Autosport Awards 2015
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That's the last Autosport Live event of 2015. Thank you for your company throughout the season with everything we've covered. We'll be back in Live business on January 14-17 for full coverage of all the events from the Autosport International show. See you then, and happy Christmas and New Year.
Here's the full list of tonight's big winners:
British Club Driver: Will Palmer
National Racing Driver: Gordon Shedden
Gregor Grant Award: Nico Hulkenberg
John Bolster Award: Porsche Motorsport
John Bolster Award: Eddie Jordan
Pioneering & Innovation Award: McLaren Applied Technologies
Autosport Williams Engineer of the Future: Elizabeth Thompson
Rally Car: Volkswagen Polo R WRC
Rally Driver: Sebastien Ogier
British Competition Driver: Lewis Hamilton
International Racing Driver: Lewis Hamilton
Racing Car: Mercedes-Benz F1 W06 Hybrid
Rookie of the Year: Max Verstappen
Gregor Grant Award: Alan Jones
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award: Will Palmer
British Club Driver: Will Palmer
National Racing Driver: Gordon Shedden
Gregor Grant Award: Nico Hulkenberg
John Bolster Award: Porsche Motorsport
John Bolster Award: Eddie Jordan
Pioneering & Innovation Award: McLaren Applied Technologies
Autosport Williams Engineer of the Future: Elizabeth Thompson
Rally Car: Volkswagen Polo R WRC
Rally Driver: Sebastien Ogier
British Competition Driver: Lewis Hamilton
International Racing Driver: Lewis Hamilton
Racing Car: Mercedes-Benz F1 W06 Hybrid
Rookie of the Year: Max Verstappen
Gregor Grant Award: Alan Jones
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award: Will Palmer
Warwick presents Palmer with the £100,000 cheque and the Chris Bristow Trophy.
"This is absolutely massive for my career. I'd like to thank all my family, especially my dad, and HHC Motorsport. They've guided me for the past four years," Palmer continues.
"Looking towards the future, obviously the goal's Formula 1 and this is a massive step to take."
"Looking towards the future, obviously the goal's Formula 1 and this is a massive step to take."
Palmer adds: "I went away after the first day, thought about where I could improve and came back stronger."
Warwick underlines that the standard gets better every year. He says two drivers really stood out on day one, and then "on day two this guy came alive. He was really quick, and then we put new tyres on and he was sensational. He took our breath away to be honest. You have to remember he came from BRDC F4, one of the lower grades, and he impressed so much. It was unanimous. It was almost decided before we did the final interviews."
"It's absolutely unbelievable. I've been coming to the Autosport Awards for three years now and each year seeing the six finalists on stage, I'd been thinking it would be an amazing opportunity to even drive those cars. It's absolutely unbelievable," says Palmer.
Palmer takes to the stage with a disbelieving smile, amid smoke and pyrotechnics.
The evening began with Palmer being named British Club Driver of the Year, now the 18-year-old wins the night's highlight too.
Will Palmer, the BRDC Formula 4 champion.
The 2015 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner is...
There's a McLaren F1 test and £100,000 on offer to the winner, plus a massive profile boost and the chance to join a list of winners that includes David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and Jenson Button.
The six young Brits went head to head in Formula 2, Mercedes DTM and McLaren GT cars, and were also assessed off track in simulator sessions, fitness tests and interviews.
BRDC president and chief award judge Derek Warwick, McLaren COO Jonathan Neale and Autosport publisher Stuart Williamsare on stage to present the award, as the guests watch a video of the final day of the super-intense assessments.
Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and ALPS champion Jack Aitken, FRenault 2.0 frontrunners Ben Barnicoat and Jake Hughes, MSA Formula title contender Ricky Collard, BRDC Formula 4 champion Will Palmer and MRF Challenge champion Toby Sowery are this year's contenders.
And now to the evening's biggest prize, the career-changing McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.
With his reminiscing about "Jean Mary" (shame female and male Jean look the same on paper in this instance) Balestre, Jones has proved the star turn this evening.
Jones adds that modern F1 drivers seem "a bit precious" and that in his day more things were sorted out by rubbing wheels.
Perhaps inevitably, there's some Australia/England sporting banter from Jones now.
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Jones was the first man to win a world championship for the Williams team: "Williams was the best team I've ever driven for and Frank was the best guy I've ever driven for. I know some very famous people have won this award before me, so I feel very honoured."
It's a Gregor Grant Award for 1980 F1 world champion Alan Jones.
And as Webber prepares to present the second Gregor Grant Award of the night, here's a montage celebrating this man...
But first Webber is chatting about his amazing WEC season, admitting he was "getting a little bit old for Formula 1" and was thrilled to get an opportunity like the Porsche LMP1 programme to move into.
World Endurance champion Mark Webber is called up to present the night's second Gregor Grant Award - our lifetime achievement prize.
Just two more awards to go - one more Gregor Grant Award then the 2015 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner is revealed.
Back to Verstappen and his 2016 hopes: "We'll definitely have some more horses next year and we're very happy about that. We couldn't find them [this year]. We tried to look everywhere. We had a great car this year and it's a shame we didn't get the results we wanted. I'll just try to do my best on track and overtake some people."
Brundle is sharing some anecdotes of Michael Schumacher's early confidence at Benetton and saying how much Verstappen reminds him of that.
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Rider asks for more of Brundle's thoughts on Verstappen: "The feel he's got for the car and the brake pedal... you see overtaking moves and think 'I wish I had that on my CV' - and he's just a teenager. There are lots of top teams chasing his autograph on a contract."
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Verstappen on his overtaking prowess: "It's very difficult to explain how you do it. You see the gap and you try to go for it. Some are more risky than others."
Verstappen grins as Rider highlights his overtaking but suggests he's not great at qualifying...
Verstappen also won three awards from the FIA prizegiving on Friday. "I can't complain," he says of his weekend.
"The man who's going to win this award has really lit up the Formula 1 tracks this year and given us so much to talk about - it's Max Verstappen of course," says Brundle as he announces Verstappen as Rookie of the Year.
Back to the rookies: "We've seen some amazing talent, I've got so much faith in the future of Formula 1."
Brundle goes "off piste" briefly to say "I really hope the BBC stays in F1 next year. We push each other along and it's good for F1."
The three F1 rookies - Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr and Felipe Nasr - are up against rookie Le Mans winners Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, and DTM star Tom Blomqvist in this one.
Rookie of the Year time now, with Martin Brundle coming on stage to present it.
By: Geoff Creighton
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