Ella Lloyd is no stranger to racing on the Formula One support programme, but got the chance to do so on home soil at the weekend as the Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA guested alongside the top flight at Silverstone.
Having had to miss the regular season round on the Northamptonshire venue’s grand prix layout earlier in the year due to her F1 Academy commitments, Lloyd started the weekend at the same slight disadvantage as the new drivers making one-off appearances at the non-championship event, but was able to call upon 2024 experience of the circuit, having claimed her maiden F4 podium there last season. That knowledge showed in Friday evening’s lone practice session, as she briefly appeared second on the timesheets before slipping to fifth when the chequered flag waved.
Buoyed by her early performance, the Welsh driver went into the following morning’s qualifying session with confidence, and that showed as she bounced to the top of the timesheets just over halfway through the allotted 25-minutes. With the track evolving throughout the session, however, Lloyd’s time was gradually bettered by others and, even though she managed to improve her own mark before the end, would wind up a slightly disappointed 11th in the order.
“We had good pace in practice and on the first set of tyres in qualifying, and I don’t know whether it was a tyre issue or something else, but we didn’t get as much out of the second set as we needed for a good grid position,” Lloyd commented. “However, it was still a positive start to the weekend.”
The F4 field would again round out the day’s action, putting all 26 drivers back on track at 1700hrs for their next opportunity to attract the attention of teams higher up the racing ladder. Unfortunately for Lloyd, however, she completed her first lap on the wrong side of the pitwall, having been nerfed into the run-off area at The Loop and left requiring repairs to her black-and-papaya #20 machine. Although the Rodin Motorsport team returned her to the track in short order, the 19-year-old had already lost a lap to the rest of the field, but battled gamely for the remainder of the 25-minute plus one lap duration, effectively using the 12 laps as preparation for race two.
With only a brace of races slotted into the packed F1 timetable, there was no partially-reversed grid event as there would have been at a normal championship round, but Lloyd was able to line up 11th on the grid for the second event under threatening skies early on Sunday morning. This time, the field got away cleanly and the distinctive Rodin car held position, slotting into a frenetic battle for the top ten that lasted throughout the race. Battling with drivers that have already tasted victory this season, Lloyd more than held her own, attracting the watchful eye of the television cameras by pulling off a string of passing moves as the seething pack swapped positions almost every lap. Running as high as ninth with two laps remaining, the #20 eventually took the flag in tenth spot.
“I made a good start to race one but, obviously, I got wiped out, so there isn’t much else to report there,” Lloyd sighed. “I got another good start in the second race, and the car was pretty good throughout, which allowed me to fight with the drivers around me the entire time.
“The atmosphere and crowd at Silverstone were amazing, especially as it was McLaren’s home race and my home race too. The support was great all weekend.”
Lloyd will be back in British F4 action at Zandvoort in the Netherlands over the weekend of 18-20th July.
