|
Another podium visit helps keeps Seb in 2nd in title standings!
by Marc Orme
(Photos by Jakob Ebrey Photography)
It was a weekend of frustration &
joy for F4 Championship front-runner Seb Morris at Silverstone
Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend 17/18 August as he retained
second position in the BRDC Formula 4 standings. As the title
battle reaches a crucial stage, Seb was happy to round-out the
sixth event of the season back on the rostrum, but he was
frustrated after believing he had the chance to take his maiden
F4 race victory in Sunday afternoon’s encounter.
Despite having to overcome a bad
night of little rest with bout of food poisoning ahead of
Saturday’s qualifying session, Seb, whose car is prepared by
Hillspeed Racing, took seventh on the grid for the first race,
round 16, and at the start of the race he held position off the
line after a typically smooth getaway.
Circulating in a very tightly
bunched pack of cars all queuing up behind fourth placed Gustavo
Lima, Seb smartly gained two places on lap five by leap-frogging
Jack Barlow as Lima dropped back down the order.
Running in fifth, Seb then sliced
his way up to 4th and edged progressively closer to
the podium – ending the race just 2.5 seconds shy of 3rd
place. Post-race, however, he was given a five second penalty
for a yellow flag infringement which dropped him to sixth!
Although this was disappointing,
the net result meant that due to the quirky F4 qualifying rules,
Seb actually started round 17 higher up the order on the
‘reverse grid’ than he would have otherwise have done! Lining-up
in third position, Seb who combines studies at College & the MSA
Academy, with his racing, made a good getaway from the second
row but became embroiled in a very tight battle midway through
the opening lap.
Coming under pressure from James
Greenway and Barlow through Village and The Loop, Seb was
momentarily pushed back to fourth place and on Wellington
Straight he was edged wide onto the grass which resulted in a
drop to fifth. With some impressive determination Seb responded
and put a move on Matty Graham at The Loop which led to a tangle
which ultimately demoted Seb to ninth position! With hopes of a
podium challenge wrecked, the British Racing Drivers’ Club
‘Rising Star’ tried to salvage as much as he could from the race
and after taking eighth place on lap seven he managed to grab
seventh later in the race, setting a lap time that would see him
start the final race of the day from fourth place.
Now highly motivated, Seb made a
fantastic start to move into third on the run to Copse and then
closed-up behind second placed Jake Hughes to end lap one only
0.5 seconds shy of his title rival.
As the lead trio of Matty Graham,
Hughes and Seb closed-up, the Welshman produced a great pass for
second midway through lap three and then sized-up a potential
move on Graham for the lead shortly after. Unfortunately,
though, the slightest of contact resulted in a damaged front
wing and nose cone for Seb and the delay led to a slip back to
third where he remained to the finish.
 “It’s
good to be on the podium but quite frustrating too as I had the
chance to win”, r made my move on [Matty] Graham too late and damaged
my front wing, we should have had more out of the last race.
|
