Williams Academy driver Luke Browning has exclusively told Motorsport Week that he hopes to “nail” the Formula 2 championship ahead of this weekend’s penultimate round in Qatar.
The British youngster has shown his talent on a number of occasions this season, and has put himself in a position to still challenge for the title with the season close to its climax.
Everyone enjoys a good underdog story and Browning’s path into racing is no exception. From his humble beginnings breaking into motorsports to earning a spot with the Williams Driver Academy programme, his racing journey proves that hard work, resilience and talent pays off.
In addition, Browning has not only built his racing career based off of pure merit, but he has also caught the attention of F1 drivers as well.
Browning opened up exclusively to Motorsport Week about his journey into racing, how Williams has played a huge role in helping him develop as a driver and how he has his sights on a F1 seat in the near future.
In the modern racing world, where money and nepotism often determine the success of young drivers’ motorsports careers, Browning reveals how difficult his journey has been coming from a “normal family” and how he has had to make the most out of every opportunity presented to
him.
“I don’t actually know how much I’ve told to be honest, or how it comes through, but yeah, the way to put it is from a normal family, and motorsport is quite difficult to get into for normal family, just especially if you want to make it to the top, he said. So we’re very lucky to be supported by the people around me and make the most of the opportunities I’ve had to get to where I am.”
Not only has Browning made the most of the opportunities given to him, but he has also managed to land a spot with the Williams F1 team as one of their Academy drivers, which has
proven to be a priceless role in itself especially for his dreams of landing a F1 seat.
“I think a lot of my peers have had slightly better opportunities, maybe growing up, but maybe not made the most of them,” he said. “And at this point in time, I’ve managed to gain the trust in the backing of Williams, and now I’ve got best opportunity of all. So I’ve been at no deficit over the past couple years, and that’s why I think the learning is just growing and growing.”
Browning sees the humble background as an advantage
Not having a famous name is an advantage when you look at drivers in similar age groups as Browning such, as Mick Schumacher, Enzo Fittipaldi and Jack Doohan, who all have famous family names to live up to. The young Brit from Cheshire, therefore, seems to have the odds stacked against him. But Browning doesn’t see it that way at all and in fact he believes there’s less pressure when building your name from scratch rather than carrying on a legacy of a famous last name.
When asked directly about feeling the need to prove himself more without having a famous last name to fall back on, Browning believe that making his own name in motorsports on his own is an advantage instead.
“No, I think, honestly, it’s probably an advantage,” he said. “I think I’ve actually see it the other way around. So if a lot of guys have big names, but you know, I feel the pressure of trying to live up to what their father’s done or their mum’s done. And for me, yes, it’s just not the case. I think, you know, I’ve got a really strong family name behind me, and then just love to carry on the legacy of doing, doing good things. My dad’s done great things outside of motorsport, and I think, yeah, I’d love to do some great things inside, too.”
Unconventional success in early formula series, Browning’s racing career has been anything but conventional and straightforward. In fact, even one of the Brit’s most notable achievements – his British F4 championship win – was no exception.
“So that was funny,” he revealed. “Yeah, this was probably in the peak of just scraping for everything that we could. We came out of Janetta Junior’s having lost the championship in the steward’s office, basically. So I won the championship on the road, and then went into the first year of Formula 4 with the same team. They were very nice. The back of there took me into into Formula 4.
“This team was a brand-new team to Formula 4. So the likes of Carlin, Fortec, these huge teams, I was with a team called Richardson Racing, which are no longer around, but were new to the paddock. Effectively, I thought I’ve got no chance of winning the championship, and I just thought I’d take it as a bit of a learning gear. But the first two races, we won Brand Hatch in the wet, so I think that was quite a cool initiation to single seaters winning the first two races.”
And while winning in the rain, can be tricky for some drivers, Browning felt right at home and in his comfort zone under the wet track conditions.
“Yeah, I think being British, we get thrown in all of the bad conditions all the time. So yeah, you get very, very used to it. We’re quite fortunate like that to almost have the bad weather
sometimes. Because, yeah, growing up, we’re always driving in the wet. And yeah, it paid off when I when I needed it to. So it was my time to shine first race in Formula 4. And it was sort
of my first nail in the table, effectively, to try and climb up.”
Although Browning considers his British F4 championship win a defining moment in his racing career, he is most proud of the cumulative wins he has had, building up to that pivotal moment in his racing career.
“So, yeah, in terms of your career, that moment for you that you look back on and you’re like, ‘that was, it was it was a big moment’,” he admitted. “But I think we’ve had a lot of achievements. I think that trumps that going forward, you know? We won Macau. So Macau is obviously huge. You look back, who’s won that, like Senna, yeah, incredible names have come through that. And then both, yeah, British F4, British F3 three back-to-back in the Autosport awards, kind of like, as a British driver, sort of completed the
British trio, if that makes sense.”
And while Browning enjoys reflecting on his career highs, he remains focused on the present task at hand, wining the F2 championship that will hopefully bring him closer to securing a F1
seat one day. “But now it’s the time to take the step abroad and try and nail this Formula 2 championship,” he said.
How the similarities between F2 and F1 helps Browning in Williams development
As the F2 series heads to Qatar for the penultimate race of the season, Browning currently sits third in the championship. And one thing the Williams Academy driver appreciates about the feeder series is how similar F2 and F1 are, and just how important his role with Williams is for his overall driver development.
“Yes, Formula 2. Obviously we follow all the same tracks. So we follow the Formula 1 around,” he said. “And being part of the driver Academy here [at] Williams, I get to see the ins and outs of what the Formula 1 team does on the race weekend, which is cool. Not only that, but then back at the factory, it very it correlates quite a lot from Formula 2 and
Formula 2. So not only the tyres, we share the same tyres. Although they’re slightly different compounds, they behave in a similar way.
“So there’s a lot to be learned in Formula 2, and it’s a super hard championship. So often, if a driver succeeds, they get the good opportunity.”
And perhaps the most valuable part of being a F2 driver attached to a driver academy like the Williams one is the opportunity to participate in FP1 sessions during a F1 race weekend.
“Yeah, it’s the opportunity to show what you can do,” he said. So often in FP1, here’s two ways you can go. You’ll sit and do the error runs for the team, and you’ll and it’s cool to just be in a Formula 1 session. But equally, it’s a tick box exercise for the team, or you get the opportunity to show what you can do.”
In part two of our exclusive with Luke Browning, the F2 talent opens up on his relationship with Williams Team Principal James Vowles, his heroes and what the future holds for him.
READ MORE – Exclusive: Nikola Tsolov on F2 and the pressures of being a Red Bull junior
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