British F4: Daniella Sutton achieves season's best result at Silverstone
Daniella Sutton continued her excellent late-season form in the British F4 Championship as the Chris Dittmann Racing driver achieved a season's best finish of 16th at Silverstone after charging through from 24th on the grid.
Daniella Sutton continued her excellent late-season form in the British F4 Championship as the Chris Dittmann Racing driver achieved a season's best finish of 16th at Silverstone after charging through from 24th on the grid.
Sutton had continued to take significant strides forward during the second half of the season in both her speed and racecraft. During the previous round at Croft, Sutton confidently battled in the midfield while she fought for positions with former race winners. The Chris Dittmann Racing driver was now aiming to continue this form as the British F4 Championship reached its penultimate round at Silverstone.
Sutton entered the weekend with prior single seater experience at Silverstone after competing on the Grand Prix layout earlier in the season. Now tackling the short National layout, Daniella was looking to draw upon her experience of racing in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship where she secured top-10 results at the circuit in 2025.
On-track action began on Thursday as the drivers participated in a pre-event test session. Sutton took full advantage of the track time as she completed 165 laps while setting a fastest time of a 55.364 in the fourth session of the day which placed her in 30th position. The Chris Dittmann Racing driver showed particularly good speed through the final sector as she was regularly setting top-20 times through this part of the circuit.
Two further free practice sessions were held on Friday with Sutton continuing to take steps forward. Improving from her best time from Thursday in the morning session, Sutton improved by a further tenth of a second to end the day. Clocking a quickest lap of a 55.237, Sutton finished Friday's running in 28th position while Daniella was less than three-quarters of a second away from the overall fastest time.
Saturday's action began with qualifying and similarly to Brands Hatch earlier in the season, the drivers were divided into two groups due to the short configuration of the Silverstone National circuit. Sutton drove in the second group with the qualifying duration reduced to 15 minutes for each respective group.
Sutton was immediately on the pace and challenging for top-10 positions within her group from the first flying laps. Her speed through the middle sector was especially competitive as the Chris Dittmann Racing driver set a quickest time of a 55.442 which placed her 14th in her group. Due to track limits infringements, Sutton lost her fastest lap of a 55.112 which would have seen Daniella achieve a season's best qualifying result to further underline her improvements.
Race one at Silverstone took place on Saturday afternoon and the grid positions were based upon the second fastest times set in qualifying. With several drivers also receiving grid penalties ahead, Sutton lined up from 24th position. As the lights went out, Daniella made a superb start and immediately moved forward while a good run through Becketts saw the Chris Dittmann Racing driver gain momentum down the Wellington Straight.
After avoiding an incident at Luffield, Sutton completed an excellent opening lap in 19th position. On lap two, Ethan Lennon was spun at Becketts and with his Rodin Motorsport machine out of the race, Sutton was up to 18th. The safety car was then deployed to retrieve the stricken cars of Lennon and Adam Al Azhari who had came together with Jaber Alsabah at Luffield.
The race restart on lap seven with green flag conditions remained for only one lap. While fighting for the lead, Lewis Wherrell spun into the gravel at Copse with his car now requiring recovery. Sutton was up to 17th following Wherrell's retirement as she continued to enjoy one of her most competitive races of the season.
After a lengthy recovery, the race resumed on lap 13 and Sutton took the green flag just a tenth of a second behind Jackson Wolny. Sutton continued to apply pressure to Wolny and she drew level with the American racer as the drivers began lap 14. Completing the pass into Copse, Sutton was now into 16th position and she immediately built a gap to those behind.
In the closing stages of the race, Sutton's pace continued to improve and this eased any pressure behind. Just running out of time to climb into the top-15, Sutton took the chequered flag in 16th position to secure a career best result in the British F4 Championship with a confident and composed drive which saw the Chris Dittmann Racing driver move forward from 24th on the grid.
Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning and provided Sutton with an opportunity to score championship points via her progression. The Chris Dittmann Racing driver lined up from 27th position courtesy of her qualifying results with both groups combined.
It was a clean start throughout the field with little contact and only one car stalled, the Fortec Motorsports machine of Qarrar Firhand who lined up from the rear of the grid. Sutton completed lap one in 28th position, before drawing level with Ethan Carney as the drivers began lap two. Carney held position through Copse, before Sutton set the overall fastest middle sector of the entire field.
Despite slipping behind Leon Hedfors on lap three, Sutton was now looking to move forward as her pace remained extremely competitive. Passing Sun Anzhe for 28th position on lap four, Sutton immediately caught debutant Archie Owen. Sutton and Owen enjoyed a great battle before the Chris Dittmann Racing driver moved ahead on lap five.
By lap seven, Sutton had gained a further position after Cash Felber spun at Brooklands. Now up to 26th position, Sutton was in a provisional points scoring position due to her progression. The racing remained extremely close throughout the midfield and Sutton's improved racecraft was on show as she held her ground against more experienced drivers.
On lap nine, Sutton pulled off a superb move on teammate Piotr Orzechowski to claim a position inside the top-25. Now with a small gap ahead of her, Sutton ran a series of personal best times despite falling out of slipstream range of those ahead. Despite briefly coming under attack from Orzechowski, Daniella's speed through Becketts in particular ensured that the Polish racer was unable to shape for a move into Brooklands.
In the closing stages of the race, Orzechowski came under attack from Justin Di Lucia and this briefly eased any immediate pressure on Sutton. After setting a new personal best time of a 55.646 on lap 17, Sutton's margin of those battling behind approached one second. A consistent end to the race saw Daniella take the chequered flag in 24th position to complete another excellent drive while the Chris Dittmann Racing driver scored three championship points via her progression from 27th on the grid.
The final race at Silverstone was held on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results from qualifying, Sutton lined up from 26th with the car of Timo Jungling withdrawn. As the lights went out, Chiara Bättig stalled from eighth on the grid and Sutton did a superb job to avoid her Hitech machine while Cameron Nelson collected Bättig. This incident resulted in the race being red flagged with an extensive cleanup required.
When the race resumed, positions were closely contested through Copse and on the run down to Becketts. Sutton was involved in a multi-car incident which also involved Cash Felber, Ethan Carney and Leon Hedfors. Sutton's car received damage and she brought her Chris Dittmann Racing machine back to the pit lane. Following good work from her team, Sutton rejoined the race with a repaired car, albeit one lap in arrears.
Sutton was now looking to gain valuable experience and build upon her excellent speed from the earlier two races. On lap six, Sutton broke the 56 second barrier as she set a fastest time of a 55.967. Running just inside the top-25, Sutton was now chasing both George Proudford Nalder and Justin Di Lucia who had pitted to fit new front wings and were also one lap down.
By lap 10, Sutton had set a new fastest race lap of the weekend as she set a time of a 55.609. Improving by a further tenth on the following lap, Daniella was lapping on par with those racing inside the top-15. In her attempt to gain further experience, Sutton's pace allowed her to catch and pass Sun Anzhe.
After Haani Sadiq pitted in the closing stages with the upper plane of his rear wing missing, Sutton was up to 24th position. Daniella's pace remained extremely strong in the closing stages as she took the chequered flag in 24th position while setting the 17th fastest race lap.
Sutton took another significant step forward at Silverstone by achieving a season's best result of 16th. Throughout the event, Sutton displayed improvements by moving forward including a superb drive in race one from 24th on the grid. After scoring three further championship points in race two, Sutton will now be hoping to finish the season on a high when the 2026 British F4 Championship reaches its conclusion at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 10th/11th October.
