British F4 title would mean everything – McLaughlin

Fionn McLaughlin, a junior driver for Red Bull, says winning the British F4 title at Brands Hatch “would mean everything.”

With three races left in the final round, the 17-year-old from Northern Ireland holds a 61.5% lead.

McLaughlin can win the race’s opening race on Saturday given his size of the lead.

McLaughlin’s first single-seater season saw the completion of the British F4 rookie championship with two rounds left.

“It would mean everything,” he said. Since age seven, I haven’t won a championship, McLaughlin told BBC Sport NI.

You devote your entire life to these things. It would be incredible to win both the British F4 title and the rookie championship.

McLaughlin joined Red Bull Racing’s junior team last year when he won a shootout at Jerez.

He has won five races and won seven more podiums since moving up to the British F4 level.

The Hitech Grand Prix driver needs a 42-point lead at the finish line of Saturday’s race to win the title before Sunday’s final two races, where Jimmy Piszcyk and Martin Molnar are 61 and a half points clear of the leader.

I’m 61.5% ahead in the final round, which is great. I’m appreciative of how things turned out, and I’m grateful for what I did.

“I can wrap it up after race one on Saturday, but I’m not really paying attention to that. I’m just trying to do a good job and enjoy this weekend’s F4 racing because it’s my last weekend off.

The pressure disappears when you have a significant lead. I would feel much more pressure if I was only 10 or 20 points ahead of schedule for the weekend.

It would be great to have won a few more games before the season’s conclusion.

McLaughlin says the season has helped him develop as a driver and that it has “helped me do a good job.”

He has discussed his future plans for Formula 1, but says his main focus will be on the F4 season’s final weekend.

McLaughlin said, “I just want to do the best I can, and that’s what I’ll keep doing.”

A full season of single-seat racing can transform you as a driver, according to the author. “I hope I can improve and keep doing a good job.”