McLaren Racing has confirmed that the 2022 ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA Champion will be given a unique opportunity to embed themselves within the team’s Formula 1 operations at the 2023 British Grand Prix.
The experience, designed to give the driver an immersive and thorough understanding of what it takes to compete on the sport’s global stage, will include access to the Woking-based teams drivers, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, as well as the outfit’s industry-leading engineering staff.
Tied with the news that Pirelli will offer the champion a funded Formula Regional test, and the fact that ROKiT British Formula 4 will be the only single-seater category in the UK to offer FIA Super License points in 2022, the championship is being increasingly marked out as a ‘must-do’ for any drivers with serious aspirations of making it to the top.
The partnership with McLaren marks the latest chapter in Motorsport UK’s vision of building a championship that offers not only an unparalleled platform for driver development, but also forges a path for competitors to make meaningful progress through the single seater ranks.
It also cements the regard with which Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series is held at the sport’s top table, and McLaren was represented at the series’ launch at Bicester Heritage last Friday (26 November) by Performance Engineer, Amelia Lewis.
The UK has a long and rich heritage for producing the sport’s rising stars of the future, with a world-renowned set of circuits, several of the world’s leading junior single seater teams and strong ties to every corner of the sport, often producing a grid with exceptional talents from all four corners of the globe.
McLaren ace Norris started his own journey to stardom in the same series, then called MSA Formula, back in 2015, before moving up through the ranks to his current position as one of Britain’s pre-eminent talents in F1.
Hugh Chambers, CEO at Motorsport UK:
“It’s a really powerful statement of how highly the ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA is regarded at the highest levels of the sport that we have been able to enter into this partnership with McLaren Racing, one of Formula 1’s iconic teams.
“The opportunity they will provide for our 2022 champion to gain an in-depth understanding of what is required to succeed in Formula 1 will prove invaluable as they look to accelerate their rise through the single-seater ranks and will provide a very relevant benchmark for where they want to be in the future.”
Zak Brown, CEO at McLaren Racing:
“McLaren Racing is pleased to offer the 2022 British F4 champion a fantastic opportunity to integrate themselves into our Formula 1 race team for a Grand Prix weekend, to understand what life is like for drivers at the very top of the sport.
“The UK has always been at the forefront of driver development; a philosophy McLaren shares. British F4 is an excellent starting point for aspiring drivers, and where one of our current Formula 1 drivers, Lando Norris, claimed his first championship title on his rise through the single seater ranks.
“We look forward to welcoming the winner at the British Grand Prix in 2023.”
