Luke Browning drove an impressive race in mixed conditions and battled his way from P12 to an amazing P3.
A bittersweet weekend on home soil
Browning’s weekend at the British GP was quite the roller coaster. From a disappointing qualifying, where the Brit qualified P12, to finishing P7 in the sprint race but then be hit with a penalty dropping him down to P12 again, only to storm to an impressive P3 in the feature race, it became a weekend to remember. The Hitech driver summarized his weekend using the word “bittersweet”, candidly stating:
“Bittersweet it’s the way to put it. You go it’s so fast in qualifying, picked up some damage coming into the second run, and it was major, so I just couldn’t fight in the second run in qualifying. We knew we had pace coming into the race weekend.”
“We were very fast yesterday in the dry, and we were very fast today in the wet. Equally, we look at these weekends and go these are the weekends that maybe we could win, but equally we got as many points as we could from it. I’m very happy with the overtakes and the pace we showed today. Overall, you need this perception to get to Formula One and that’s the goal.”
As is the case with most young drivers, the Brit hopes to achieve his dream of driving in Formula One, one day. With six podiums under his belt this season and being fifth in the F2 championship, there is no doubt that the Hitech driver remains immensely consistent.
In order to reach the pinnacle of motorsport, talent and consistency play a major role, and Browning possesses both.
A late call to pit
The Williams Academy driver fought plenty of battles during the feature race. The Hitech driver managed to bravely climb through the field. Browning was one of the first drivers to make the move to pit for another set of wet tyres on Lap 23.
With only six laps remaining, he managed to climb his way back to his P3, and made it stick. When asked if this late pit stop was always planned or if it was a late call, the Brit expressed:
“Honestly, we were planning on doing it earlier. Yet, we were unsure about the risk of it drying and then if people boxed to slicks and then did us at the end we were trying to cover for all aspects.
“When you go from twelfth to third, you want to try to cover the position. I think equally, maybe we could have boxed five or four laps earlier than we did for a new set of wets, and maybe undercut massively. It wasn’t to be today I think.“
“I’m very happy with third though. The team did a fantastic job and this second half of the European season, I’m really looking forward to it. Pace is coming to us, the direction is good, and the confidence is growing ever more. We’re ready to fight for this.”
The Williams junior seemed delighted to have delivered an incredible performance at his home grand prix, and ready to battle his way to the top. The young driver continuously praised his team for their effort and improvement in the first half of the season.
With Browning only 24 points behind the championship leader, Richard Verschoor, he is ready to fight for the title.
Extensive experience at Silverstone led to impressive performance
After a difficult British GP last year in Formula 3, the Williams Academy Driver was hungry for redemption. Browning opened up about the disappointing experience last year. Additionally, admitting how rewarding it was to finally get a podium finish at Silverstone. When asked how special it was to reach the podium at his home race, the Brit responded:
“Obviously, it eluded me last year. Formula 3, it feels like it scarred me. It was one of those where, I don’t need to go into it, but basically the weather took it away from me, but equally I’ve been rewarded with the weather in the past. I don’t think I’d have got to third today on a normal strategy so maybe it rewarded me today. Very happy.”
He continued on to be asked if it was set up changes or simply his driving style that helped deliver the impressive performance in the feature race. The Hitech driver explained that his experience at the track had a major impact on his performance.
“I think it’s having done a thousand laps here. I’ve raced every championship here. I know this place like the back of my hand, as I said coming into the weekend. I knew what lines to be on from the outset and I made the use of my experience there. I was very happy to have Hitech’s car underneath me to be able to extract it so probably that.”
