2024 British F4 champion Deagen Fairclough has won the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award.
The announcement was made at tonight’s Autosport Awards event in London.
The prize for 18-year-old Fairclough includes £200,000 and a test in an Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 car.
He beat fellow finalists Louis Sharp, Freddie Slater and Arvid Lindblad to become the 35th winner of the prestigious award.
The award aims to find and assist the best junior British racing drivers. The process included fitness tests conducted by Porsche Human Performance and simulator elements, as well as a two-day test at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, where each finalist drove a MotorSport Vision F2, RLR M Sport Ligier LMP3 and Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 cars.
The list of previous winners of the award includes Lando Norris (2015 British F4 champion), George Russell, Jenson Button, David Coulthard and Jake Dennis.
Fairclough won the 2024 British F4 title in style last season, winning 14 races, claiming 22 podiums and breaking numerous records along the way.
Upon receiving the award, a delighted Fairclough said: “Honestly, this means so, so much. Thank you to every single person, my mum, my dad, my friends.
“Thank you to Silverstone for setting this up again, 35 years of it, and I hope to follow on in the footsteps of the rest of the winners.
“I am speechless. It was a fantastic two days. Even if I didn’t win I learnt so much, and the other drivers made me put so much into it over the two days.
“The faces I’ve seen in this building are inspirational. To test an F1 car at 18, not many get to do that, so it is incredible.”
