Luke Browning: My Ultimate Driver

20 September 2023

One of three rookies at the helm for Hitech Pulse-Eight this season, it’s time to give Luke Browning a new challenge – designing his ultimate racing driver.

The Williams junior assesses several key traits to make an unstoppable force out on track, looking back over recent Formula 1 legends still making their impressions in the sport and who shaped his view of racing growing up.

INTELLIGENCE

“I think Fernando Alonso, mainly because I think his racecraft is very good and the way that he’s able to get his team around him I think is very intelligent. Alonso on that side of stuff can be very smart and I think generally as a racing driver he is well rounded. He wouldn’t stay in the sport for so long if he wasn’t smart, intelligent, knows how to get the right people on his side and race well. Alonso is probably one of the more intelligent drivers and it just comes with experience as well.”

DRIVING IN THE WET/DRY

“I think Jenson Button was always historically very good in the wet, so maybe I’d go for a little bit of his wet driving. I remember him telling a story of his dad going around on slicks in the wet and I think he had the ability for himself. To add that into Alonso’s intelligence would be good.”

QUALIFYING

“Max Verstappen’s ability to go that quickly in Qualifying is clear, so I think the two-time World Champion perfectly fits into that one!”

CORNERING

“Probably Charles Leclerc. I think he sometimes does a lap in Qualifying that everyone looks at on the grid and goes how has that happened? And I think that comes from his ability to be so close to the walls and just completely throw caution to the wind. I think it kicks him in the races often, but I think that ability to get that close to the final limit and the edge is quite impressive.”

TYRE MANAGEMENT

“It’s difficult. I think maybe Kimi Räikkönen and his ability through his experience. Everyone likes Kimi, so yeah why not Kimi! He was cool to have on the grid.”

BRAVERY

“It’s got to be Verstappen, right? I think his ability, even in the early years like 2017 and 2018 with his overtaking - I remember it particularly at Spa, it was pretty incredible and definitely something that I thought the ability to get through cars like that and that aggressiveness is something that I want to have as part of my driving.”

OVERTAKING

“Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had some really good fights back in 2016. I think ultimately them two racing together and the moves that they were trying on each other were incredible, so I’d think either one of the two. I think Hamilton for that would also be very good, you don’t win that many World Championships if you can’t overtake well and do stuff that is unpredictable. The reason why I think he’s been able to stay on top for so long is that he’s able to constantly adapt, improve and catch people off guard, so I think I’d probably pick Hamilton.”

SMOOTH OR AGGRESSIVE

“Aggressive. Smooth works, but smooth isn’t always fast. I think the ability to get on the pace quickly comes from aggressiveness and pace in the wet comes from aggressiveness. To be honest, I’ve always been a particularly aggressive driver, not necessarily in style. I can change my style from being smooth to aggressive depending on what the car needs, but it’s more in terms of racecraft where I’ve always been quite aggressive. Ultimately, I think it’s something that I’ve seen in the past from Ayrton Senna’s classic line ‘if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you’re no longer a racing driver’. It’s that sort of thing that gets instilled into you when you’re younger and I think definitely shows in my driving.”

ANYTHING ELSE?

“I think the ability to just adapt really quickly to a new track is particularly impressive in new cars. I think something I pride myself on is being able to get to a new track that no one knows and be quick. For example, Australia – a new car, new track for everyone and we seemed to be pretty quick. So yes, I think adapting to somewhere that is completely new for everyone is a cool trait to have.”