Carlin took the teams’ championship for the second year in a row this year, with one of their drivers taking the drivers’ championship once again. But it hasn’t exactly been a simple year for the team. With four brilliant drivers, there was plenty of battling going on between team mates as well as with the rest of the field. We look at eight moments that made Carlin’s British Formula 4 Season.
1. Brands Hatch Indy Race One: Petru’s first win
Petru Florescu was the only one of the four Carlin drivers to actually continue from the first season of the championship. It had been a hard year for the Romanian, who was just returning to motorsport after what could have been a career ending injury. So this season was really his year, or that’s what he was hoping for.
Florescu started what he hoped would be a championship winning year with a pole, win, and fastest lap in the very first race of the season, taking the team’s first win of the season. Florescu led the race from lights to finish, relatively unchallenged, whilst team mates Max Fewtrell and James Pull completed the podium.
2. Donington Park Race Three: Max’s first win
Max Fewtrell would have to wait a few more races to get his chance on the top step of the podium. Having already taken two third places earlier in the weekend, Fewtrell had his eyes on victory. Like his team mate’s win earlier in the season, it was a simple race for Fewtrell. A good start put the Carlin man clear of the rest of the field, and then a steady race brought him the victory.
3. Thruxton Race Three: Devlin’s first win
In his first season in the championship, Devlin DeFrancesco would be taking on car number 1, after Lando Norris took the championship win last season. In the opening two rounds, DeFrancesco didn’t seem to be able to channel the luck from the car’s predecessor, lagging behind his team mates after the first six races but, in Thruxton, DeFrancesco shone.
Devlin DeFrancesco’s win wouldn’t be as easy as Florescu or Fewtrell’s. For a start, DeFrancesco wouldn’t start from the front of the pack. That would be Florescu, who got a clean get away whilst DeFrancesco and Fewtrell had to push their way past Sennan Fielding. DeFrancesco found his way up into second though and put pressure on his team mate in the lead of the race. An uncharacteristic mistake from Florescu gifted DeFrancesco the lead, but the race still wasn’t over.
The race would end with a five way wheel to wheel battle between Florescu, Fewtrell, James Pull, and two other drivers. In the end, it would be DeFrancesco who would take the chequered flag first, with Fewtrell taking third to make it a double podium for Carlin.
4 Oulton Park: Petru retakes the lead of the championship
Early on in the season, Florescu had had the lead of the championship, but mixed results for the Romanian had seen him drop back behind his team mate. Then Sennan Fielding, from JHR Developments, took the championship lead at Thruxton following difficult weekends for Florescu and Fewtrell, the leading Carlin boys. The tables completely turned at Oulton Park, with Fielding suffering a difficult weekend whilst Florescu took a second place and a win at the track. It put him in the lead of the championship and twenty points ahead of is nearest rival.
A Carlin driver would be at the top of the drivers’ championship from that point until the Silverstone round at the tail end of the season.
5. Knockhill Race Two: The Devlin-Petru incident
Knockhill race two will be one of the defining moments of Florescu’s championship but (we hope) not his career. From that point onwards, Florescu found it a lot harder to take the positions he had been at the beginning of the season, and he would eventually drop out of the championship battle before any other Carlin driver.
It had been a good start to the weekend for both drivers. Florescu had taken the race win in the first race of the day, with DeFrancesco taking third. In the second race of the weekend they would start further back, but were focused on moving forward to keep the championship alive.
Ahead of them on track was Jamie Caroline from Fortec Motorsport, who had a time penalty for a jump start at the beginning of the race. That, in the classification, put him behind both Carlin drivers, but he was forming a bit of a roadblock. As DeFrancesco tried to find a way passed, he collided into his team mate, sending both of them off of the track in a rather spectacular fashion.
If that had been the end of it, the collision might not have gotten a mention. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. In the heat of the moment, Florescu got out of the car and marched over to his team mate, throwing a punch of DeFrancesco and the marshals had to jump in to break up the beginnings of the fight.
Whilst it was later decided that DeFrancesco was to blame for the accident, it would be Florescu’s actions outside of the cockpit that would be more heavily penalised. Florescu was excluded from the results in the first race, and wouldn’t be allowed to take part in the final race of the weekend.
Thankfully, Devlin and Petru made up after the race and remained friends.
6. Rockingham Race One: James’ first win
It would take much longer to come than any of his team mates, but James Pull wouldn’t be walking away from his first British Formula 4 championship without a race win and, at Rockingham, he finally got it.
Like with DeFrancesco, the win wouldn’t come easy. The rain had already started to come down by the time the lights went out for the first race of the weekend as Fortec’s Alex Quinn challenged Pull going into the first corner. The Carlin driver emerged in front, but would have to continue to defend against the rookie throughout the race. The rain got heavier, but Pull was able to build up a small gap and eventually take his first race win in the British Formula 4 championship.
7. Rockingham Race Two: Pull’s exclusion
Fresh from taking his first race win, Pull wasn’t in for the perfect weekend. A safety car normally helps drivers further back in the pack, allowing them to get close to those ahead of them and providing the perfect opportunity to overtake on the restart. On the restart is the important part though.
The move itself was brilliant. Late breaking saw Pull sweep past Quinn and into fifth place, catching the rookie by surprise. Unfortunately for him, the move took place whilst the safety car boards were out. Not only was this against the rules, it could have been dangerous. Pull was excluded from the race as punishment.
8. Brands Hatch GP Race Three: Fewtrell takes the championship
Going into the final weekend of the championship, Fewtrell, Pull, and Fewtrell were all in the running for the championship, as well as three drivers from other teams. By the time they had reached the final race of the weekend, Fewtrell was the only Carlin driver left in the fight.
Fewtrell had a three point deficit to Sennan Fielding, who was leading the championship. Not only did he need to beat Fielding, he needed to close that gap of three points.
Pole position put him in the perfect position to do that. It was a clean get away for Fewtrell and, though he couldn’t shake Ayrton Simmons in second off of his tail, he didn’t make any mistakes either. It was a faultless drive from Fewtrell and, with Sennan finishing third, it was enough to take the title, only hours after the team had secured the teams’ championship title for a second year running.
Image Credit: Caroline Rhea
