Sydney teenager Jackson Burton had a strong outing in his debut in the CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship at the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
The quickest rookie in practice and qualifying, Burton started sixth for the opening race of the weekend. He made up two positions off the start and held off defending F4 champion Jayden Ojeda to come home fourth in Race 1, and set the second fastest lap of the race in the process.
The results from race one were reversed to set the grid for race two, which saw the 16 year old take evasive action to avoid an incident on the opening lap. Following the race’s second safety car intervention, Burton again had to take evasive action for an incident in front, which saw him drop back to 10th in a race that saw only one flying lap.
The grid for race three on Sunday was determined by the second fastest lap in Thursday’s qualifying session, which saw Burton start from eighth. He made up one spot to finish the final race in seventh and eighth outright for the round.
Burton was happy with his pace that allowed him to run towards the front of the field against vastly-experienced competition throughout each race.
“I got used to the Albert Park circuit very quickly and we improved the car massively between sessions as I built my confidence up,” said Burton.
“AGI Sport were great with the data analysis and I had a car to fight against a heavily experienced field that we saw for this round.
“I hadn’t done a start in an F4 car before Race 1 but I just rocketed off the line and made a few spots into turn one.
“We had the pace to get up to third although we ran out of laps towards the end, but to set the second fastest lap in that race was a great reward for the gains we made as a team.
“It was a shame the second race didn’t run full distance so we could show how much pace we had, but we had a lot of positives to take away from the weekend.
“Overall we had a great weekend and it was an incredible experience to race at the Australian Grand Prix.”
Burton acknowledged the support of Ugly Duckling Security, GEM Garage Doors and Burton Group Construction for his F4 campaign at the Australian Grand Prix.
