British F4: Winners & Losers – Brands Hatch Indy

Sebastian Alvarez comes away from the opening weekend as the F4 British Championship leader, though the Mexican was far from the star during the races at Brands Hatch.

Qualifying had seen a shock result for Joe Turney taking pole for Carlin on their return. Having been announced in the week, the 17-year-old was not expected to be immediately in the mix. The Saturday surprises continued, with Luke Browning’s drive through the field for the opening victory of the season, after starting tenth.

Browning’s antics continued in race two and despite a poor start in which he dropped to ninth was back up to second by lap 12. From there he chased race one podium finisher Zane Maloney, until contact on the final lap. The Richardson Racing driver recieved a penalty, dropping him to third behind the Double R pair, allowing Louis Foster to inherit the win.

Alvarez who had been second for the previous two races finally got a chance to shine in the final race, comfortably taking the win ahead of Maloney in the only dry race of the weekend. Meanwhile Carter Williams held off L. Foster for an all foreign affair on the podium.

Major Talking Point

Browning and Maloney’s Final Corner Clash

We leave the Brands Hatch with Alvarez the championship leader, though the story could have been much different save for a single corner. Having completed one of the comeback drives of the series in race one, Browning looked primed to do the same thing in race two, chasing down Carlin’s Zane Maloney for the win in the final lap, a first for his Richardson Racing team.

The Barbados driver knew £5,000 would be on the table if he could win, while victory for Browning could have set him up for a shot at £10,000 in the final race. So with a sector to go, Browning lined up Maloney into Clearway’s. It didn’t go to plan though, hitting the Carlin driver and spinning him towards the gravel. Maloney would cross the line seventh as a result, as Browning took the flag.

That wasn’t the end of the story though, a 10 second penalty dropped him to ninth giving the win to Louis Foster. The result lost him momentum and a quiet final race saw him lose the points lead to Alvarez. Had the crash not happened and Browning settled for second, Alvarez would have been fourth and come the end of the weekend, would have been a point behind Browning.

Instead, Browning now has a 15 point margin to the Mexican heading to Donington Park. Being a one-man team, Richardson are expected to drop off in the latter half of the season, ensuring mistakes like this could prove vital in the championship hunt.

Star of the Show

Sebastian Alvarez

The Mexican was one of only two drivers returning to the series this weekend and while he would have expected to improve compared to 2018, the scale of his success may have surprised maybe even himself. This time last year, he retired from two races and was the only driver to not score a point. What a difference 12 months make.

After getting the better of the Carlin’s at the start, Alvarez held the lead for most of the first race. It would only be Browning’s storming drive that would deny him victory, being caught by Maloney in the closing laps. For a driver who finished no higher than sixth last year, the result was a turning point.

He had very much played second fiddle to Browning’s headline though and it looked to repeat itself in race two as teammate got more familiar than Double R would have liked to get ahead of Alvarez and inherit the race win after penalties. The first two races exposed the Mexican’s weakness in close combat racing, but his win in the finale was justification for the pace he had shown all weekend when being left alone, again, with only Maloney for company.

Weekend Hero

Joe Turney

Looking at his karting record, it would be a sin to have discounted Turney. But considering the 17-year-old had only tested the Carlin three times prior to Saturday and had under a week to prepare for the first round, he wasn’t shy about announcing his arrival.

Pole on Saturday would have turned many heads, though his starts proved to be his downfall. After dropping to sixth on the opening lap, he never recovered a position, while race two and three again saw him lose positions as the lights went out. His inexperience would show on the safety car restart of race two, running wide and losing the lead to Maloney.

Flashes of brilliance would pepper the Brit’s display though. The battle with teammate Maloney during that notable second race proved telling for what we could expect. He went on to finish fourth (rookie class win) and for a short time had been the fastest driver on track. A full season may be in doubt, but it would be a bigger tragedy to not see him reach his full development as the year progresses.

A Meeting to Forget

Josh Skelton

A month ago, I was writing about Skelton being the fastest driver at Media Day, and throughout testing the JHR Developments driver would have been one of the favourites for the title pre-season. But with two crashes and four points the 17-year-old now sits over 50 points away from the championship battle.

Like Browning he had underperformed in qualifying spending much of the first race battling for the lower reaches of the points. Eighth place meant he missed out on the reverse grid and was forced to continue his slow progress, until contact with the already injured Turney ended his run.

Skelton would again come to blows at the hands of the the Carlin driver and Skelton limped back to the pits with no front wing. He finished a lap down and with teammate Carter Williams recording a podium on his F4 debut, Skelton will know that more will be expected.

Driver Ratings

List is determined by the current championship order and scores will be given according to how well they performed compared to past experience, reputation and championship position.

1. Sebastian Alvarez: 9/10
2. Luke Browning: 8/10
3. Louis Foster: 7.5/10
4. Zane Maloney: 8.5/10
5. Carter Williams: 6.5/10
6. Tommy Foster: 5/10
7. Joe Turney: 7/10
8. Bart Horsten: 4.5/10
9. Roberto Faria: 4/10
10. Mariano Martinez: 3/10
11. Josh Skelton: 2/10
12. Reema Juffali: 4/10

Stay tuned for more news and updates on the F4 British Championship.