Interview
Browning in a ‘good place’ heading to Europe as he praises the quality of his F2 rivals
Luke Browning says he and Hitech TGR are in a good place after three flyaway rounds to start the 2025 season, as the Briton previewed the upcoming European portion of the calendar.
The 23-year-old has made a positive start to the year, achieving a podium in both the Melbourne Sprint and Sakhir Feature Race. After another point scoring outing on Sunday in Jeddah, Browning is fifth in the Drivers’ Championship with 33 points.
Reviewing his start to the season, Browning said: “It’s been great. We set our goal to try and qualify in the top eight for the first three rounds and pick up as many points as possible.
“We found ourselves coming out of the first round third in the Championship, after the second round having two podiums, one of those being from a Feature Race.
“Going into the third round in Jeddah, I knew it wasn't going to be so strong, not only for me, but historically for us. It wasn't going to be the one that we went 'We are going to dominate this one' with the nature of the circuit, having never tested there and with it being so tough.
“So, to come out with the amount of points that we have, going into the European rounds where I feel really confident, not only in my driving but in my team and the car that we will have going into these events, I feel in a good place.”
Talking more from a personal perspective, Browning gave his thoughts on how he has progressed in the car from the Barcelona pre-season test to now.
“I'm constantly learning,” he said. “The Formula 2 car is a very different animal to the Formula 3 car I drove, and we get limited testing. Naturally catching up with drivers that have three, four or five years’ experience at this point, it's not easy.
“We've managed to outqualify these guys and beat them in the races so far, and I think we will just continue to come on and get stronger and stronger throughout the year.
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“We are trying to stay consistent, which we have so far, so let’s just see how it comes to us. I think riding the Championship with that sort of mindset will pay off.”
Looking at the season from a team point of view, the Williams Racing Driver Academy member said he had full confidence in Hitech TGR to continue to give him a good car, especially in Europe.
Browning pointed to how their 2024 driver, Paul Aron, got stronger and faster as the year progressed. He hopes to do the same, especially in such a competitive field.
“You look at the grid, the quality is insane,” acknowledged Browning. “I was looking through it not so long ago, but the Champions we've got in there, I think there are 10 or 11 people that have won a Championship in it.
“In terms of coming up the ladder, it just shows the peak of Formula 2 is there. I think this year is incredibly difficult, we've got a lot of second year drivers, and a lot of first year talent.
“We've got second place in Formula 3 Gabriele Minì in 10th, Dino's won Formula Regional in ninth, Jak Crawford has won in Formula 4, Victor Martins has won Formula 3, Dunne's won British Formula 4, Fornaroli has won Formula 3, Martí has also won in Formula 4, Verschoor's won Macau.
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“You go down the grid as well, Goethe, outside of the top 10 at the moment, Euroformula Champion, so the talent on the grid is super high.
“You can look at so many drivers on the grid and think wow, a lot of these guys could win the Championship in their first year never mind their third or fourth. But that's just the nature of the Championship, it’s tough, it's not easy to get it right.”
This is why Browning insists simply being fast will not be good enough to win the title come the year’s end, and he pointed to his own experience in Formula 3 last season to explain why.
“I remember saying this about my first year in Formula 3, if you don't attack the Championship in the right way, it doesn't matter how fast you are, it won't come together,” he explained.
“I think that's what is really special about the Formula 2 Championship, it takes an ability to approach it in a way that's mature, whereas a lot of championships, you can attack it in a way where your raw pace could get you out of trouble.
“For example, the points from the Sprint Race. There are 14 reverse grid races throughout the year, and if you don't finish these reverse grid races you could miss out on a total of 140 points, 154 if you include the fastest lap as well.
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“If you look at that by the end of last year’s Championship, the winner has 214 points and if you only picked up points in the reverse grid races, you would have finished just behind Paul Aron in fourth place and ahead of Zane Maloney who dominated the first half of the year.
“This is an insane stat to have if you don't finish any Feature Race. I, for example in Formula 3 last year, had a nightmare in Sprint Races, but I think in Feature Races we scored the most amount of points.
“So, this year I just want to collect the points in the Sprint Races, and I think our raw pace will take us through in the Feature.”
This feeds into how Browning wants to approach the upcoming rounds, especially as he believes we are already beginning to see the title contenders.
“I think we are already starting to see the pecking order,” he said. “Even in qualifying, the guys that were there in Melbourne were there in Bahrain and were there again in Jeddah.
“It seems like that sort of top eight, whichever way you flip it around, have been there, so that's really interesting. The podium is starting to look a little bit more familiar now, we are starting to see people's raw pace come out, and who is starting to put a Championship fight together.
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“I don't think it's too early to look at it, but equally I don't think it should be at the top of your mind. 'I am only fighting with this person now so I don't need to worry about anyone else', you can't necessarily have that mindset.
“But it's interesting to keep in mind who is quick at what event and who is right to attack at the right point. Does it make sense to fight really hard in Imola if we know it's someone's strongest round and they might fall off later on?
“We are not going to get them this time but over the season we will naturally get them. Having that sort of mentality and mindset going into things makes it a little bit simpler, you kind of have to look at it from a wider perspective.”