Recent News

Palmer enjoys super Saturday at Silverstone

Will Palmer enjoyed a flawless Saturday at Silverstone as he took pole position, fastest lap and the race win on the Grand Prix Circuit at the Northamptonshire venue. It was a dominant performance as the 18-year-old demonstrated his clear pace advantage over the rest of the field to claim all the spoils on the day.

Following an entire day of wet weather testing on the Friday, where Will had been amongst the fastest drivers, the sun was shining on Saturday creating dry conditions. Despite the lack of running on the dry track, he headed into the 20-minute qualifying session and began to lay down a marker almost immediately.

After five minutes of the session, Will posted a lap time 1.887s clear of then current fastest man Tom Jackson. Ecurie Ecosse Young Driver Ciaran Haggerty moved into second but was still over one second slower before Harri Newey took the spot behind Will, still 1.150s slower. The Southwater ace was not required to improve his time for the rest of the session, even pitting with a few minutes left, such was his advantage. His HHC Motorsport team-mate Newey eventually took second but remained 0.975s slower with the Sean Walkinshaw Racing car of Jordan Albert taking third.

Speaking after qualifying, Will said: "It was a really good session. With the wet running yesterday it was all about getting down to pace quickly, which I was able to do, and I managed to find a bit more speed when my tyres were fresh to give me pole. I've always liked Silverstone, it is a good track for me, and it has come good today."

Palmer took up his position at the head of the field in the afternoon for race one of the weekend, and when the lights went out he made a clear getaway into the first corner. Behind, his team-mate Newey was relegated down to sixth and was forced to scrap hard to regain positions but was forced into retirement midway through the race due to contact. Scottish racer Haggerty, who had qualified fourth, assumed second position but Will opened up an immediate lead and set about putting in fastest laps.

In the course of extending his advantage, Will set a new BRDC F4 lap record around the track with a time of 2m04.517s. Championship leader Chris Mealin was toiling down the field as Palmer kept on pushing, untroubled, in the 10-lap race. As he headed on to his final tour of the circuit, Will had opened up a gap of 5.056s over Haggerty and over 10-seconds to third-place man Jordan Albert. He came around to take the chequered flag by 5.800s and was visibly delighted as he took to the top step of the podium.

Will commented: "It was just a case of making a good start, getting my head down and just pushing for the rest of the race. A big thanks to HHC Motorsport as we took pole position by nearly a second, a commanding win now and the car has been fantastic so far."

Will moves up to second in the championship standings, behind Mealin who now leads by just seven points.

Race two and three of the weekend take place at 10:30am and 16:20pm tomorrow (Sunday) respectively.

You can follow all the live action on the official F4 website here.

Latest Results

Latest Eurocup Standings