Last weekend we were excited to have been invited to the Donington Park Circuit to watch Rowan Campbell-Pilling compete in Round 8 of the British F4 Championships. We have been following Campbell-Pilling’s journey since November last year when he was first announced to be joining the ROKiT British F4 grid for the 2024 season and Sheffield Magazine attended the first round of the championships at Donington Park back in April.
This weekend featured the latest round of races in what is his rookie year and since we last saw the Sheffield-born driver he has continued to progress with an ever-growing trophy collection. At this event he took another impressive haul of silverware home with four podium finishes.
The first session of the weekend was qualifying and the rain came down in Derbyshire, which was an extra test for the drivers as Campbell-Pilling said: “Qualifying was a really tough session. We had to put the lap in early because we had a fear of red flags.”
His efforts on his flying lap meant that he qualified in P2 and with two red flags during the session, the decision to get the lap in early paid off as he went on to say: “It could have been pole but equally I’m very happy to take another front row start. That’s two qualifying on the bounce now we’ve come P2 so hopefully we’ll get one better at some point.”
At the beginning of race one a mistake on the starting grid, in which he positioned the car in front of the official mark, meant that Campbell-Pilling was handed a 10 second penalty. This was served when the race restarted following a red flag. Speaking on that moment after the race, he admitted: “It was a mistake on my part, I can’t blame it on anything else other than me, it cost us what would have been a really really good result.”
However, Campbell-Pilling displayed his excellent race craft with just 5 minutes left of race one to go. In three laps, he completed nine overtakes going from P16 to P7 and secured a well-deserved P3 podium finish in the Rookie Cup. Despite the impressive comeback, he later reflected: “There’s many positives to take away from it, although I need to fix the negatives and the silly mistake I made.”
We were back on Sunday for the second day of racing and first up was the reverse top 12 race, meaning that Campbell-Pilling was to start in 11th. As Saturday’s events had already proven, the rookie driver has the talent to be able to move through the field with confidence and use his skill to push for a podium position.
The 17-year-old claimed his second ever P1 in the Rookie Cup, which was also his 13th podium finish of the season, ahead of Argenti teammate Yuanpu Cui and Vurtuosi Racing’s Martin Molnar.
In the final race of the weekend came the opportunity to learn from the mistake in race one, as he was again starting from the front row of the grid. Having addressed this with an accurate start, the early stages of the race still saw him slip to P4. In the laps that followed he fought to regain a place, dramatically overtaking Ella Lloyd.
He then demonstrated resilience for the remainder of the race, and when the chequered flag came, he could celebrate another successful result. Campbell-Pilling’s efforts were rewarded with two podium finishes, P3 overall and another P1 in the Rookie Cup.
Following the presentation, we spoke to the Sheffield driving star who summed up his weekend by saying: “We had really good pace and it’s been a really good weekend. There are many positives, also some negatives but negatives are just positives if you learn from them.
“As long as we don’t repeat the mistakes we’ve made then we will be on a constant upwards trajectory, as we have been all season, and I think we will be in a strong place for the remaining rounds.”
With just two races left on the calendar, he said: “Ultimately in these last two weekends, I want to learn as much as possible, gain as much knowledge as possible and put myself in as strong as possible place for next year.”
Away from the on-track action, there was the opportunity to chat with Rowan Campbell-Pilling. We reflected on his first year competing in the British F4 Championships, his goals for the future and his work with the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity.
The last time we spoke to the Sheffield-born driver was on his debut weekend at the start of April and he told us that for him his rookie year was all about learning as much as he could.
Speaking to him four months later, he told us about the lessons he has learned: “I think just developing in general as a driver, you learn so much about how to handle the car, and about the tyre/ tyre compound. You learn so much about the off-track prep, and what to do before a race and you can’t buy experience.
“The only way you’re going to gain experience is by living it and doing it and that’s what I’ve been doing this year and it’s been going well so far.”
In the eight rounds of the championships so far, the Argenti driver has won a collection of trophies reaching the double figures, and he described to us how it feels when he steps onto the podium after a race: “It’s lovely to reap the rewards of your success, being able to show the results for what you do behind the scenes.”
Campbell-Pilling went on to highlight how special the Donington track is for him as he said: “It’s an amazing feeling to see my family and the team down there, and everyone else that is here to support this weekend, especially because it’s the closest track to Sheffield, which is my home.”
Away from the success on track, the Sheffield- born driver also announced on his Instagram that he had become a Children’s Champion for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity.
In the past two years of being an ambassador, he has raised over £20,000 for the incredible cause and when asked what it meant for him to be named a Children’s Champion, he reflected: “It’s basically an excuse to raise them a bit more money, which I’m completely all for.”
“I love what I do for them and with them. They changed my life when I was around six months old, so I want to give back to them so they can change many more lives.”
At the end of our interview, Campbell-Pilling highlighted his love for his home city and described how much the support from back home means to him: “It’s such an honour to be representing my city - my favourite city. It’s where I was born and bred so it’s in my blood quite literally and so the amount of support from Sheffield and South Yorkshire, as a whole, is incredible. I can’t thank everyone who follows and supports enough.”
It was so exciting to be there last weekend to watch Rowan Campbell-Pilling compete against the best young drivers in the country and we want to say a huge thank you to him and his team for inviting us to the track.
There are only two rounds left of the 2024 ROKiT British F4 Championships, as they travel to Silverstone and Brands Hatch in September and October respectively. The Sunday races are shown live on ITV4.
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