Young Colombian driver Salim Hanna took his second victory of the weekend, in a sensational drive at Silverstone in the non-championship event at the start of Grand Prix Sunday.

Hanna took victory on Saturday afternoon after converting pole position, following a grid that was determined on the second best lap times from qualifying. In Saturday's Race 1, Hanna won ahead of Ethan Jeff-Hall and British F4 Championship leader Fionn McLaughlin.

However, that was not the end of Hanna's success across the weekend as in Race 2 he shone once again. The Virtuosi Racing driver won by over five seconds ahead of Chris Dittmann Racing driver and Challenge Cup points leader Tommy Harfield. JHR Developments driver Rowan Campbell-Pilling completed the podium.

For the first time four tiers of Formula open-wheel racing had taken part on the same weekend and at the same venue, with all championships affiliated by the FIA. British F4 certified by the FIA joined FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 in supporting the FIA Formula One World Championship's British Grand Prix.

To kick-start Grand Prix Sunday, the British F4 Championship went racing for the second and final time across the weekend. It was a historic round for British F4 as it was on the support bill for the 2025 British Grand Prix.

Following a third-place finish in Saturday's Race 1, Fionn McLaughlin was to start the race from pole position. The grid was determined from the fastest lap times from qualifying on Saturday morning so Tommy Harfield of Chris Dittmann Racing joined the Hitech of McLaughlin on the front row.

Race 1 winner Salim Hanna started in third and on the second row, alongside Thomas Bearman.

There was drama on the formation lap as Rodin Motorsport's Adam Al Azhari spun at Vale and dropped to the back of the pack and took his place on the final grid slot on the grid to take the race start.

Once the lights went out, it was a good start from McLaughlin who led through Abbey corner and the loop, in the early stages. Meanwhile, also a good start from Hanna in the Virtuosi saw him move up into second and ahead of Harfield.

Like Race 1, the drivers went for 25 minutes of racing plus an extra lap so there was plenty of time for battles throughput the field for a variety of different positions.

With just under 20 minutes remaining, there was a change of position for fourth as out of Luffield, Rowan Campbell-Pilling got ahead of Thomas Bearman but Bearman was shovelled out onto the gravel trap and lost a host of positions.

Out front Hanna continued to put pressure on McLaughlin, who was doing his best to contain the Colombian driver behind but through Maggotts and Becketts McLaughlin was passed by Hanna and the Race 1 winner was leading at Silverstone again.

It got worse for McLaughlin who dropped behind Harfield after a great move from the Brit into Vale and McLaughlin was down to third with Campbell-Pilling looking to get ahead as well and he did so. 

McLaughlin was struggling and later on in the race he lost fourth to Martin Molnar, his championship rival. Thankfully for McLaughlin this was a non-championship event but the issue was terminal with his car and he retired with 10 minutes remaining.

McLaughlin was not the only driver with a mechanical problem as Thomas Ingram-Hill pulled into the pit lane with a terminal issue and was the race's first retirement.

Jeff-Hall was having a difficult middle part of the race and ended up slipping down to seventh after being passed by Molnar, Bearman and the latest one with around 12 minutes remaining was the Fortec of Ary Bansal.

Ella Lloyd, McLaren junior and F1 Academy star, was making progress. With eight minutes to go she passed Leo Robinson and Jimmy Piszcyk to move up into ninth for the Rodin Motorsport team.

After his excursion in the gravel Bearman looked to recover in the race and had been making some progress. This was furthered by a pass on Hungarian and Virtuosi Racing driver Molnar for fourth.

Bearman was setting his sights on Campbell-Pilling with less than five minutes remaining but three seconds worth of a gap was going to be a tall order. However, Campbell-Pilling himself was catching Harfield to potentially fight for second.

Out front, Hanna had only participated in one official British F4 Championship round, back at Thruxton in June. The Colombian driver took a win in the final race back at Thruxton and added to his tally on Saturday with Race 1 victory.

Hanna made it a double at Silverstone as he took victory in dominant fashion. Over five seconds of a margin as he crossed the line to win once again in the non-championship event, in support of the 2025 British Grand Prix.

​ Tommy Harfield held onto second despite a charging Campbell-Pilling who took third place and the final spot on the podium. What a fantastic race to kick-start Grand Prix Sunday at the 2025 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

British F4 next returns for a championship round at Zandvoort, with the event taking place between July 26 and July 27.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

Colombian driver Salim Hanna was victorious in the first race of the non-championship event for British F4 at Silverstone, on Saturday afternoon, in support of the British Grand Prix.

Hanna converted pole position, after the grid was determined on the second best lap, to secure a second victory in British F4, including both championship events and non-championship events.

The driver of Virtuosi Racing secured the win ahead of Mercedes junior Ethan Jeff-Hall, who was second, while completing the podium in third was current British F4 Championship leader Ethan Jeff-Hall.

This is the first time that Formula One, FIA Formula 2, FIA Formula 3 and a Formula 4 event have been in operation at the same weekend and at the same venue.

It was time for the reverse grid race of the weekend, which was Race 1 following qualifying earlier on, which set the grid for Race 2.

This was the first action since round five of the 2025 British F4 Championship took place at Oulton Park, in Cheshire; as it supported the British Touring Cars Championship.

Starting on pole position for the reverse-grid race was Colombian Salim Hanna of Virtuosi Racing, who had been competing in the Italian F4 Championship throughout 2025, including the debut in the British F4 at Thruxton.

He started on the front row alongside the Mercedes junior Ethan Jeff-Hall in second position with Rowan Campbell Piling starting in third place on the grid.

When the lights went out, it was a good start for Hanna and Campbell-Piling but not a good start for Jeff-Hall, who dropped down to third behind the JHR Devlopment car of Campbell-Piling.

Meanwhile further back, F1 Academy driver and McLaren-backed driver Ella Lloyd was tagged around by Ukranian Oleksandr Savinkov and she dropped through the field and all the way to the back of the order.

Campbell-Pilling on the opening lap was demonstrating a strong amount of pace on the opening lap and through the second sector he was close to the back of Hanna. However, he spun out of Chapel as he entered the Hangar Straight.

The Brit was going no further in the race and was out on the spot. Due to Campbell-Pilling not going anywhere and being out of the race, the Safety Car was deployed by Race Control.

Race Control withdrew the Safety Car with 15 minutes to go in the session and it was up to Salim Hanna to perform well at the restart and control the field's pace while the Safety Car reached the pit lane.

Green flags flew as racing got back underway at Silverstone and it was a restart for Salim Hanna which saw him contain the lead from Jeff-Hall in second and Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin, who was third.

McLaughlin, after five rounds, has the current British F4 Championship lead, as far as the normal championship is concerned. This round at Silverstone is a non-championship round so the points and positions don't matter that much.

10 minutes remaining and the top three were all separated by less than a second as McLaughlin was putting the pressure on Jeff-Hall, just as much as the pressure that the Mercedes junior was putting onto race leader Hanna.

A driver who was battling through the field was second in the actual standings driver, Martin Molnar, who was running in 11th. In the latter stages of the race, he made his way up into ninth by passing Fortec's Ary Bansal and Rodin Motorsport's Jimmy Piszcyk.

Three minutes to go and Molnar improved a further place as he took eighth from Hitech TGR's Leo Robinson, who started to lose some tyre grip in the very latter stages. Molnar's next task was to try and take seventh from Adam Al Azhari.

With less than one minute to go in Maggots and Becketts, Molnar was up to seventh with a lovely pass on Adam Al Azhari and the Hungarian driver was shining around Silverstone.

Another driver who was shining was the Excel Motorsport driver of Yuhao Fu who moved up into 10th after a great move on the Fortec of Bansal. 

The time had run out on the clock, which meant next time around was the final lap of the race. However, this was completed under the Safety Car as an incident involving Thomas Ingram-Hill and Guy Albag occurred on the penultimate lap at Brooklands - leaving the Israeli driver stranded and unable to make the flag.

Therefore, out in front, it was Salim Hanna for Virtuosi Racing who took victory in the first Formula 4 race of the weekend ahead of Lancaster-born driver Ethan-Jeff Hall, as the Mercedes driver took second. Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin completed the podium.

A great race at Silverstone in the non-championship event, with there still being one race to come. Race 2 begins Grand Prix Sunday action in the morning.

In a very special non-championship event this coming weekend, British F4 will be making an appearance at Silverstone, in support of the Formula One British Grand Prix.

British F4 commonly supports the British Touring Cars Championship and has done so throughout 2025 and will continue to do so throughout the rest of year. However, for a non-championship event, as the schedule allows, the British F4 drivers will get to experience a Formula One weekend.

This round at Silverstone will see the majority of the current 2025 British F4 Championship grid with some coming to compete, who have been racing in the likes of Italian F4 and F1 Academy.

British F4 will support Formula One along with FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3, with many previous champions of the British F4 Championship racing this weekend. Alex Dunne, Luke Browning, Louis Sharp and Lando Norris are all racing this weekend with Norris hoping to win the British Grand Prix.

Drivers to look out for in the non-championship event in particular, are the ones backed by Formula One Driver Academies, as well as the ones fighting for the championship trophies. Names include Red Bull junior and Irish driver Fionn McLaughlin, who leads the championship after five rounds.

Other drivers such as Martin Molnar, Ella Lloyd, Thomas Bearman, August Raber and Henry Joslyn will all be taking to the track over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The format shows one Free Practice session on Friday evening, a qualifying session and the first race on Saturday, with the second and final race starting Grand Prix Sunday.

Who is racing this weekend in the non-championship event? Here is the entry list: 

• #3 Nina Gademan 9Hitech TGR)
• #4 Xavier Avramides (Hitech TGR) ​R
• #5 Fionn McLaughlin (HItech TGR) R
• #6 Leo Robinson (Hitech TGR)
• #7 Thomas Bearman (Hitech TGR) R
• #8 Thomas Ingram Hill (Fortec Motorsport)
• #12 Adam Al Azhari (Rodin Motorsport)
• #14 Emily Cotty (Fortec Motorsport) R
• #17 Guy Albag (Rodin Motorsport)
• #19 Oleksandr Savinkov (Virtuosi)
• #20 Ella Lloyd (Rodin Motorsport)
• #21 Tommy Harfield (Chris Dittmann Racing)
• #23 Theo Palmer (Xcel Motorsport) R
• #24 Martin Molnar (Virtuosi Racing)
• #25 Ethan Jeff-Hall (Argenti Motorsport)
• #26 Henry Joslyn (Fortec Motorsport)
• #27 Charlie Edge (Chris Dittmann Racing) R
• #42 Rowan Campbell-Pilling (JHR Developments)
• #46 Ary Bansal (Fortec Motorsport)
• #47 August Raber (Argenti Motorsport)
• #52 Esmee Kosterman (JHR Developments)
• '#55 Ava Dobson (Chris Dittmann Racing
• #69 Yuhao Fu (Xcel Motorsport)
• #83 Jaber AlSabah (Xcel Motorsport) R
• #88 Salim Hanna (Virtuosi Racing) R
• #93 Jimmy Piszcyk (Rodin Motorsport)

All action is to be broadcast on Sky Sports F1 with Free Practice beginning the action on Friday at 17:45.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

The British F4 Championship is back for 2025 with this year's talent looking to follow in the footsteps of some famous names, while making progress in their junior careers as they learn their craft in preparation for the future.

Of course there is no denying that not all of the talent we see in front of us this year will make Formula One but there are other avenues of motorsport such as endurance and Formula E that can provide opportunities and pathways for these young drivers to head into.

The British F4 Championship itself has been running since 2015 and this year will mark the 10th anniversary since the championship began. Drivers in this competition may only be starting their feeder series journeys but they will no doubt have talent.

The young field of drivers in 2025 will be hoping they can be the next champion and follow in the footsteps of Formula One race winners and Formula E rookies. In this piece, we will look at each individual in more detail.

We start off with no doubt the most high profile driver in the list, British superstar and current McLaren Formula One driver Lando Norris, who has led the championship for most of the 2025 Formula One Championship so far.

Norris began his feeder series open-wheel journey in the inaugural British F4 Championship season in 2015, driving for the infamous Carlin team, who are a very-well recognised Feeder Series team name.

His teammates for that season consisted of Romanian Petru Florescu and current Indycar star Colton Herta. He and his teammates were part of a successful season for Carlin as they wrapped up the teams' championship.

He won the title with 413 points to his name, which was a 42-point gap to the runner up for that campaign, who was Brit Ricky Collard, who now competes in the British GT Championship.

Norris now is a Formula One superstar and is a favourite for the 2025 Formula One World Championship. He has picked up three Grand Prix victories this year alone and is second in the standings, behind teammate Oscar Piastri.

Moving on to another British champion, who is actually no longer a racing driver and is instead a content creator after moving away from motor racing in 2020 after competing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

Fewtrell is now with Lando Norris' Quadrant media team and produces content with Norris and other members of the Quadrant group. He makes appearances on the team's YouTube Channel. This was after starting off on Twitch playing Call of Duty/

Fewtrell did go onto progress in other feeder series championships such as the F3 Winter Series and the Formula Eurocup. This was all before in 2019, he made the step up to the new FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019 - racing with ART Grand Prix.

He picked up two podiums in 2019 as he went on to finish 10th in the first ever campaign in the championship's history. He returned for a second FIA Formula 3 season in 2020 with Hitech Grand Prix but would score five points from 12 and ended the season in 20th.

After the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship experience, he has bowed out of competitive motorsport and is now making a living creating content on social media! 

Third on the list is the third Brit in a row, who is Jamie Caroline becoming the third different driver from Carlin to win the British F4 Championship, in just the third year of the championship's history.

Caroline also became the third champion of the British F4 Championship in 2017 with 10 wins in 30 races across the year. With an additional six podiums alongside that, Caroline's total amounted to 442, which was a 65.5 point advantage over the nearest driver - Oscar Piastri, now in Formula One.

It was a vastly talented field of competition as well as Piastri, former Formula One driver Logan Sargeant and former Formula 2 driver Olli Caldwell. However, Caroline managed to beat all the competition and showed his talent to do so.

Since then, Caroline has gone on to compete in the GT4 European Series and the British GT Championship, in the GT3 and GT4 categories. However, Caroline has been out of racing since 2022's British GT Championship GT3 campaign!

Fast forwarding into 2018 now and champion Kiern Jewiss has had quite the journey since his time in the British F4 Championship, and has swapped open-wheel for GT Racing where he has made quite the career for himself.

Jewiss won the title with his one and only season in the British F4 Championship back in 2018, and became the first non-Carlin driver to win the series as he took the crown with Double R Racing. 

In doing so, until the 2024 champion won the title, Jewiss had the biggest winning margin in British F4. He had a 71-point margin over second place Ayrton Simmons, while also competing against the likes of Dennis Hauger and current Formula One driver Jack Doohan. Jewiss took six wins and 12 further podiums on route to the title.

Jewiss has since gone on to also become champion of the Great Britain 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup, in his second season, after finishing third in the previous campaign which was the 2021 season.

Now competing in the British GT Championship, Jewiss currently leads the standings racing for 2 Seas Motorsport in the GT3 class. Jewiss leads the standings after one round with one win and one pole position to his name thus far.

Now it is the first of only three-non British champions in the history of the British F4 Championship, Zane Maloney who has put the Barbados nation on the motorsport map, as he has reached an FIA-affiliated World Championship.

Returning Carlin back to the top of the British F4 Drivers' Championship, Maloney took the crown in his one and only season as he began his journey through open-wheel feeder series championships.

Maloney won the championship by a tight margin of 20 points once the season reached its conclusion point, ahead of Mexican driver Sebastian Alvarez. On the route to glory, Maloney took 10 wins and five further podiums.

Since leaving British F4, Maloney has gone to become a race winner and championship challenge in both the FIA Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2 Championships, while being test and reserve driver for the Andretti Formula E team.

Now in Formula E, Maloney is competing with Lola Yamaha ABT with Formula E veteran Lucas Di Grassi as his teammate. In his first season of the championship, Maloney currently has a highest finishing position of 12th and is yet to score a point in his Formula E career.

Still on his feeder series racing journey towards the top is Luke Browning, who is racing in the highest level of feeder-series open-wheel racing, which is the FIA Formula 2 Championship. There Browning is currently racing for Hitech TGR.

It was Fortec Motorsports that Browning would win the British F4 Championship with, in the 2020 campaign with 26 races taking place across the season, compared to the previous season's 30 races, which was due to the world being hit with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Browning that season would take the title following six wins and 10 further podiums as he won the title over fellow Brit and former fellow Williams Academy driver Zak O'Sullivan, with the points gap being four points - the closest winning margin to date in British F4.

Since then, Browning has become one of the most senior members of the Williams Driver Academy along with new member Victor Martins. Browning has gone onto compete in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for two seasons in 2023 and 2024. It was 2024 where Browning finished third in that year's campaign.

Now in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, with Hitech TGR and partnering Dino Beganovic, Browning is enduring his first full season of the championship and after three rounds of the season, he sits fifth in the standings.

Next on our list is 2021 champion Matthew Rees, who is not currently racing so far in 2025 following competing in the 2024 Great Britain Porsche Carrera Cup.

Rees won the title in 2021 for the JHR Developments team and in doing so has picked up the only British F4 title from that team in the history of the championship. He won it for the team as he shared a lineup with four other drivers including the likes of Joseph Loake and Abbi Pulling.

In 2021, Rees won the championship by 25 points at the end of the season to Peruvian Matias Zagazeta, who finished the championship in second place. Across the season, Rees picked up seven pole positions, four wins and six additional podiums.

Since leaving British F4, Rees went on to compete in the GB3 Championship for two seasons in 2022 and 2023. Most recently, Rees finished fifth in the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain.

As for 2025, Rees is currently not racing in any championship at this point but there could potentially be championships for him to compete in, further into the calendar year.

Following Matthew Rees we have one of the most promising junior talents in motorsport in Irish McLaren Development Driver Alex Dunne. The 2022 champion currently competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Rodin Motorsport.

Dunne won the title in 2022 with Hitech Grand Prix after a fantastic season of results where he shared a grid with 2024 GB3 Champion Louis Sharp and 2024 Macau Grand Prix winner Ugo Ugochukwu.

In his championship campaign of 2022, Dunne won the title by 69 points to former FIA Formula 3 racer Oliver Gray, who finished second in the standings that year. Across the season, Dunne picked up 11 victories, 11 pole positions, 11 fastest laps and 17 podiums - in a truly exceptional season for the Irishman.

Since graduating from the British F4 Championship, Dunne has raced in the GB3 Championship and in 2024, he made the step up to the Formula One support championship FIA Formula 3. He finished 14th in the standings with two podium.

After one season in Formula 3, Dunne made the step to FIA Formula 2 with Rodin, where at the halfway point he sits second in the standings with two victories to his name. He has recently made his Formula One weekend debut with McLaren during Free Practice 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The penultimate driver in this piece is our 2023 champion of this championship, Louis Sharp, who took the title in his second season of the British F4 Championship. The driver under a New Zealand licence currently competes in FIA Formula 3 with Rodin Motorsport.

Sharp competed hard for the championship, which he eventually won, after fighting drivers such as Will Macintyre and Deagen Fairclough to the crown. Sharp competed with the Rodin Carlin team, who ended up being that year's Teams' Champions.

The gap between Sharp and runner-up Macintyre at the end of the season was 13 points. The  picked up four pole positions, six race victories and 14 podiums on route to the title.

Since leaving the British F4 Championship, Sharp has gone onto become a champion once again. In 2024, Sharp fought hard to clinch the 2024 GB3 Championship with Rodin Motorsport. Once again, Sharp fought off Macintyre along with Tymek Kucharczyk. 

Now, Sharp competes in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Rodin Motorsport alongside Callum Voisin and Roman Bilinski. Sharp is yet to take victory or step on the podium as he sits 21st in the standings with 11 points.

The final driver on this list of past British F4 Champions, is the current reigning British F4 Champion, Deagen Fairclough. The British driver is currently competing in the GB3 Championship by the BRDC.

Fairclough took the championship with Hitech Pulse-Eight in the most dominant championship campaign in British F4 history. As they clinched the Teams' title, Fairclough took the Drivers' Championship after seeing off a field consisting of Alex Ninovic, Reza Seewoorthun and Abbi Pulling.

By a margin of 222.5 points, Fairclough took the crown in 2024 with a total of 579.5. Across 30 races in the British F4 Championship that season, Fairclough picked up 22 podiums, with 14 of those being victories. In addition, 15 pole positions and 19 fastest laps were also achieved.

In this current year of 2025, Fairclough has continued his progression journey with Hitech as he has moved into the GB3 Championship for the season. So far, he has shared a team with Formula 3 racer Nikita Johnson and Alpine Academy's Keanu Al-Azhari.

A best result of second has been achieved so far as he sits third in the standings after nine rounds so far in 2025.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal