Ella Lloyd produced her strongest Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA performance of the season so far as the series ventured to Zandvoort in the Netherlands for round six of ten in 2025.
With prior experience of the Dutch Grand Prix venue from her 2024 British F4 campaign, the 20-year-old Welsh driver was able to focus more on setting her Rodin Motorsport entry up for the three races scheduled across the weekend, and placed a strong eighth in a qualifying session where the names at the top of the order were shuffled continuously. With her second fastest lap also good enough for a spot on the outside of row four in the opening race, Lloyd was well positioned for a bountiful weekend on a circuit known for its tricky and unforgiving nature.
“I think qualifying was pretty decent,” she reported. “I probably wasn’t 100 per cent happy with it and think we could have been a little bit further up, but it was still a decent position given the year we’ve had so far in British F4.”
The first race, later that same day, saw the papaya-coloured #20 gain a place ahead of an early safety car interruption but, with few overtaking opportunities presenting themselves after that, Lloyd found herself having to defend her position for the remainder of the 12-lap duration, doing so successfully to equal her best result of the season to that point.
With the top 12 drivers from qualifying having their order reversed to set the front of the grid for race two on Sunday morning, Lloyd would line up fifth, but had to put any thoughts of immediate improvement on hold as the race was red-flagged after a dramatic opening lap incident further down the field. Once under way after the interruption, however, she was soon looking for opportunities to move forward, quickly annexing a podium spot before then passing Rodin team-mate Adam Al-Azhari for second on the road. Although the leader was already too far ahead for her to close the gap before the chequered flag, Lloyd comfortably held on to her position, only for a post-race penalty for a slightly premature getaway to drop her back to third in the adjusted results.
The final race of the weekend proved to be something of a non-event in terms of actual racing, with a string of safety car interruptions and red flag stoppages preventing anyone from getting into a rhythm. Nevertheless, a good start from row four, some opportunism and an incident that removed one of the cars ahead of her, promoted Lloyd to fourth place early on and she was able to maintain her concentration through each of the enforced disruptions to fend off challenges from behind before crossing the line under a second from another top three finish.
“In each race, we made good progress up the field,” Lloyd confirmed. “We had good starts and good first laps in all three, so I was pretty happy with how I raced and the pace that we had — especially in the second race, where we had the fresher tyres. I had so much pace compared to the cars around me, and it was great to come away with a podium. Overall, I’m very happy with the weekend and the pace that we had, and I think everything worked out pretty well.”
The strong points haul moved Lloyd closer to top spot in the Challenge Cup standings and she won’t have long to wait before attempting to make further inroads as round seven of the British F4 season takes the field to Knockhill in Scotland over the weekend of 16-17th August, where Sunday’s races will be broadcast live on ITV4 and ITVX in the UK.
