Zak O’Sullivan and Luke Browning are {old} rivals. The compatriots have loads of historical past, with tensions first coming to a head within the 2020 British System 4 finale. As COVID lockdowns left circuits with out spectators, O’Sullivan and Browning headed to Manufacturers Hatch tied. By the ultimate race, Browning had a 16-point lead, however his path to sealing the crown was removed from easy.
O’Sullivan took the lead firstly earlier than each went off on oil. O’Sullivan managed to rejoin with out shedding a spot, however Browning spun again to tenth, placing O’Sullivan on the cusp of glory. Then the Nice British climate intervened. Torrential downpours brought about the race to be red-flagged and there wasn’t time to restart. With lower than 75% of the race accomplished, solely half factors had been awarded, turning the benefit again in Browning’s favour. He gained by simply 4 factors, prompting elation from a disbelieving Fortec driver and despair from his Carlin rival.
Perception: The standout moments of the series that launched Norris as it reaches 250 races
Their paths diverged after that fateful day in Kent, with Browning choosing an ADAC F4 marketing campaign in 2021 whereas O’Sullivan took the GB3 crown. Browning then emulated him the next season, as O’Sullivan ran his rookie System 3 marketing campaign with Carlin, ending eleventh with two podiums and 54 factors.
However the pair at the moment are again on the identical grid and their historical past is water below the bridge, with the fierce preventing of {old} forgotten as members of the Williams Driver Academy forging separate paths in F3. O’Sullivan, 18, is now in his second season having moved to Prema as 21-year-old Browning completes his first with Hitech.
Although O’Sullivan sees Browning as an {old} rival “to a level,” he says: “I am certain we’ve put any earlier altercations behind us”.
In dialog with Autosport at Silverstone, Browning concurs: “Not this yr. I feel I used to be forward of him within the championship till the final spherical, however equally, he’s in his second yr with a group that has been very profitable, so I count on him to do effectively this yr. I don’t doubt how good a driver he’s so I count on him to do effectively.
“We’ll see on the finish of the yr. However in fact, I need to beat everybody on the finish of the day and he is one of many names, that is advantageous.”
Browning beat O’Sullivan to the 2020 System 4 title after drama on the ultimate spherical, however each play down their rivalry
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Heading into this weekend’s seventh spherical of the championship in Hungary, O’Sullivan sits seventh within the standings, simply three factors behind third place. He has three wins to his identify, coming within the Melbourne and Barcelona dash races and the Spielberg characteristic. However with two non-scoring rounds thus far in Bahrain and Silverstone, he admits his begin to the season is “not what [he] had wished”, explaining that he has needed to “iron out” some points which he and the group are engaged on.
“There’s just a few issues popped up in my driving that maybe I did not anticipate with adaption, however we’ve been engaged on it behind the scenes fairly laborious attempting to work out, attempting to take a look at the larger image and perceive what is going on on,” he tells Autosport at Silverstone. “Hopefully we get there.”
He provides: “I feel it is fairly clear qualifying hasn’t been that nice this yr, we’ve been beginning out of place in fairly just a few rounds with the tempo we’ve got within the races. So it is nearly understanding that basically and ensuring we will restrict any injury probably and likewise capitalise in qualifying.”
“You noticed final yr, the way in which it went ultimately with individuals who had been nowhere at this level coming to the highest on the finish. Clearly characteristic race factors are everybody’s focus” Zak O’Sullivan
O’Sullivan agrees that being with a historically stronger outfit like Prema can provide him a confidence increase, however is attempting to not look too laborious on the standings given how shortly they’ll fluctuate throughout the season with large factors hauls obtainable at each spherical.
“I feel we will go into each weekend realizing we’ve got the tempo to a minimum of be within the prime two rows in qualifying and within the race as effectively, we have at all times appeared to have good tempo,” he says. “So it does make your life barely simpler, particularly within the races. We’re in a position to at all times make progress, which is good to see, so I feel it does provide you with confidence.
“F3 is a type of issues. The characteristic race is so virtually overpowered in what number of factors you may rating. One good characteristic race consequence, particularly a win clearly, propels you up the standings.
“I am certain everybody may have their ups and downs all year long. You noticed final yr, the way in which it went ultimately with individuals who had been nowhere at this level coming to the highest on the finish. So yeah, it’s a type of championships. Clearly characteristic race factors are everybody’s focus, as is mine.”
O’Sullivan has additionally needed to regulate to extra of a management function this season, with team-mates Paul Aron and Dino Beganovic each F3 rookies, although they’ve been with Prema for 2 and three years respectively. He says it has “been a little bit of a studying curve for me leaping in” to the Italian squad however provides: “They’re each on the tempo, so by way of dynamic between suggestions and main the group, it is nothing actually too completely different”.
Second-year F3 racer O’Sullivan has gained 3 times thus far in 2023, together with a characteristic success in Austria
Picture by: Williams
In the meantime, F3 rookie Browning has skilled “a number of ups and downs” thus far with a greatest results of second to O’Sullivan within the Barcelona dash. He blames most of his struggles on a scarcity of consistency in qualifying, together with having been blocked on flying laps a number of instances and making “rookie errors”. However he recognises that the Hitech-run automotive has been “so quick,” and factors to charging from sixteenth to fifth in Bahrain as proof of his tempo.
One other battle he has skilled is his restricted expertise of many circuits on the calendar, having moved into F3 from a British championship reasonably than a European F4 collection or System Regional European Championship like lots of his contemporaries.
“It got here collectively fairly late for me, I am fairly open about that, so no testing coming into the beginning of the season,” he tells Autosport. “I’ve by no means been to among the circuits – I’ve by no means pushed at Imola, I’ve by no means pushed at Barcelona.
“There’s plenty of these European circuits that I’d by no means had the chance to drive round having been based mostly within the UK. Going up towards drivers who’ve finished two years in FRECA and two years in F4 on these circuits, it’s a process to catch up, in fact. However equally, Hitech are doing an ideal job of getting me as effectively ready as attainable, I feel that is proven in our tempo.
“However I do suppose we have been extremely unfortunate this yr. Spielberg, we had some points. We obtained slightly bit late for qualifying after which having one among my solely laps blocked after which hitting security mode on my different lap, it is simply that form of factor in qualifying. After which yeah, getting hit twice in race one and race two, it is robust.
“Equally, I am not upset with the place I’m. I would prefer to clearly push ahead for the remainder of the season. I feel we’ve got the tempo to finish within the prime three on the finish of the yr, however this takes consistency, and I do not doubt how a lot laborious work it may take. I feel the principle factor is simply studying these classes.”
That coming collectively “fairly late” which Browning mentions drastically underplays simply how late his seat being introduced actually was. He “didn’t know the place I used to be gonna be” within the early months of 2023 and it wasn’t till 1 March that his Hitech drive was revealed, two weeks after pre-season testing and simply two days earlier than the Bahrain season-opener.
Browning credit his means to safe that seat to the British Racing Drivers’ Membership, naming BRDC SuperStars director Andy Meyrick and former BRDC president Derek Warwick as two of those that helped him essentially the most, saying they “actually made an enormous distinction to my profession”. He additionally says he’s “very grateful” for the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Younger Driver of the Yr Award, which Browning gained final yr after O’Sullivan got here out on prime in 2021.
Browning has been studying on the fly after his late deal meant he missed all of testing
Picture by: System Motorsport Ltd
“To be trustworthy, I feel that fairly probably modified my life,” says Browning. “Personally, I am very grateful to everybody round me and the groups which have helped me get thus far. There’s lots of people that the names fly by, however they’re all a part of the development of me, thus far.
“I feel motorsport is all about connections and who . I immediately obtained telephone calls from F1 groups, and that’s what adjustments it for you. This chance is barely obtainable if somebody makes a name they usually vouch for you, and I feel that’s finally what Derek and some different individuals and some of the opposite judges did, even Ollie [Oakes], the [Hitech] group proprietor. That is what I feel ended up getting me on the driving force programmes and what gave me a sensible alternative of attending to System 1.
“It’s confirmed again from [David] Coulthard and the inaugural award the way it adjustments your life. Have a look at [George] Russell – he was doing BRDC F4 with Lanan Racing after which was immediately picked up by Mercedes. That is purely right down to British motorsport and the way they assist younger drivers and I’m eternally grateful.”
“It’d be very nice to go and hit it laborious subsequent yr. However equally, we’re full-focus on this yr, and it nonetheless may flip round to some extent that we go effectively, ‘we have finished a adequate job this yr’” Luke Browning
Although their current racing careers look barely completely different, each are aiming to comply with within the footsteps of fellow AMABA winners Lando Norris and George Russell, who had been snapped up by McLaren and Mercedes’ younger driver programmes at a younger age and had been supported all the way in which to F1. O’Sullivan signed as much as the Williams academy in early 2022, with Browning becoming a member of him in April this yr, alongside F3 contemporaries Oliver Gray (Carlin) and MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto. Three-time W Collection champion Jamie Chadwick, additionally a two-time AMABA finalist, can be on the programme.
Come the tip of the yr, each Browning and O’Sullivan may have examined fashionable F1 equipment, too, as their prizes for successful the award. O’Sullivan accomplished his take a look at in Aston Martin’s AMR21 in October and had a “nice expertise,” whereas Browning’s will come later this yr within the AMR22 – one thing he’s “counting down the times” to, including that it’s going to be “surreal”.
Wanting forward, Browning is aiming for a top-five end this season, however is uncertain of his plans past that.
“We’ll see how the tip of the season goes,” he says. “I feel the objective is to be within the prime 5, and , if I find yourself within the prime three, does it make sense to do one other yr? Presumably not.
“It relies upon the way you end, however I do not low cost that if I do get the chance to hop in an F1 automotive at ’26 that I do not need to have raced solely twice at a monitor that individuals have raced 5 – 6 instances at.
Each Williams juniors are eyeing a robust end to the marketing campaign that will cause them to a transfer into F2
Picture by: Williams
“The preparation and testing and all the pieces, it’d be very nice to go and hit it laborious subsequent yr. However equally, we’re full-focus on this yr, and it nonetheless may flip round to some extent that we go effectively, ‘we have finished a adequate job this yr’.”
O’Sullivan, in the meantime, hopes to graduate to F2, however provides it’s a case of “see what occurs, basically”.
Wherever they find yourself, whether or not that’s F1 or elsewhere, the 2 proficient kids are certain to have an effect on the way forward for British motorsport for years to return.
Browning joined O’Sullivan on the rostrum in Barcelona the place they completed 1-2 within the dash race
Picture by: Williams