Hitech GP’s Luke Browning reclaimed the Formula 3 Championship lead ahead of his home Grand Prix at Silverstone. Feeder Series spoke to the British driver to discover his excitement about returning to his home track whilst fighting for the title.

By Tori Turner

The Williams academy driver returns to Silverstone for his second season in F3, having moved back up to first in the championship with 106 points after a feature race win in Spielberg. After a disastrous round at the British Grand Prix in 2023, Browning is looking to have a more fortunate weekend in front of a home crowd this year.

Browning is one of five British drivers in F3 – the highest percentage from one country on the 2024 grid  – that will race at their home track during the British Grand Prix this weekend. He joins Prema’s Arvid Lindblad as the only two drivers to win two races throughout the season thus far. They are also the only British drivers to score a podium in 2024.

This season Browning also holds the impressive statistic of being the only driver to finish in the top five of all feature races. His consistency has allowed him to score large sums of points when it matters the most, especially when he has been unable to repeat those during the sprint races.

“Last year, we were fastest there in free practice and I made a mistake in my qualifying lap that could have been pole,” he said.

Even with the error on his final qualifying lap, Browning was still able to finish 8th overall in that qualifying session with a time of 1:46.046. The reversed grid for the sprint race last year saw him start up in 5th, but he was unable to score any points due to pitting under the safety car for wet tyres. His feature race also came to a premature end after a racing incident with Hugh Barter on the final corner of Lap 1. The two drivers made contact that ended up with Browning being stranded on the side of the race track. 

Browning hopes that he will be able to deliver better results at the “special circuit” this year. 

“Silverstone is one for me that just sends shivers down my spine,” he told Feeder Series. “I think being a British driver, it’s the home of motorsports, the home of the BRDC, it’s the home of Williams. Silverstone is special. I have a bit of an advantage there, being a British driver, having the amount of time that I’ve driven there, and the guidance I’m able to pick up from the people around me and the BRDC.” 

Despite winning championships in two different British single-seater championships – British F4 in 2020 and GB3 in 2022 – he has never won a race at Silverstone before. 

Across his whole junior single-seater career, Browning has scored five podiums at Silverstone and a further two pole positions. 

“It should be an exciting time going back. I think I’ve got the onboard camera there as well, so hopefully you’ll see a pole on one.”

Header image credit: Williams Racing