Winners and Losers: British F4 – Brands Hatch GP

Brands Hatch, for the fourth time in series history, played host to the F4 British Championship finale as Kiern Jewiss secured the drivers title for Double R Racing, the first in the teams history.

While Jewiss had secured his title in the opening event, the rookie title would go down to the final race as Jack Doohan held on to his advantage pre-weekend to beat fellow Red Bull Junior team driver Dennis Hauger.

In the rest of the weekend, it had been Seb Praiulx who secured pole and a race one win, while Johnathan Hoggard, who had followed him home got his revenge in the final race to end the year on eight victories and third in the championship. Motorsport Radio analyses the in’s-and-out’s of the 2018 final as all eyes turn to next season.

Results from the weekend can be found here and full championship standings here.

Major Talking Point

Jewiss Secures Title

No other story was going to come close this weekend, as Kiern Jewiss ended the year British F4 champion. The 2017 Ginetta Junior rookie champion has had a spectacular rise up the order in recent seasons, with the Brit even being linked with the Ferrari Driver Acdemy for next season.

His main rival Ayrton Simmons had an uphill battle coming into the weekend, but the JHR drivers domination back in April left many assuming he could take it to final race. This would not be the case.

A poor qualifying for both saw them battle over fifth in the opening race, but Jewiss knew better than to force the issue, following Simmons home to put it beyond doubt. A reverse grid pole ensured that Jewiss ended his five round win drought in the penultimate race. A spectacular end to a driver that looks to follow in the footsteps of Lando Norris and Max Fewtrell.

Star of the Show

Johnathan Hoggard

Unsurprisingly, it was the Fortec Motorsports driver who collected the most points from the weekend to snatch third in the standings. Coming into the weekend, Hoggard’s most quoted statistic was the fact, he’d only ever won when standing on the podium and while he became the sixth driver to pick up a triple podium this season, he must have been disappointed to settle for second in race one.

This should not take away from Hoggard’s performance though. A second and third saw him end the year with a race victory, his eighth, and 3rd in the championship. Had the middle of the season not produced such lackluster results, no doubt the championship conclusion could have been far more dramatic.

A return to the series would seem like a backwards move for a driver with such form, but his links with Fortec could serve him well for a move to BRDC British or European F3 (whatever they’ll both be called) next season, with both series still having one round to run.

Weekend Hero

Seb Priaulx

While the TRS Arden driver did not finish the weekend with the most points, it was certainly a sparkling performance from a driver who has only occasionally seen the podium this year. His maiden pole and win in race one sees him bookend a difficult campaign with another strong Brands Hatch performance.

It wasn’t his first F4 win, as that came in the opening weekend at Brands six months ago, but it did prove to his pundits that the Kent circuit was a special place for him. While his future is still unknown, the result allows him to carry momentum through the winter should he return to the series.

After a low-key race two, Priaulx returned to once again battle Johnathan Hoggard in race three and although could not find a way past, proved he could take the battle to a driver who has dominated the second half of the season, finishing under half a second behind.

A Meeting to Forget

Dennis Hauger (and Manuel Sulaiman)

Outside of the main title fight, all eyes were on Doohan and Hauger as they looked to secure the rookie title. The Norwegian had qualified ahead for race one and held his place ahead of the Australian throughout, even at a key moment in the opening laps when Hauger ran Sulaiman wide for seventh at Surtees, which had temporarily allowed Doohan a run up Pilgram’s Drop.

Sulaiman though sustain light damage and was forced to pit, ending his race. For a driver who had finished in the top seven a handful of times throughout the year, this must have been a bitter pill to swallow and almost certainly played on his mind going into Sunday.

With Hauger’s disadvantage down to nine points for the finale, he would have been frustrated to drop behind Doohan (and Sulaiman) at the start of the final race. Hauger had repassed the Mexican, but Sulaiman was not prepared to settle, diving into turn one, locking wheels and running them both into the gravel. While it could be argued Hauger would have needed a miracle even without the crash, the incident did cost him third in the championship and if history is anything to go by, maybe also a seat in the Red Bull Junior team.

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. Kiern Jewiss: 8/10
2. Ayrton Simmons: 6/10
3. Johnathan Hoggard: 9/10
4. Dennis Hauger: 3/10
5. Jack Doohan: 7/10
6. Patrik Pasma: 7.5/10
7. Seb Priaulx: 8.5/10
8. Paavo Tonteri: 8/10
9. Manuel Sulaiman: 2.5/10
10. Josh Skelton: 5/10
11. Hampus Ericsson: N/A
12. Sebastián Álvarez: 4/10
13. Jamie Sharp: 6.5/10
14. Lucca Allen: 6/10
15. Christian Lester: N/A

The teams and drivers now head into the winter, many with unknown futures as they prepare for next year. A full season review and analysis on Jewiss’ rise to the top to come. So stay tuned to Motorsport Radio.