and Sebastian Alvarez completed the points after Manuel Sulaiman was handed a 10 second penalty for jumping the start.

Race results (14 laps)

The post Pasma wins again at Rockingham as Red Bull juniors collide appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

British Formula 4 championship leader Kiern Jewiss has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for the final Rockingham race as a result of a collision with title rival Ayrton Simmons in race two.

Jewiss, Simmons and Seb Priaulx collided at the Deene hairpin on the first lap of the second race, which put Priaulx out of action immediately and led to Simmons then spinning and beaching himself in the gravel.

JHR Developments driver Simmons was moving past Double R Racing’s Jewiss for third place on the outside under braking, when Jewiss locked up at the first apex of the hairpin. As Simmons turned in to overtake a wide-running Priaulx on the inside, his rear-left made contact with the front-right of Jewiss, whose brakes were still locked, sending him skating into Priaulx.

Simmons filed a report to the MSA about the incident, and Jewiss was initially excluded from the results for ‘driving in a manner incompatible with general safety’. After an appeal by Double R he was reinstated in the results, but with a 10-place grid penalty for the third race of the weekend.

“Plain simple, turning into Deene, Jewiss hit us and I hit Priaulx. Nothing I could do really,” Simmons explained to Formula Scout after the race.

“On the green flag lap the track seemed to be completely dry, so I don’t think it being damp can be used as an excuse. I gave him plenty of room, and there was quite a lot of space between all three cars, then halfway through the corner I was hit from behind.

“I was then a passenger and it’s unfortunate that two cars got wiped out and retired from it.

He added that Jewiss should be penalised for the collision, saying: “I think the stewards need to have a chat with some of the drivers and calm them down a bit.”

Jewiss saw the incident differently when he spoke to Formula Scout straight after the race.

“It was a bit of a tight one really,” he said. “I had two cars, obviously I was lining up behind Johnathan [Hoggard], had Seb trying to go round the outside of him and Simmons trying to go round the outside of me. And they both just chopped across the front.

“At the end of the day three doesn’t go into one. Unfortunately they chopped across the front and Simmons hit my front wing, and then unfortunately they both hit each other and ended up out of the race. It’s not the way I wanted it to be, but at the end of the day there’s nothing I can do, and I did the best I could for the rest of the race.

“There was a bit of damage on a front wing endplate. It didn’t have too much effect, but obviously it wasn’t really helping.”

Jamie Sharp was disqualified from the race two results, despite not finishing anyway, after a collision in which he harpooned Hampus Ericsson out of the race.

The post British F4 leader Jewiss handed grid penalty for collision with title rival Simmons appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Johnathan Hoggard took a third British Formula 4 win of the season in the reversed grid race at Rockingham, as Kiern Jewiss extended his championship lead.

Fortec Motorsports driver Hoggard started from pole, despite falling behind several drivers on the warm up lap after spinning, with the race defining moment occurring just behind him on the first lap.

JHR Developments’ Ayrton Simmons pulled off a move on the outside of Double R Racing’s Jewiss for third at the Deene hairpin, then cut inside to try to overtake Arden’s Seb Priaulx. The trio made contact, putting Priaulx and Simmons out of the race and handing Jewiss second place.

After an incident a lap later when Jamie Sharp divebombed several drivers and punted Hampus Ericsson off, the race went under safety car conditions. Hoggard made a strong restart, and kept enough of a distance between himself and Jewiss in the final sector of the lap to break the slipstream from the run along the pitstraight and around to Deene in the remaining laps to take victory unchallenged.

Front wing endplate damage from the first lap crash hampered Jewiss’s attack, but it didn’t matter as the 18 points he got for second place means he is now 45 ahead of Simmons.

Jack Doohan completed the podium after pulling off a well executed move on Arden team-mate Dennis Hauger at Deene early on, but came under late pressure from race one winner Patrik Pasma, who took fastest lap in his pursuit of Doohan.

Hauger dropped back in fifth, but with a considerable gap to Double R’s Paavo Tonteri.

The remaining points places were taken by the only other finishers in the race, with JHR Developments pair Manuel Sulaiman and Josh Skelton leading Tonteri’s team-mate Sebastian Alvarez and Fortec’s Lucca Allen.

Race results (14 laps)

The post Johnathan Hoggard takes third British F4 win in Rockingham race two appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Patrik Pasma took a comfortable first British Formula 4 win at Rockingham in an Arden lockout of the podium.

Pasma’s initial start from pole was good, although it looked like he bogged down a bit in the higher gears, and he led from lights to flag.

He stealthily extended his advantage up front, pulling out a tenth or two on every lap to eventually finish 2.1 seconds ahead.

Jack Doohan started and finished second, shadowed by Red Bull stablemate Dennis Hauger for the entire race.

The battle for fourth was the most intriguing, with championship leader Kiern Jewiss being shuffled down into the position after being overtaken by Hauger at Yentwood on the first lap. Title rival Ayrton Simmons then lunged down the inside of Jewiss at the Tarzan hairpin, and managed to pull off the move cleanly.

Simmons’ move meant a gap was quickly made between the top three and fourth place, with Simmons in turn pulling away from Jewiss.

The Double R Racing driver came under under pressure from Arden’s Seb Priaulx at some points, but caught back onto the rear of Simmons’ JHR Developments car at the end of the race and only finished half a second behind.

Priaulx and Fortec Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard were just behind the battle for fourth at the flag, with a significant distance between them and eighth placed man Manuel Sulaiman.

The JHR Developments driver qualified fifth, but dropped out of the top 10 early on. He fought his way back up the order, and is now 10th in the standings. Paavo Tonteri and Josh Skelton completed the points paying positions.

Hampus Ericsson finished a lapped last after making two trips to the pits.

Race results (15 laps)

The post Pasma takes comfortable first British F4 win at Rockingham appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Patrik Pasma took both pole positions for the Rockingham British Formula 4 round, with less than a tenth of a second splitting the top two on both ocassions.

The one qualifying session sets the grid for races one and three, with the latter going off second fastest times. Pasma was fastest pretty much throughout, and also ran a longer first qualifying run than anyone else.

His Arden team-mate Jack Doohan was second fastest, just 0.081 seconds behind. Championship leader Kiern Jewiss was third for Double R Racing, with Arden’s Dennis Hauger completing the top four.

The result was even closer at the top on second times, with Pasma taking his fourth pole of the season by 0.046s from Jewiss. Doohan was a further 0.030s behind, and just 0.003s ahead of Red Bull stablemate Hauger.

Manuel Sulaiman did an impressive job to lead JHR Developments’s charge in fifth for both races, with title challenging team-mate Ayrton Simmons only managing eighth and seventh.

Seb Priaulx was the slowest of the Arden quartet in seventh and sixth, while Double R’s Snetterton winner Paavo Tonteri secured sixth and eighth. Fortec Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard andT onteri’s team-mate Sebastian Alvarez completed the top 10 on both grids.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Patrik Pasma Arden 1m18.742s
2 Jack Doohan Arden +0.081s
3 Kiern Jewiss Double R Racing +0.105s
4 Dennis Hauger Arden +0.158s
5 Manuel Sulaiman JHR Developments +0.278s
6 Paavo Tonteri Double R Racing +0.281s
7 Seb Priaulx Arden +0.324s
8 Ayrton Simmons JHR Developments +0.377s
9 Johnathan Hoggard Fortec Motorsports +0.572s
10 Sebastian Alvarez Double R Racing +0.714s

Race 3 grid
1 Pasma 1m18.829s
2 Jewiss +0.046s
3 Doohan +0.076s
4 Hauger +0.079s
5 Sulaiman +0.214s
6 Priaulx +0.257s
7 Simmons +0.382s
8 Tonteri +0.398s
9 Hoggard +0.507s
10 Alvarez +0.809s

The post Patrik Pasma takes double British F4 pole at Rockingham appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Victory in the third race at Rockingham put Linus Lundqivst at the top of the BRDC British Formula 3 points for the first time since the opening race of the season.

Lundqvist, Nicolai Kjaergaard and Kush Maini, the three stars of the weekend, fought hard over the win in the closing race of the weekend, and it was Lundqivst who triumphed, becoming the first double winner of 2018 in the proccess.

Maini started the race from pole, thanks to setting the fastest lap on way to victory in the previous race, but lost the lead at the start to Lundqvist, who started third on the grid.

Kjaergaard also made it past, and was getting dicey with title rival Lundqvist before the safety car was called out due to seperate incidents for Arvin Esmaeili, Jamie Chadwick and Pavan Ravishankar.

The front two resumed their duel when the race went green again, with Billy Monger almost taking third from Maini before being shuffled down to sixth at the Deene hairpin.

The lead battle remained close, although Lundqvist did give himself a few extra tenths of breathing room at some points, and all previous gaps were eradicated when the safety car was required to remove Jusuf Owega’s stranded car at Tarzan.

Three laps were left after that, and Kjaergaard got alongside Lundqvist on more than one occasion during that time. He couldn’t find a way through and crossed the line in second, a quarter of a second behind Lundqvist and almost four tenths ahead of Maini.

Monger found his way back up to fourth, but made contact with race one winner Tom Gamble on the penultimate lap that put him out of the race. Gamble therefore took fourth, ahead of the battling trio of Manuel Maldonado, Jordan Cane and Clement Novalak.

Earlier in the day Maini had triumphed in the reversed grid race, which awards points for positions gained.

Maini leapt from fifth to the lead on the first lap, and was then unchallenged on the way to his first win in car racing.

Kjergaard rose from 13th, due to retiring in the first race, to finish second. His first lap was even more impressive than Maini’s, taking him up to fifth, and he was in second place the lap after that.

Lundqvist picked off Chadwick on the last lap to take third, with the latter then being demoted to 10th due to a track limits penalty.

Krishnaraaj Mahadik in herited her position, ahead of Gamble, Maldonado, Monger, another to be penalised, and Cane.

Results round-up
Race 2 (14 laps) [bonus points for positions gained shown in brackets]
1 Kush Maini Lanan Racing 17m43.295s (+4)
2 Nicolai Kjergaard Carlin +4.910s (+11)
3 Linus Lundqvist Double R Racing +14.433s (+7)
4 Krishnaraaj Mahadik Double R Racing +16.136s (+4)
5 Tom Gamble Fortec Motorsports +16.445s (+6)
6 Manuel Maldonado Fortec Motorsports +19.056s (+1)
7 Billy Monger Carlin +19.685s (+5)
8 Jordan Cane Douglas Motorsport +19.854s (+1)
9 Clement Novalak Carlin +20.876s (+6)
10 Jamie Chadwick Douglas Motorsport +20.978s
Fastest Lap: Maini, 1m14.102s

Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Lundqvist 20m53.719s
2 Kjaergaard +0.260s
3 Maini +0.638s
4 Gamble +3.336s
5 Maldonado +4.073s
6 Cane +4.462s
7 Novalak +4.974s
8 Mahadik +6.295s
9 Sun Yue Yang Carlin +6.901s
10 Sasakorn Chaimnogkol Hillspeed +7.216s
FL: Lundqvist, 1m13.955s

Championship Standings
1 Lundqvist 156? ?2 Kjaergaard 145? ?3 Gamble 140? ?4 Maini 113? ?5 Maldonado 95? ?6 Mahadik 82? ?7 Monger 70? ?8 Novalak 68? ?9 Chadwick 67? ?10 Cane 65

The post Lundqvist reclaims British F3 lead with victory at Rockingham appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Ginetta Junior champion Tom Gamble took his first victory in only his fourth single-seater race,?and with it the BRDC British Formula 3 championship lead, in a wet Rockingham opener.

Fortec Motorsports driver Gamble took a surprise pole position in qualifying, with pole looking more likely to be in the hands of Double R Racing’s Linus Lundqvist until Gamble’s last attempt put him 0.015s ahead.

He was unchallenged at the start, but the spray behind him caught several drivers out and a safety car was required.

The safety car was out for a third of the race distance, and on the restart Gamble was once again unchallenged into the Deene hairpin.

Lundqvist had no answer to Gamble’s pace, and the latter took his first victory and an unexpected championship lead.

Jordan Cane took third at the start, with Krishnaraaj Mahadik and Manuel Maldonado slotting in behind. The trio kept their positions for the remainder of the race, with roughly seven seconds between each.

Maldonado almost lost fifth to debutant Jusuf Owega, but a last lap mistake dropped the latter to eighth behind Renault Formula 1 junior Sun Yue Yang and Kush Maini, who was the best placed of the drivers who got caught out at the start.

Jamie Chadwick and Chia Wing Hoong completed the top 10.

An incident on the formation lap and a pit stop during the safety car period left Billy Monger a lapped 14th and last, but that will put him onto pole position on the reversed grid for race two.

Carlin team-mates Nicolai Kjaergaard and Clement Novalak both retired due to first lap accidents in the rain, with Kjaergaard dropping from first to third in the standings.

Race results (12 laps)

The post Tom Gamble takes first win and British F3 lead at wet Rockingham appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Elliot Wood

Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger topped British Formula 4’s media day at Rockingham, although only by 0.044 seconds over championship returnee Johnathan Hoggard.

Arden driver Hauger was third in the morning session, topped by Fortec Motorsport’s Hoggard, and spent much of the afternoon session sat in second behind the Englishman.

A lap late in the day put Hauger on top, a lap that went unbeaten for the rest of the session.

Ginetta Junior graduates Kiern Jewiss, who topped testing at Brands Hatch last month for Double R Racing, and Arden’s Seb Priaulx were third and fourth, while 2017 British F4 Challenge Cup champion Hampus Ericsson was fifth.

Just behind him was Ayrton Simmons, driving for JHR Developments, who he is set to sign for in the coming days for a third season in F4.

Arden’s remaining two drivers, Patrik Pasma and Red Bull junior Jack Doohan, were seventh and eighth, with Finnish karting ace Paavo Tonteri and Fortec’s returnee Lucca Allen completing the top 10.

The two sessions were red flagged multiple times, with the two mostly costly incidents occuring at the same corner.

Double R’s Manuel Sulaiman lost control of his car, damaging it severely enough to restrict himself to 26 laps of running throughout the day.

The other major stoppage was caused by a BRDC British Formula 3 car, with Fortec bringing along four of their cars. Its three confirmed drivers occupied their respective machines, with Malaysian driver Chia Wing Hoong, who is set to pilot a fourth car at selective rounds this year, taking and losing control of the fourth.

Doohan, who received a visit from fellow Australian and motorsport legend Mark Webber during the day, recorded the most laps with 133 in total.

British Formula 4 Media Day test results

The post Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger tops British Formula 4 media day appeared first on Formula Scout.