Brands Hatch Masters F1

A weekend off from the Renaults’ this last weekend and turn what started as a disastrous weekend turned into a very successful one.

Friday we went testing prior to the weekend meeting because major changes had been made to the Hesketh 308E (1977) F1 car. Michael had a number of issues which were sorted out before lunch when he had to leave to go to college to take an A level Maths paper.

Sunday morning in the qualifying session for the first race a bolt that holds the front suspension together broke and so Michael ended up in the gravel at Druids. Fortunately the damage was minimal and we managed to get the car back together in the nick of time but this meant he had to start from the pit lane. He managed to fight his way through the 20 strong field to end up in third place with a podium slot.

Monday morning in the Warm Up session Michael really put his head down and put in the fastest lap time at 1.21.77 an average speed of 101.28 mph. This was the fastest time of the weekend.  

In the second race Michael started from third on the grid and took the lead at the first corner Paddock Hill bend. He led from there to the end of the race by which time he had built up a 31.52 second lead.

After the race Michael’s comment was “I’m delighted it has been an ambition that seems to have taken a long time to achieve, I’ve wanted an F1 race win since I first drove the car at Nurburgring in August 2007.”