Ella Lloyd secures top-10 finish on British F4 return, Alba Larsen gains valuable experience on series debut at Donington Park
- LIAM REDFORD
- Apr 29
- 7 min read
F1 Academy winner Ella Lloyd made her return to the British F4 Championship by securing a top-10 finish at Donington Park, while Alba Larsen enjoyed a positive debut in the series finishing twice inside the top-5 of the rookie classification.
Ella Lloyd returned to the Wera Tools British F4 Championship by securing a top-10 finish at Donington Park. After qualifying in 15th position, a superb drive in race one saw Lloyd finish in tenth position. Contact in races two and three limited her progress, however the F1 Academy race winner gained valuable experience for Rodin Motorsport.
Alba Larsen enjoyed a positive debut in the series as the Chris Dittmann Racing driver finished all three races and achieved a best result of 14th. Larsen twice finished inside the top-5 of the rookie classification, while finishing races two and three on the podium in the Challenge Cup classification.
Following excellent starts to their rookie seasons in the F1 Academy Series, Lloyd and Larsen joined the grid for the opening round of the Wera Tools British F4 Championship. After the first three rounds in the all-female single seater series, Lloyd sits sixth in the championship following an excellent victory at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Larsen, meanwhile, is fifth in the standings after a superb start to her first full season in formula cars with the Danish driver finishing every race inside the top-7.
With Lloyd and Larsen prioritising their F1 Academy commitments, this means they can only compete in a partial schedule in the Wera Tools British F4 Championship in 2025. However, the series recognised this during the off-season and a result, the British F4 Challenge Cup was created. Eligible drivers select a maximum of seven rounds to enter and a prize of £25,000, to be put towards 2026 entry fees, will be awarded to the driver who is highest in the separate Challenge Cup classification.
Lloyd returned to the Wera Tools British F4 Championship after a promising rookie campaign for JHR Developments. The young Welsh driver ended the campaign 11th in the standings and stood on the podium four times. She was now targeting her first victory in the series after switching to Rodin Motorsport while now being a member of the McLaren Driver Development Programme.
Larsen was making her debut in the Wera Tools British F4 Championship and was aiming to learn from experienced squad Chris Dittmann Racing. Competing at new circuits throughout the season would give Alba a chance to develop her skills while racing against some of the most promising teenager drivers from across the world.
Donington Park was a new track for Alba, while Lloyd secured a podium finish on the Grand Prix circuit last August. Both drivers benefited from two free practice sessions on Thursday ahead of the competitive action getting underway on Saturday morning.
For Larsen, her main priority was to improve throughout the day while continuing to learn the circuit. The Danish driver improved upon her session one time by over a second in free practice two and this saw her end the day in 21st position overall, fourth among the Challenge Cup drivers and seventh among the rookies, with a quickest time of a 1:06.145.
Lloyd completed 49 laps across the day and improved by four tenths of a second between the two sessions. At the end of Thursday’s running, Ella was 11th fastest and less than half a second off the quickest time of the day set by Swedish driver August Raber.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and was held over an extended duration of 25-minutes for the 2025 season. This enabled drivers to pit mid-way through the session and fit a second set of tyres if desired. At the halfway point of qualifying, Lloyd was sitting in 12th position, while Larsen was holding a position just inside the top-20.
In the final 10-minutes of the session, all drivers significantly improved their times as they extracted peak performance from the tyre, while the track temperature increased. Lloyd just missed out on securing reverse grid pole position with her quickest time of a 1:05.563 placing her 15th. Larsen improved by almost one tenth of a second from Thursday and her lap of a 1:06.079 saw the Danish driver qualify in 20th position.
For the opening race of the weekend, the grid positions were based on the second fastest times set from the morning’s qualifying session. Therefore, Lloyd lined up from 14th position and Larsen from 20th on her debut in the Wera Tools British F4 Championship. Fast starts were a trademark of Lloyd’s rookie season and again she made an excellent launch to gain five positions on the opening lap to move into ninth position.
Larsen made a clean start and she gained four positions as she capitalised on some close racing on the first lap. As a number of more experienced drivers recovered from their first lap incidents, Alba lost out and by the end of lap three, the Chris Dittmann Racing driver was down to 18th position. Nonetheless, Larsen was building a sizeable gap behind her and this allowed the Danish driver to focus forward.
Lloyd was immediately applying pressure to Rowan Campbell-Pilling in an attempt to claim eighth position. Her challenge was halted on lap five when the safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken car of Xavier Avramides.
When the race resumed, Larsen enjoyed a close battle with Joel Bergstrom and after receiving damage, she was shuffled back to 19th position. Lloyd was up to eighth position after Henry Joslyn was involved in an incident with the safety car quickly redeployed. This was fortunate for Larsen who could pit to repair the damage under the safety car while remaining on the lead lap in 19th position.
The race resumed on lap 12 and Lloyd was under pressure from Hungarian racer Martin Molnar. On lap 13, Molnar moved ahead with Adam Al-Azhari also overtaking the Welsh driver on the following lap. Lloyd remained inside the top-10 and took the chequered flag in tenth position, second among the Challenge Cup drivers. A busy final lap in the midfield saw Larsen do extremely well to take advantage of incidents around her and gain four positions to finish in 15th position, while finishing fifth among the Challenge Cup racers and fourth within the rookie classification.
The second race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning and featured a partial reverse grid for the top-12 qualifiers. With the remainder of the grid formed by the qualifying results from Saturday, Lloyd started from 15th with Larsen in 20th position. On the first lap, Lloyd was involved in an incident at Coppice where she was spun from behind while also receiving damage to her front wing. As a result, she pitted her Rodin Motorsport machine and the team successfully made repairs while Lloyd remained on the lead lap.
This opening lap incident was beneficial for Larsen who displayed excellent racecraft to gain six positions with the Danish driver moving into 14th position. Following an off for Fionn McLaughlin, Larsen was into 13th position on lap two and she held this spot as the safety car was deployed on lap three. This was a good break for Lloyd who was able to catch the rear of the field with her repaired car in 19th position.
The race resumed on lap six and Lloyd was directly behind Henry Mercier as she looked for a way through. After one lap of sustained pressure, the Rodin Motorsport driver overtook Mercier and claimed 18th position. Larsen was defending stoutly from the drivers behind and after holding her position smarty, she moved into 12th as Ethan Jeff-Hall ran wide.
A recovering McLaughlin then overtook Larsen on lap 10, with Xavier Avramides also following the Irish driver through. Jeff-Hall then overtook Larsen to drop the Chris Dittmann Racing driver to 15th position. Mercier was also fighting back in his battle with Lloyd and the American racer moved into 18th position on lap 12.
As the race reached the closing stages, Larsen came under pressure from South African driver Cole Hewetson. The Xcel Motorsport driver moved ahead on lap 14, before Lloyd was involved in a close battle with Charlie Edge. Edge then made contact with the left-rear of Lloyd’s Rodin Motorsport machine and this caused damage to her car. Lloyd was forced to stop at the side of the track to retire from the race, with her stricken car causing the red to be red flagged.
As a result of the premature stoppage, the results were counted back one lap which meant Larsen was promoted to 15th. Alba’s position was improved further following a track limits penalty assessed to Jeff-Hall and therefore she finished race two of the weekend in 14th position, third within the Challenge Cup and fourth among the rookie drivers.
For the final race of the weekend, the grid positions were formed by the original qualifying positions with Lloyd in 15th and Larsen starting from 20th position. Lloyd made a good start and gained one spot on the opening lap, while Larsen retained her position inside the top-20. The Rodin Motorsport driver was defending smartly from Adam Al Azhari in the early stages as her teammate looked for a way through.
After resisting Al Azhari’s early challenge, Lloyd pulled out a small gap and on lap six, Harri Reynolds went off the road at Redgate. This promoted Lloyd to 13th and Larsen to 19th with the safety car deployed just as the JHR Developments machine returned to the circuit. Therefore, the neutralisation was brief and Lloyd was now focused on attacking her former teammate Joel Bergstrom.
On lap nine, a brilliant move from Lloyd saw her cut back on the exit of Redgate corner and move ahead into 12th position. Bergstrom was determined to fight back and Lloyd defended well from the Swedish driver. On lap 11, Al Azhari spun and Larsen therefore moved into 18th position as she was now also defending from teammate Charlie Edge. Edge found a way through on the following lap, however Larsen was now one of only a few drivers without a track limits penalty.
Lloyd had now received a five second penalty of her own as she fought hard to hold off Bergstrom. Larsen’s pace was improving and consecutive personal best times on laps 14 and 15 saw her keep Edge in her sights. As the race reached its conclusion, Lloyd was spun by Bergstrom at Redgate with both drivers ending in the gravel. It was an unfortunate end to the weekend for the Rodin Motorsport driver who continued to fight for every position.
This incident promoted Larsen to 17th and the race was subsequently red flagged due to the cleanup required. Larsen was classified in 16th after Cole Hewetson received a track limits penalty with Alba classified third among the Challenge Cup racers and sixth among the rookies.
It was a productive weekend of racing for Lloyd and Larsen who developed their racecraft at Donington Park. Although Lloyd did not achieve the results she desired, it was a good weekend of development for the Rodin Motorsport driver. Larsen competed well against her fellow rookie drivers while learning a new circuit and should be encouraged her progress. Both Lloyd and Larsen will now be looking ahead to the next round of the F1 Academy series which takes place at Miami in less than one week.
