Ella Lloyd ends rookie British F4 campaign with podium at Brands Hatch

Ella Lloyd concluded her British Formula 4 season with a podium finish and two top-10 results at Brands Hatch, rounding out a remarkable rookie campaign that earned her a spot in the McLaren Driver Academy for the 2025 F1 Academy.

Photo credits: JEP

Ella Lloyd completed her rookie season in single-seaters with another podium finish in British Formula 4, as the JHR Developments driver secured second place in the second race of the season finale at Brands Hatch.

Lloyd, who transitioned to Formula 4 after racing in Ginetta Junior and the GT5 class of the Ginetta GT Championship, has impressed with a remarkable season in British F4, claiming four podiums, three of which were runner-up finishes, and consistently racing among the front-runners in a series that featured some of the most promising F4 racers in Europe.

After a solid testing program in 2023, Lloyd made her single-seater racing debut in the Formula Winter Series at the start of the year, contesting two rounds with Rodin Motorsport and immediately showcasing her potential. She then signed up for her first full season in British F4 with JHR Developments, where she quickly made an impact by scoring two top-10 finishes on her debut at Donington Park. Her season continued with eleven more top-10 results, including six top-five finishes.

Lloyd showed particular strength in qualifying, displaying great speed and making aggressive moves in races to ultimately finish eleventh in the championship standings, with 99 points to her name.

Although the Welsh racer missed the penultimate race meeting at Silverstone due to a clash with her debut in F1 Academy—where she scored points twice as a Wild Card entrant—Lloyd returned to British F4 for the season finale at Brands Hatch, on the iconic GP circuit that hosted the F1 Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986.

During the week leading up to the event, Lloyd finished the test day 13th fastest on the challenging and high-speed Brands Hatch GP layout. On Wednesday, she was in the top ten during testing on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, continuing to show her strong pace. It was a promising start to the weekend on Friday, with Lloyd not far off the top ten, ending 15th in the first official practice and 14th by the end of the day, setting a best time of 1:25.183, improving by six-tenths of a second despite a red-flagged session.

On Saturday morning, in the final qualifying session of the season, Deagan Fairclough immediately broke the 1:30 barrier as times dropped quickly. Lloyd put in a strong lap early on, going fourth fastest with a 1:26.714 before the session was interrupted by a red flag with 11 minutes to go.

When the session resumed, Lloyd moved up to P12, and despite another red flag with a minute to go, she secured the reverse-grid pole with the 12th fastest time. It was an incredibly close session, decided by just 0.001 seconds for pole position. Lloyd also placed 15th in the second-best lap classification, which set the grid for race one.

Lloyd started the first race of the weekend from 15th on the grid, in what promised to be a challenging contest at Brands Hatch. At the start, pole-sitter Fairclough made a clean getaway, while Seewooruthun struggled slightly off the line.

Lloyd initially lost some ground in the opening laps, dropping down a couple of places. However, she quickly found her rhythm, displaying solid racecraft as she began to recover her positions. By lap 5, she had moved up to P13, pushing hard to catch Cui ahead of her.

Although Ella had the pace to challenge Cui, she was unable to make a pass stick and settled into a steady rhythm, keeping a decent gap to Fu behind her.

The race took a dramatic turn on lap 9 when Ninovic went off into the gravel, bringing out the safety car with six minutes remaining on the clock.

This neutralized the race, and with limited time left for a restart, the event concluded under safety car conditions. Lloyd crossed the finish line in a solid P12, having gained three positions from her starting spot. Fairclough secured the victory from pole, with Seewooruthun recovering to second and Robinson rounding out the podium.

The second race of the weekend was set to be the makeup race for the previously postponed event at Silverstone, which had been delayed due to adverse weather conditions. Lloyd therefore did not participate in this race, as she had missed the Silverstone round to make her debut in the all-female F1 Academy at Singapore.

On Sunday morning, the reverse-grid format placed Lloyd on pole position, giving her a prime opportunity to score a strong result. As the lights went out, Lloyd executed a good start, holding her lead ahead of Campbell-Pilling. Sherwood made a lightning start from sixth on the grid, quickly moving up to second place and closing in on Lloyd.

Sherwood, showing strong pace, eventually overtook Lloyd on lap 2, taking the lead of the race. Campbell-Pilling also attempted to pass Lloyd, but the Argenti driver went off-track, allowing Ninovic to move into third.

Ella found herself under pressure from Ninovic, who managed to pass her at Surtees Corner to take second place. Although Lloyd fought back, she could not reclaim the position from the Australian. Despite the intense battle, Lloyd opened a gap of a few seconds over Pulling and Molnar, who were fighting for fourth place behind her.

The race was then abruptly halted with a red flag when Sherwood crashed heavily into the barriers at Sheene's Corner, resulting in damage that required a stoppage. Fortunately, Sherwood emerged unscathed, but the race was not resumed. Lloyd secured second place, marking another podium finish – in what was a partial race with only 50% points awarded due to the incomplete distance.

The final race of the season took place in challenging wet conditions, with light rain starting just as the cars lined up on the grid. This led to strategic decisions for the teams as they had to gamble on tyre choices. Starting from 11th place, Lloyd faced a difficult race in the slippery conditions.

As the lights went out, chaos ensued at the first turn with multiple cars sliding off the track. Fairclough took the lead from Seewooruthun and Robinson, as the safety car was called out. Shortly afterward, a red flag was waved due to more cars going off, leading to a lengthy stoppage.

When the race restarted, the drivers resumed from their initial positions. Lloyd managed to hold on to P11 as the green flag waved again. As the track conditions continued to challenge the drivers, Robinson made a move to pass Seewooruthun, while Ninovic also advanced. Lloyd was overtaken by Pulling on lap 3 as the drivers struggled to find grip. With more incidents taking place, including Raber and Fu going off into the gravel, the safety car was deployed once more with just 10 minutes to go.

After a brief neutralization, the race went green with only two minutes remaining. Lloyd made a solid charge in the final laps, moving up to 10th place as Molnar dropped down the order. Ninovic put on a show by making a stunning pass over Seewooruthun to secure third, while Harrison made a mistake and went off track. Lloyd finished the final race of the season in ninth place, achieving another top-10 finish in very tricky conditions.

Ella Lloyd completed a remarkable rookie season in British Formula 4, ending with two top-10 results and a podium in the finale. Her consistent performances and adaptability did not go unnoticed, as shortly after the race weekend, Lloyd was announced as a member of the McLaren Driver Academy.

She will join Rodin Motorsport for the 2025 F1 Academy campaign, where she will continue her development as a racing driver under the guidance and support of McLaren. This marks one of the strongest single-seater debuts of 2024, setting Lloyd up for an exciting future.