Linus Lundqvist staged a powerful comeback in the penultimate round of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost at Silverstone, making up a full 22 places to make amends for a lacklustre qualifying outcome.
A four-time winner in British F4 so far during his rookie season, Lundqvist again proved on frontrunning form at Silverstone by topping Friday free practice – taking high hopes into the subsequent qualifying session on Saturday morning.
Once there, however, things did not pan out according to plan for the Double R Racing Swede. Contact with the barriers, coupled with a questionable tyre choice on a drying track, meant Lundqvist wound up an uncharacteristic 15th on the grid for the first of the weekend’s three races – and a lowly 18th for Race 3.
“Qualifying was a complete disaster,” said Lundqvist. “It was looking so well on Friday and the car felt near perfect, and I’m sure we would have had that kind of pace in qualy as well. I damaged the car by hitting the barrier, though, and with the benefit of hindsight I think we probably should have gone out on slicks from the start. It really hurts to know we messed up and lost that opportunity, but I mainly have myself to blame.”
Lundqvist, however, would not give up that easily. Powering back up the field, the 2016 Scandinavian single-seater champion hauled himself from 15th to sixth in the opening race, and then bettered that score further still in Race 3 – going from 18th to fifth in an entertaining display of overtaking prowess.
In total, Lundqvist made up no fewer than 22 positions across the two races, while adding further championship points for ninth in Race 2.
“I’m glad I managed to repair some of the damage of qualifying, and hopefully at least it was a good show,” concluded Lundqvist. “I’ve learned a lot here at Silverstone and I think it’s important to work on your race craft as well, and I certainly did this weekend! Still, I’m disappointed to not even take a podium away from here on a weekend when we really should have won races. We had the pace for it, as demonstrated on Friday. I just have to do a better job next time, grow with this experience and keep it all together.”
Linus Lundqvist remains fifth overall in the F4 British Championship standings, with just one final round to go at Brands Hatch two weeks from now.