Frederick wins; Kush Maini keeps himself at a striking distance

The 2020 BRDC British F3 Championship race goes down to the final two contests of the season on Sunday, with Carlin’s Kaylen Frederick and Hitech GP’s Kush Maini set to battle it out to become the latest winner of one of motorsport’s most prestigious titles. 

We’ll update this story throughout Sunday to keep you informed on all the championship permutations.

State of play before Sunday

Frederick holds a 24 point lead at the top of the standings heading into the final two races, and simply needs to outscore Maini by 11 points in the reverse grid race two on Sunday morning to become champion one race early. 

Frederick starts race two from 17th on the grid, while Maini will line-up directly in front of him in 15th. That actually means that Frederick can score more points in the race, owing to BRDC British F3’s race two points system, which awards points for places gained compared to starting positions. Frederick can score 36 points in race two and 71 overall on Sunday, while Maini can only score 34 in race two, and 69 in total across the day.

Maini must still be within 34 points of Frederick after race two to be in with a chance of winning the title. If he is 35 points or more behind, Frederick wins the title in race two as the American has eight wins compared to Maini’s three victories across the season, with 35 points available in the final race of the year (race three).

Here’s how Frederick can win the title in race two, which is due to start at 09.20 on Sunday morning:

• If Frederick wins, he earns 36 points and Maini will need to finish third to be within 35 points of the leader going into the final round. If Maini is fourth or lower with a Frederick win, the American is champion
• If Frederick finishes second, Maini needs to finish fourth or higher
• If Frederick finishes third, Maini needs to finish sixth or higher
• If Frederick finishes fourth, Maini needs to finish seventh or higher
• If Frederick finishes fifth, Maini needs to finish ninth or higher
• If Frederick finishes sixth, Maini needs to finish 10th or higher
• If Frederick finishes seventh, Maini needs to finish 11th or higher
• If Frederick finishes eighth, Maini needs to finish 12th or higher
• If Frederick finishes ninth, Maini needs to finish 13th or higher
• If Frederick finishes 10th, Maini needs to finish 14th or higher
• If Frederick finishes 11th, Maini needs to finish 15th or higher
• If Frederick finished 12th or lower, the championship fight goes to the last race

Earlier report

Silverstone, 7 Nov 2020: Carlin’s Kaylen Frederick enjoyed a near-perfect day at Silverstone today (Saturday) after claiming a double pole position and then victory in race one to move 24 points clear in the championship battle. 

The title fight will go down to the wire though after Hitech GP’s Kush Maini finished third. The duo is now the only drivers still able to win the championship and will battle it out in the final two races of the year tomorrow to become the first driver from their respective countries to become a British F3 champion. 

Qualifying
Frederick secured his sixth and seventh qualifying pole positions of the season earlier this morning, and in doing so secured the £1,000 Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup end of the year prize for the drivers with the most pole positions throughout the season.

In a tight session, Frederick was just 0.041s quicker than title rival Maini, with the pair locking out the front row not just for race one, but also for the final contest of the year on Sunday too, setting up a battle royale for championship honours, with the grid for that race decided by each driver’s second-fastest qualifying times.

Roberto Faria was third quickest for both grids, his best British F3 result so far, with Ayrton Simmons powering JHR Developments up to the second row.

Race one  
Frederick converted pole into the lead on the run down to Copse on lap one, moving across the track on the approach to the first turn to fend off Maini. That allowed Simmons to blast around the outside of the Indian driver to move into second place with Maini having to settle for third.

Frederick pulled away at around a second a lap but saw his lead wiped out on lap six when the safety car was deployed following a collision between Ulysse De Pauw and Reece Ushijima. De Pauw had been running in fourth place and set to remain in championship contention going into tomorrow, but the collision forced him out of the race and the title fight.

The safety car pitted at the end of lap eight, with Frederick pulling away once more to claim his eighth win of the season, with Simmons and Maini completing the podium. Frederick now holds a 24 point lead in the championship standings, with a maximum of 69 points available for Maini tomorrow.

Louis Foster (Double R) and Nazim Azman (Carlin) also entered the event in championship contention, but fifth and 11th place finishes respectively weren’t enough to keep either in the title battle.

Race one winner Frederick said: “It was pretty good, I didn’t have the best start but I defended well and then put in some really quick times afterwards. I don’t know how big the gap was before the safety car but we had a solid margin.

“I was trying to take care of the tyres and making sure they were there at the end so we could keep putting in the quick times. I then got a good safety car restart and then just put in one more quick lap at the end and that was pretty much it. So I’m really pleased.”

BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone qualifying top-six (race one grid)
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin 1m54.354s
2. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +0.041s
3. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.127s
4. Ayrton Simmons, JHR Developments, +0.226s
5. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +0.410s
6. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +0.502s

Click here for full result.

BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone GP race one top-six:
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 10 laps
2. Ayrton Simmons, JHR Developments, +2.608s
3. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +3.834s
4. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +4.857s
5. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +6.127s
6. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +6.260s

Click here for full result.

BRDC British F3 Championship, top-six standings after race 22 of 24:
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 455pts
2. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, 431pts
3. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, 378pts
4. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, 372pts
5. Nazim Azman, Carlin, 341pts
6. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, 298pts

Click here for full standings

For more championship information visit www.britishf3.com.  

-Ends-