Jamie Chadwick has claimed her first home race win at Silverstone taking her to six consecutive wins; including all four of this season’s races. The British driver has now reached the 100 point mark alongside her 100 per cent race record this season, taking her 47 points clear of Abbi Pulling in the championship.
Alongside Chadwick on the Silverstone podium was compatriot Abbi Pulling in third, and Emma Kimiläinen, who regained second place from Pulling on the final lap after the pair made contact in the closing stages.
Kimiläinen’s first podium finish of the season moved her to fourth in the championship standings; one point and one place behind Beitske Visser and one place ahead of Alice Powell. Powell – who finished in first place in last year’s W Series race at Silverstone – fell out of the points, plummeting from third to 14th after receiving a stop-go penalty for an infringement in the formation lap.
Fabienne Wohlwend, who was runner-up to Powell in last year’s race, had another strong finish this year in fourth. She finished just ahead of Visser, with Jessica Hawkins and Abbie Eaton finishing in sixth and seventh respectively to score points in their home race. Belén García, Nerea Martí and Sarah Moore rounded out the top 10.
Even with slight rainfall as the drivers made their way to the grid, the crowd was a sell-out on the Saturday of the Formula 1® Lenovo British Grand Prix 2022 weekend.
The drama began even before lights out, when Alice Powell stalled at the start of the formation lap, but made it off the line before the last car had passed her, allowing to retake her starting place. However, she had been out of position in fourth at the first safety car line on the formation lap, and was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty from the stewards. Prior to the race, Powell had been promoted from third to fifth on the grid after her deleted lap time for exceeding track limits was reinstated.
Chadwick made a strong start from pole position, with Kimiläinen and Powell slotting in behind her. Pulling had a slow start from fourth, allowing Wohlwend to hop up to fourth having started sixth. With four minutes gone, Powell passed Kimiläinen on the inside at Brooklands for second, before pulling into the pit lane to serve her penalty. That helped Jamie build up a four-second lead after only two laps of the 30-minute plus one lap race.
Front-wing and sidepod damaged sent Marta Garcia to the back of the field after contact with Emely De Heus; the damage to the car saw Garcia forced into a prolonged pit stop while the team worked on repairing it. Further up the field, Marta’s team-mate Wohlwend was going wheel-to-wheel with Pulling in the battle for third – Abbi came out on top when Wohlwend ran wide at Village, seeing her drop to fifth behind Beitske.
At the halfway stage, Chadwick led Kimiläinen by more than five seconds and Pulling sat a further two seconds behind. Jessica Hawkins had progressed from 10th to sixth on the grid, and Martí made up more places than any other driver, moving up from 15th to ninth.
As the second half of the race began, the rain became more persistent, but Chadwick continued to set purple sectors as she led the field to extend her advantage to more than six seconds as the clock began to count down the last ten minutes.
The threat of heavier rain began to disappear, and while Jamie enjoyed a comfortable lead up front, Emma Kimiläinen’s attention turned to her mirrors where Pulling was holding strong. The teenager set the fastest lap of the race to push herself to within half a second of Emma on the penultimate lap, at the end of which the pair made contact after going side-by-side on the Hangar Straight. That sent Emma spinning but, while the stewards were investigating the incident, Abbi Pulling decided to let Emma through, so she regained second place on the final lap as Jamie won by almost 20 seconds.
EverythingF1’s James Tiller caught up with a few of the drivers after the race…
Jamie Chadwick talked about her strategy for the race and looks on to future races;
“I got a nice gap and then managed to maintain that, and then when it all kicked off at the end it gave me a big buffer. I just tried to keep my head down, just focus on the start, lap one and then just manage from there really.
It’s not going to be easy, everyone is going to up their game but I think the confidence and momentum we’ve got now is nice.”
Jamie Chadwick talking to James Tiller after the race
Abbi Pulling described her race as ‘hectic’, but recovered well after her incident;
“It was quite a hectic race, a lot of ups and downs throughout. Not the greatest of starts from me; I got a lot of wheel spin on the line so I got dropped down a few places, but I managed to put the pressure on the girls in front and gain it back. Then it was an instance of chasing down Emma, so, I think we did a great job at chasing her down but maybe not as good of a job at passing her. We’ve settled it off track and she’s alright, and I gave her the position back straight away. It’s all been resolved and I’m just happy to be here in front of the home crowd. I can’t thank the fans enough for the energy they brought and it’s always spectacular coming here.”
Abbi Pulling on her race talking with James Tiller in the paddock
Jessica Hawkins is pleased with her race following a rocky qualifying yesterday;
“The race was quite good; I made the best out of a bad qualifying yesterday – I think I would’ve liked to be a couple of positions higher. but overtaking here is quite difficult so to gain 4 is good. I’m pleased overall but would’ve liked to have been higher.”
Abbie Eaton scored her first points of the season in front of an “awesome” home crowd;
“I’ve gotta be pleased with it – I’ve finally got some points this year. I got a good start, made up a couple of places but made a mistake and then the momentum was lost and everyone was on me. Once it all settled down, I’m happy with 7th.
On the great British crowd Abbie noted.
You never really notice the external area because you’re so focused on what you’re doing, but actually when we were sat there on the grid waiting to go there were so many people and it was awesome.”
Abbie Eaton on the crowds at her home race at Silverstone