British Formula 4 champion Deagen Fairclough has been crowned the winner of the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.
The 18-year-old Briton will receive £200,000, a test in an Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 car, full British Racing Drivers' Club membership, an Arai helmet and Jordan Bespoke helmet bag as his prize.
Fairclough beat fellow finalists Arvid Lindblad, Louis Sharp and Freddie Slater to become the 35th winner of the Award, which aims to find and boost rising British single-seater racers.
He was announced as the winner at the new-look Autosport Awards at London’s Roundhouse on 29 January.
Fairclough said: “Honestly, this means so, so much. Thank you to every single person, my mum, my dad, my friends. Thank you to Silverstone for setting this up again, 35 years of it, and I hope to follow on in the footsteps of the rest of the winners.
“I am speechless. It was a fantastic two days. Even if I didn’t win I learnt so much, and the other drivers made me put so much into it over the two days.
“It was weird having no phone, as I was worried about not getting up in time each morning!
“The faces I’ve seen in this building are inspirational. To test an F1 car at 18, not many get to do that, so it is incredible. I am sorry, I am ranting on a bit!”
Fairclough earned his chance to step into racing with success in ROKiT’s Esports competition. After finishing third in British F4 in 2023, Fairclough dominated the 2024 campaign, taking 14 victories with Hitech.
After a simulator assessment with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and fitness tests at Porsche Human Performance, the four Award finalists spent two days at Silverstone. They drove MotorSport Vision Formula 2, Beechdean Motorsport-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and RLR M Sport Ligier LMP3 machinery on the Grand Prix circuit.
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Fairclough joins an illustrious list of previous winners of the Award, which began in 1989, that includes 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button, 13-time grand prix winner David Coulthard, current F1 drivers Lando Norris and George Russell, triple Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, and 2014 World Endurance champion Anthony Davidson.
The 2024 Award judging panel was led by ex-F1 driver and BRDC vice-president Derek Warwick. The other judges were four-time IndyCar champion Franchitti, Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade, three-time GP winner Johnny Herbert, GT team boss and 1997 Award winner Andrew Kirkaldy, double British Touring Car champion Jason Plato, three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx, IMSA champion and 2008 Award winner Alexander Sims, Aston Martin development driver and 1996 Award winner Darren Turner, experienced commentator Ian Titchmarsh, successful McLaren and Lola designer Mark Williams, and Autosport’s chief editor Kevin Turner.
To find out who our other Award winners are, go to autosport.com/awards
ALL THE WINNERS
1989 David Coulthard
1990 Gareth Rees
1991 Oliver Gavin
1992 Dario Franchitti
1993 Ralph Firman Jr
1994 Jamie Davies
1995 Jonny Kane
1996 Darren Turner
1997 Andrew Kirkaldy
1998 Jenson Button
1999 Gary Paffett
2000 Anthony Davidson
2001 Steven Kane
2002 Jamie Green
2003 Alex Lloyd
2004 Paul di Resta
2005 Oliver Jarvis
2006 Oliver Turvey
2007 Stefan Wilson
2008 Alexander Sims
2009 Dean Smith
2010 Lewis Williamson
2011 Oliver Rowland
2012 Jake Dennis
2013 Matt Parry
2014 George Russell
2015 Will Palmer
2016 Lando Norris
2017 Dan Ticktum
2018 Tom Gamble
2019 Johnathan Hoggard
2020 Not awarded
2021 Zak O’Sullivan
2022 Luke Browning
2023 Joseph Loake
2024 Deagen Fairclough
