Daniella Sutton continues her progression with top-20 finish at Brands Hatch

Daniella Sutton displayed improved performance in the second round of the British F4 Championship as she qualified less than half a second away from the front row of the grid, before running inside the top-15 for much of race three on her way to a season’s best result of 20th position. 

Photo credits: JEP

Daniella Sutton displayed improved performance in the second round of the British F4 Championship as she qualified less than half a second away from the front row of the grid, before running inside the top-15 for much of race three on her way to a season’s best result of 20^th position. 

Sutton made her British F4 Championship debut in the opening event of the year at Donington Park where she drove smartly to score seven championship points. The Chris Dittmann Racing driver gained a total of 17 places across the three races as she continued to develop her racecraft in a highly competitive grid of young single seater drivers. 

Although having twice raced at Brands Hatch in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship, competing at the circuit in F4 machinery was set to be a new challenge for Sutton. The event began on Wednesday as the drivers participated in an official test day which provided valuable track time ahead of the race weekend. Sutton completed 173 laps across the day with her fastest time of a 45.877 coming on her final run of the afternoon session. This lap placed Daniella in 30^th position, but just over a second away from the quickest time set by Dries Van Langendonck.

The drivers returned to Brands Hatch on Friday to participate in two further free practice sessions. Sutton did a superb job in getting up to speed quickly and as a result, she improved upon her fastest time from Wednesday by a quarter of a second. In the cooler conditions of the morning session, Daniella’s fastest time of a 45.626 placed her in 28^th position. In the afternoon session, Sutton’s consistency was on display as she six laps within a tenth of a second of her fastest time, while completing the most laps of any driver.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and ran to a revised format at Brands Hatch due to the short nature of the Indy layout. The drivers were split into two groups of 15 to provide fairer conditions with the limited track space available. Sutton was drawn into the second group and she was quickly on the pace in the early stages of the session. Just over halfway through qualifying, Chiara Bättig stopped out on the circuit and the session was red flagged with six minutes left on the clock.

When the session resumed, Sutton was keen improve upon her fastest lap of a 46.099 which placed her in eighth position within the second group. Although not all of her rivals had set a representative time at this stage, Sutton remained on course for significant improvement from the season opener at Donington Park. As the session reached its conclusion, Sutton set a superb time of a 45.775 which placed her in 12^th position within her group while Daniella was the highest-placed of the three female drivers. 

Race one of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the second fastest times set in qualifying and with the two groups now combined, Sutton lined up from 26^th on the grid. Daniella made a clean start and held 26^th position on lap one, before moving up to 25^th at the end of lap two. Following separate incidents involving Joseph Smith and Cash Felber at Druids, the race was then red flagged in order for the stricken cars to be retrieved.

The race resumed for a revised duration of 17 minutes and as the lights went out for a second time, Sutton made a clean start and challenged for positions into Paddock Hill Bend. The Chris Dittmann Racing driver completed lap one of the restarted race in 26^th position, before shaping for a move on teammate Autumn Fisher.

Following a superb pass for position at Druids on lap two, Sutton overtook Fisher to claim a spot inside the top-25 as Daniella continued to show improved confidence. On lap three, an incident ahead involving Henry Mercier and Vegard Klemetsen required Sutton to take avoiding action and as a result, she received damage to her front wing. Sutton was therefore forced to pit for a replacement and as a result she fell off the lead lap. While in the pits, the safety car was deployed to retrieve Mercier’s stricken car and this enabled Sutton to remain just one lap in arrears.

The race resumed on lap nine with Sutton on the tail of teammate Fisher and looking to gain valuable experience racing in the pack. Daniella’s sector times were extremely competitive as she looked to apply pressure to her teammate. Misfortune then struck on lap 12 as Sutton went off the road at Surtees and made contact with the barriers. It was an unfortunate end to the opening race of the weekend where Sutton displayed good promise following a strong qualifying effort.

Photo credits: JEP

Race two at Brands Hatch took place on Sunday afternoon and although all drivers fitted the slick tyres, drops of rain made the racing surface a little damp away from the racing line. The grid positions were based upon the results of qualifying with the top-12 positions reversed and after initially being slated to line up from 24^th position, Sutton was promoted to 23^rd after a grid penalty was assessed to teammate Henry Mercier.

As the lights went out, Sutton made a clean start and did a nice job to avoid damage as a number of incidents unfolded around her. Daniella completed lap one in 29^th position, before moving up to 28^th as the safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken cars of Cole Hewetson and Roman Felber. Under the safety car, Vegard Klemetsen pitted for a new front wing and therefore Sutton was in 27^th as the race restarted on lap nine.

Klemetsen found a way past Daniella as the drivers got back up to racing speed with Sutton’s teammate Autumn Fisher now ahead. Sutton was doing a nice to improve her lap times during the middle portion of the race and after an off-track moment for Haarni Sadiq on lap 13, the JHR Developments machine was now the next driver for position. 

Overtaking was proving difficult on the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit and with few positions changes throughout the field, Sutton’s priority was to gain valuable experience in race conditions. On the penultimate lap of the race, a new personal best time of a 46.724 was comparable to those ahead as her confidence continued to grow. Taking the chequered flag in 28^th position, Sutton completed a clean second race of the weekend while she continued to build up knowledge of the Tatuus T-421 machine.

Race three was held later on Sunday afternoon and the teams faced a dilemma over tyre choice following a rain shower. Although the rain had now stopped, the track was damp and with low ambient temperatures it was difficult to generate temperature in the slick tyres. All of the drivers arrived on the grid with the wet tyres fitted, before almost half of the field pitted at the end of the formation lap to change onto slicks.

Sutton remained on the wet tyres and from her original grid position of 24^th, she made an excellent start and ended lap one in 16^th position. Although Daniella was passed by Alfie Slater on lap two, her speed was competitive against her fellow wet-shod runners before the safety car was deployed on lap three. With Haarni Sadiq’s car requiring recovery, the race was neutralised with Sutton now back into 16^th position.

The race continued at a reduced speed for an extended period after the safety car incorrectly picked up the car of Chiara Bättig who was running in 14^th position. With the track continuing to dry, some drivers opted to pit for slick tyres in the hope of remaining on the lead lap. Sutton remained on the circuit and as a result, she moved inside the top-15 to assume her highest-ever running position in the British F4 Championship.

The race resumed on lap 11 with Sutton in 15^th, however it was a challenge for Daniella to keep the slick tyre runners behind. Nonetheless, Daniella did a superb job to negotiate the faster cars who moved their way through while Sutton remained ahead of teammate Autumn Fisher who also remained on the grooved rubber. 

On lap 14, the race entered a second safety car period with both Leon Hedfors and Lewis Wherrell out of the race. Sutton was in 22^nd position when the race resumed with a little over six minutes of the race remaining as occasional spots of rain continued to fall. Although Sutton lost out to Bättig and Tommy Harfield on the restart after they pitted for slicks, Daniella was continuing to negotiate the tricky conditions well as she remained on course for a career-best result.

On lap 20, Sutton fell behind Fisher with the two Chris Dittmann Racing drivers enjoying a close fight for position. As those on the slick tyres struggled for traction, Sutton capitalised on mistakes ahead and by the next lap she was back into 21^st spot after George Proudford Nalder slid off the road and Jaber Alsabah rejoined just behind after leaving the circuit at Graham Hill bend. 

With four laps remaining, Sutton was up to 19^th after Jackson Wolny and Timo Jungling also encountered difficulties on their slick tyres. Alsabah reclaimed the spot from Sutton on the penultimate tour, before Sutton was engaged in a fantastic battle with slick-shod Wolny on the final lap of the race. Sutton forced her rival to go onto wet parts of the circuit in order to make a move and following a drag race to the line, Daniella held off the American driver by four hundredths of a second to claim her best result of the season in 20^th position.

It was an excellent end to the weekend for Sutton who displayed genuine progress from the opening event of the season. Racing competitively in both wet and dry conditions, Sutton enjoyed close midfield battles which resulted in the Chris Dittmann Racing driver finishing inside the top-20 for the first time this season. Sutton will now be aiming to build upon this result when the British F4 Championship returns at Snetterton on the weekend of 23^rd/24^th May.