Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award winner to be revealed on Sunday
A Formula 1 test and £200,000 will go to the 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award winner, who will be revealed on Sunday 6 February.
Autosport Awards
The Autosport Awards are a series of awards presented by motor racing magazine Autosport to drivers that have achieved significant milestones each season. Some of the presentations are selected by the general public via a reader's poll.
The Award, which aims to find and boost rising British single-seater racers, began in 1989. David Coulthard was the inaugural winner and was followed by a host of future stars, including 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button, current F1 drivers George Russell and Lando Norris, triple Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, and 2014 World Endurance champion Anthony Davidson.
This year’s finalists are German and Italian Formula 4 champion Ollie Bearman, FIA F3 racer Jonny Edgar, Euroformula Open runner-up Louis Foster and GB3 title winner Zak O’Sullivan. None have been in the Award before.
All four conducted fitness tests with Athletic Thinking and simulator assessment with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team before two days at Silverstone last October. They drove MotorSport Vision Formula 2, Garage 59-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and BBM Sports Ginetta LMP3 machinery on the Grand Prix circuit.
The winner will be revealed on Sunday night at the Autosport Awards, which returns as a live event at Grosvenor House on Park Lane following the online-only competition of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As well as the money and F1 test with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team, the winner will receive full British Racing Drivers’ Club membership and an Arai helmet.
The 2021 Award judging panel was led by ex-F1 driver and BRDC vice-president Derek Warwick. This year’s guest judge was four-time IndyCar champion and 1992 Award winner Franchitti.
The panel also included successful McLaren and Lola designer Mark Williams, Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade, Aston Martin development driver and 1996 Award winner Darren Turner, GT team boss and 1997 Award winner Andrew Kirkaldy, Formula E race winner and 2008 Award victor Alexander Sims, experienced commentator Ian Titchmarsh and Autosport’s chief editor Kevin Turner.
The judging panel has plenty of data to discuss over the two days
Photo by: Staley/Motorsport Images
Previous Young Driver Award winners
1989 David Coulthard
1990 Gareth Rees
1991 Oliver Gavin
1992 Dario Franchitti
1993 Ralph Firman Jr
1994 Jamie Davies
1995 Jonny Kane
1996 Darren Turner
1997 Andrew Kirkaldy
1998 Jenson Button
Jenson Button exchanges notes with Nissan Primera reference driver David Leslie in 1998
Photo by: Jeff Bloxham / Motorsport Images
1999 Gary Paffett
2000 Anthony Davidson
2001 Steven Kane
2002 Jamie Green
2003 Alex Lloyd
2004 Paul di Resta
2005 Oliver Jarvis
2006 Oliver Turvey
2007 Stefan Wilson
2008 Alexander Sims
Alexander Sims shone aboard the Mercedes DTM car on his way to winning the Award in 2008
Photo by: Motorsport Images
2009 Dean Smith
2010 Lewis Williamson
2011 Oliver Rowland
2012 Jake Dennis
2013 Matt Parry
2014 George Russell
2015 Will Palmer
2016 Lando Norris
2017 Dan Ticktum
2018 Tom Gamble
2019 Johnathan Hoggard
2020 No Award (pandemic)
Lando Norris also shone when he drove a Mercedes DTM car in 2016
Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images
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