Carrie Schreiner scores points on her return to British F4

Carrie Schreiner made a successful return to the British F4 Championship by scoring points on her return to the series at Silverstone. Driving for Chris Dittman Racing, the current F1 Academy racer battled both wet and dry conditions to make considerable progress during the event.

Photo credits: JEP

Carrie Schreiner made a successful return to the British F4 Championship by scoring points on her return to the series at Silverstone. Driving for Chris Dittman Racing, the current F1 Academy racer battled both wet and dry conditions to make considerable progress during the event.

Achieving a best result of 18th in race two, Schreiner was awarded three points based on her progress during the race where she was able to move up from her grid position of 21st.

Schreiner returned to the British F4 Championship after a break of eight years, with her last appearance coming in 2016 for Double R Racing. It was a successful partial campaign for Carrie who scored three top-10 finishes, including a best result of fourth at Thruxton.

Looking to gain extra single seater experience alongside her full-season commitments in F1 Academy, the Sauber Academy driver signed a deal to compete in two rounds of the British F4 Championship with Chris Dittman Racing. After competing at Silverstone, Schreiner will also race at Zandvoort, a circuit which will host the fourth round of F1 Academy in August.

Although still an F4 specification car, there were subtle differences for Carrie to overcome between her British F4 Championship machine and her Campos Racing F1 Academy car.

Racing on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit was not new to Carrie, however her previous appearance at the track came back in 2017 where she drove for Konrad Motorsport in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe.

With this car having extremely different characteristics to the current Tatuus F4-T421, Schreiner would need to use all her experience to get up to speed among a highly competitive grid of drivers.

The first on-track action of the weekend took place on Friday with a pair of free practice sessions. Both sessions were held in wet conditions which posted an extra challenge for Carrie as she turned her first laps of the event. It was a challenging day as she adapted to conditions, however Schreiner completed a total of 28 laps and edged her way closer to the midfield runners.

Qualifying on Saturday morning was held in tricky conditions, with the majority of the drivers on slick tyres on what was a damp track. However, Schreiner, along with a few of her rivals, decided to fit the wet weather Pirelli rubber in an attempt to set a fast lap time in the early stages of the session.

Carrie’s initial laps saw her challenge for a top-10 position, however as her rivals gained tyre temperature in their slicks, it became more challenging for the Chris Dittman Racing driver to improve. Nonetheless, Carrie was able to improve on her performances from testing to set the 21st fastest time, while being classified inside the top-20 based on her second fastest time.

The first race of the weekend was held in mainly dry conditions, with all drivers fitting the Pirelli slick tyre. With no dry weather running in testing, this would be a steep learning curve for Schriener, but she was determined to give a good account of herself on her British F4 return.

Lining up from 18th on the grid due to issues for drivers ahead, it was an excellent start for Carrie who held her position at the conclusion of lap one. The race was then neutralised following a trip to the gravel for Jack Sherwood and therefore the Rodin Motorsport car needed recovery by the marshals.

On the restart, Carrie was doing well to hold off teammate Bart Harrison, with her Chris Dittman Racing teammate moving ahead on lap four. Rookie Cup driver Yuhao Fu was now challenging Schreiner, however she continued to defend her position well.

Despite Xcel Motorsport driver Zack Scoular moving ahead on lap six, the F1 Academy racer improved her sectors and ensured Fu remained behind. Carrie also negotiated a late-race rain shower, taking the checkered flag in 21st position as Fu moved ahead on the final lap of the race.

Race two at Silverstone took place on Sunday morning with Schreiner lining up from 21st on the grid. It was another positive start for Carrie who moved up to 17th at the conclusion of lap one, negotiating a multi-car incident ahead of her through the Maggots and Becketts complex. As a result, the safety car was deployed to neutralise the field while the marshals worked hard to clear the stricken cars.

As the racing resumed, Carrie was overtaken by a recovering Rowan Campbell-Pilling, with the Rookie Cup driver making his way through the field after first lap damage. Now just two laps remained in the contest, but Schreiner was making good lap time improvements as she continued to build confidence with each passing lap. Finishing race two in 18th position, it was a positive race for Carrie despite limited green flag running as she banked her first points on return to the British F4 Championship.

The final race of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon with Carrie looking to use the knowledge she had gained to push forward in the third race at Silverstone. Fast starts have been a trademark of her F1 Academy campaigns to date and Schreiner once again moved forward on the opening lap, gaining a superb six positions to end the first lap in 15th position. The safety car was then deployed to retrieve two damaged cars, with the race restarting on lap four.

When the green flag was displayed, Carrie initially held her own among the midfield runners and although losing out to Abbi Pulling, she was racing well among more experienced British F4 competitors. On lap five, the Chris Dittman Racing driver was shuffled back to 20th position and then fell to 21st after Nina Gademan made her way through.

Schreiner continued to run some of the best sectors of her entire weekend and this allowed her to remain in contention with her rivals. Following contact between Zack Scoular and Alex Berg on the final lap, Carrie took the checkered flag in 19th position to end her season debut weekend in British F4.

Despite overcome challenging and changeable conditions throughout the weekend, Carrie was able to bank points on her return to British F4. Schreiner will return to the series for the next round at Zandvoort in July, however her next event will be with Campos Racing as she tackles round three of F1 Academy which takes place at Circuit de Barcelona in less than one week’s time.