Imagine being forced to live without your mobile phone for two days. Over the past couple of decades, that has gone from being mildly irritating to borderline catastrophic, given how many things our phones are now crucial for. But being disconnected from the outside world is just one of the challenges that face the finalists of the Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.
By the time the four young drivers rock up at the home of the British Grand Prix and are shocked to have to hand over their devices, they have already been put through fitness and simulator tests. The 2024 finalists have visited Porsche Human Performance to have their strength and cardiovascular levels assessed, giving the Award judges useful information and providing feedback that can be given to each finalist once the competition is over.
It’s a similar story with the Mercedes sim: 40 laps of the Silverstone GP circuit in a W15 Formula 1 car, set up as it was for George Russell’s 2024 British GP pole and with Anthony Davidson setting a reference lap. The task is split over four runs of 10 laps, with the first a familiarisation and not assessed, followed by two baseline runs.
A blind set-up change is made for the finale to assess the drivers’ feedback and adaptability. Each driver is scored across consistency, ultimate pace, response to set-up changes and approach/attitude for a final score. In 2024, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team report said: “All four drivers have shown a high level of driving quality and incredible speed for their age and level of experience.”
Then it’s time to head to Silverstone for real. The 2024 foursome are British F4 champion Deagen Fairclough, F3 race winner Arvid Lindblad, GB3 title winner Louis Sharp and Italian F4 dominator Freddie Slater. Three on-track disciplines provide the meat of the Award: a 500bhp Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3, 455bhp RLR M Sport Ligier LMP3 sports-prototype and – for the final time after 15 years of service – the 425bhp MotorSport Vision Williams-built F2 car.
PLUS: How an underrated Williams proved its worth beyond a brief competition career
The prize, of course, is £200,000 and an Aston Martin F1 test, not to mention the prestige that comes with joining a list of winners who include 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button, 13-time grand prix victor David Coulthard, current stars Russell and Lando Norris, plus IndyCar legend Dario Franchitti, 2014 World Endurance champion Davidson and 2023 Formula E top dog Jake Dennis.
After initial briefings, the drivers get sighter laps in Silverstone’s trackday Aston Martins. Though not part of the assessment, the combination of high-performance road cars and young racers is not boring, and the Vantages often return steaming after just a few laps.
The two days are intense. The first half-day is spent in the identical F2 cars, with the four on track at the same time, for old and new-tyre runs. The afternoon is spent in the solo GT and LMP3 cars, on track at the same time, with drivers getting two runs on old rubber before a final sortie on fresh Pirellis in each.
Benchmark drivers Wayne Boyd (Ligier) and Jonny Adam (Aston) are on hand to offer advice and drive the cars before and after the finalists in order to take track evolution into account. When the four teenagers and Adam all produce times within 0.2 seconds in the Aston GT3, the judges – led by ex-F1 racer and 1992 world sportscar champion Derek Warwick – know they are in for a tough time.
In recent years, the finalists have tended to be more pally with each other, though the accuracy of the information they share among themselves is open to question!
As you’d expect, some years are easy for the judges, with one driver dominating. Others, such as the 2011 contest between Oliver Rowland, Alex Lynn and Tom Blomqvist, are tougher and require hours of discussion and delving through the extensive data provided by the teams, TSL and our data engineer, which in 2024 is Philippa Treacy from the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team.
On both nights, the finalists have dinner with the judges, informally before day one and, more formally, with Award stakeholders the following night. As well as giving everyone the chance to get to know each other better, the evenings can be fun and enlightening – one finalist a few years ago turned out to be a rather fine pianist, for example. Of course, the finalists are sent to bed nice and early.
Day two is all about the F2 car and is often crucial as those with less experience of big single-seaters get up to speed. For example, Lindblad was a finalist in 2023 and has spent a season racing Dallara’s 380bhp F3 machine, while Fairclough and Slater are stepping up from 180bhp F4 cars, so more acclimatisation time is expected (though not always required!). The event’s fastest laps often come now.
It’s fascinating to see how finalists react to the unusual environment, particularly since it’s probably the only time in their careers when they’ll not see the lap times of rivals. Some get tense, while others just love jumping into different cars. In recent years, the finalists have tended to be more pally with each other, though the accuracy of the information they share among themselves is open to question!
With the judges around the circuit or in the garages with the drivers and engineers, there are also chances to spot different styles or cheeky moments – such as the odd finalist who jumps out of their F2 car and walks behind all the other cars to see the lap times on the steering wheel displays before they are wiped…
Your writer has been involved in the Award since 2006 and a judge since 2008, and doesn’t think it’s giving away too much to say that the 2024 contest was remarkable, both in terms of the high quality of driving and how close it was. The 12-lap pursuit run, which is assessed using the overall ‘race time’ rather than best lap, was unbelievable. Just 0.001s separated the top two on total time across the 12 laps and 1.3s covered all four.
After all that, the drivers have one more interview with the judges before they can leave – and get their phones back. Then it’s the even longer wait to find out whether they’ve won one of motorsport’s biggest prizes.
The 2024 judges
Derek Warwick (chairman), Dario Franchitti, Leena Gade, Johnny Herbert, Andrew Kirkaldy, Jason Plato, Andy Priaulx, Alexander Sims, Ian Titchmarsh, Darren Turner, Kevin Turner and Mark Williams
Deagen Fairclough
Age: 18
2025: GB3 with Hitech
2024: British F4 champion with Hitech
He says: “I’m still really happy about it and feel the test went well. It was exciting and is a memory that will stay in my mind for a long time.
“The Formula 2 car was mega fun. You’re trying to be on the limit without crashing, because that gets you disqualified. I hadn’t been able to drive anything faster than an F4 car beforehand, so it was a big jump and I didn’t know if I’d be able to do the physical side, but it was all good.”
Arvid Lindblad
Age: 17
2025: F2 with Campos Racing
2024: 4th in F3 with Prema Racing
He says: “The two days were really cool – getting to drive three different cars, especially the GT3 and LMP3, which are two different forms of motorsport to what I’m used to.
“I came in better prepared this time [after being a finalist in 2023]. I knew it was always going to be very difficult with a lot of talent coming to the tests and I knew I was going to have to be on top of my game.”
Freddie Slater
Age: 16
2025: Formula Regional European with Prema Racing
2024: Italian F4 champion with Prema Racing
He says: “You do think about how you did and what you could have done better. It’s a weird thing because in normal racing you know how you’ve done, but we’ve no idea.
“The most enjoyable bit was the GT. It’s so different, heavy but quick in a straight line. The F2 needed a different approach to what I’m used to. It didn’t like the kerbs and the turbo lag was quite big, but the front wing adjustment was good.”
Louis Sharp
Age: 17
2025: F3 with Rodin Motorsport
2024: GB3 champion with Rodin Motorsport
He says: “I really enjoyed driving the different cars, and being able to adapt to them was my favourite part. The GT3 was probably my favourite car and the F2, being a single-seater, is more what I’m used to but faster!
“The tricky thing is not knowing how you’re doing. You don’t have team-mates’ data or other people’s lap times – you’re blind. All you can do is focus on yourself and do the best job you can.”
This article is one of many in the new monthly issue of Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the February 2025 issue and subscribe today.
