A real test of nerve – 2020’s dramatic British F4 title showdown
“Always happy to have a dramatic conclusion; that one was perhaps a little bit close to the bone for our own nerves!,” British Formula 4 boss Sam Roach admits to MN.
British F4’s 2020 title was not only decided at the very last race, and not only by a hair’s breadth between Luke Browning of
Fortec and Zak O’Sullivan of
Carlin. Not only either was it decided with a finale stopped early amid intensifying rain.
When the red flag flew the drama had only just begun.
The championship’s calculations said, correctly, that Browning was champion. But O’Sullivan was celebrating in parc ferme while Browning made a solemn journey back to Brands Hatch’s paddock. Neither twigged that only half points were awarded due to the early stoppage.
“You start questioning yourself!,” Roach confesses of the situation. “Because the teams are all doing the same work. [You’re thinking] ‘why the hell are you jumping up and down? What have I missed?’ There was a few minutes of frantic phone calls and frantic calculations!
“It’s great for the drama of the championship and the narrative, what could be better than a finale as close and as dramatic as that? [But] a less dramatic one this year would be just fine!”