Jack Hawksworth endured a trying time of things in the 2011 Formula Renault UK Championship curtain-raiser around Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit, but after racing to a gritty podium finish in what he described as being likely his ‘weakest round of the year’, he is bullish about what he can achieve ‘when we put all the pieces together’.
Jack was indisputably the standout performer of the 2010 Formula Renault UK Winter Series last November, belying his total lack of prior car racing experience to jump straight in at the highest level possible in junior single-seaters and stun his adversaries with four pole positions out of six, a brace of rostrums and an excellent third place in the final standings. It was, by common consent, one of the most breathtaking debuts in recent memory.
That was followed, however, by a troubled winter’s testing campaign, disrupted by a variety of car gremlins and a couple of hefty shunts that stymied progress and left the highly-rated young Bradford speed demon on the back foot somewhat heading to Brands Hatch.
“We’d had lots of little problems that were not really anyone’s fault – most of it was just bad luck,” he reflected. “That hindered us quite a bit, as it meant we never really got a good couple of days’ testing in, which prevented us from developing our potential. We arrived at Brands looking to rectify that and hopefully move forwards.”
Acknowledging that the competition would be fierce and tipping the ‘usual culprits’ to be up towards the sharp end, the Mark Burdett Motorsport ace was nonetheless confident about his ability to mix it with the very best.
Unfortunately, recurring electrical niggles that had first surfaced during testing at Rockingham followed the team down to Kent, and Friday practice was persistently interrupted by throttle issues. Feeling unwell for good measure, the difficulties left Jack with no real possibility to refine his car’s set-up, and nervous going into qualifying – sessions that would yield sixth place on the grid for race one, and third for race two.
“We had to spend all of practice sorting the problems out, which meant we never got to dial the car into the circuit,” explained the Cullingworth-based hotshot. “We still got a lot of running in, but instead of focussing on getting everything perfect and improving the performance, we had to analyse the problems and try to fix them. That was tough, and we went into qualifying just hoping we had cured everything.
“The first session was a bit disappointing; we’d wanted to be a little bit further up than sixth, but in the circumstances, it wasn’t too bad. The good thing was that we improved the car a lot between the two sessions, so we were happy with that – we’d got ourselves into the mix. Brands Hatch Indy is a short lap, and the nature of the track means it’s always really tight in terms of lap times – you’ve got to eke every single drop of performance out of the car that you can, because just a tenth of a second really can make all the difference.”
Admitting to enjoying the challenge of Brands Hatch, but less effusive about the Indy Circuit’s nigh-on complete dearth of overtaking opportunities, Jack pointed to the importance of a good grid slot on a weekend when ‘the races were won at the start...if you qualified well you finished well, and if you didn’t, you were nowhere’.
That worked against the 20-year-old in the opening encounter as he found himself stuck in sixth position, but in the second outing, he artfully fended off sustained race-long pressure from Ollie Millroy and Will Stevens, two drivers who between them boast more than five years’ experience in car racing, whilst Jack has barely any. Refusing to allow himself to be intimidated into a mistake, it was a peerless performance and one that yielded a thoroughly well-deserved podium finish and fifth place in the early title chase, a mere three points shy of third.
“Honestly, I didn’t feel any pressure from behind – the only pressure in that race was coming from myself, to try to make the best of a bad situation,” revealed the ultra-successful former international karting star. “I didn’t feel right all weekend – I was just so lethargic. I felt really ill and tired, and I couldn’t concentrate as well as normal.
“I didn’t feel too well on Friday, so I didn’t sleep very well that night – and I think I had a few too many energy drinks on Saturday to combat that, which kept me awake on Saturday night, too! I only had four hours’ sleep, and you’re never going to be on top form after that. I felt drained all day on Sunday and I certainly wasn’t anywhere near my best, so it was just a case of damage limitation, really.
“In the end, I managed to get into a rhythm that I was happy with, and I just drove a consistent race and was able to keep Ollie and Will at bay. It was nip-and-tuck all the way through, but they never got anywhere near my gearbox and in the circumstances, I was happy to get a podium. We obviously want to be P1 all the time, but whilst the championship clearly isn’t won at the first meeting, you can definitely do a lot of damage to your chances if you have two DNFs.
“I had spent so much time on my fitness over the winter and getting in as strong a shape as possible, so for that to be spoiled by something like this was a shame, but to get a podium given the way I was feeling was a good start to the season, and now I hope we can build on that and really push forwards.
“We’ve only had two rounds so far – there are 18 more to go – and consistency will be so important. It’s so close that you’re going to have bad days, but to finish third on a bad day, I’m pretty happy with that – and it’s always nice to come away with a trophy. The team were brilliant, and a podium makes it all so much more worthwhile for everybody involved.
“We knew this would be probably our weakest round of the year in terms of pace, and we’ll be a lot quicker when we go elsewhere, especially with what we found over the weekend – when we put everything together, we should be a lot more competitive for future races.
“We’ve got quite a bit more speed to come, and next time out at Donington Park, I think we will be right up there and putting a lot of pressure on the championship leader. I’m in a very confident mood. It’s not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but if we can finish third after all the problems we had and when nearly everything was wrong, we can do a much better job at Donington when we put all the pieces together. It’ll be a different story there!”
