Hatton: Browning continuing to impress as momentum builds with podium results

It was a fifth podium for Luke Browning as he secured his third consecutive visit to the rostrum in 2025 at the Monte Carlo Sprint Race.

The Briton had started from second on the grid, but a slow getaway meant he was fighting to keep hold of a top three spot.

He recovered from there, able to stay in touch with Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad throughout the Sprint, coming across the line to take third in the end.

Speaking afterwards, Hitech TGR Team Manager Clive Hatton expressed how well the Williams Racing Development Driver had done to put another trophy in the team’s collection after a tough start.

“He didn’t get a great start which set him back a bit,” Hatton said. “It would have been nice to get ahead of that mix up with Crawford and Lindblad, but then it was just hard to overtake after that around here.

“It was just a matter of settling down and kind of trying to go for fastest lap when he could, but Lindblad was holding him back and then trying to get ahead towards the end, and that meant we weren’t quite able to do the fastest lap.”

Browning’s P3 in Monaco was his fifth top three finish of the year, an impressive feat in his first full Formula 2 campaign.

Hatton says that the F1 junior driver has been learning with every weekend, and his adaptation to the Championship has been impressive, adding that another positive result after a tough Friday was exactly the response the team had hoped to see.

“He’s settling in quite nicely. He’s been building up to it and bringing himself in more and more, not going all in straight away when he doesn’t need to and getting points where he can.

“Another podium is massive. Especially when things didn’t go his way yesterday. He got hampered by Montoya when he caused the yellow flags on the last lap, so we just had to take the points available today.

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“We’ll see where we could end up tomorrow. It’s quite hard to overtake around here, so we’ll rely on a good start and see what happens in front of us and bring the car home.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s Feature Race, the Hitech Team Manager isn’t expecting any miracles around a circuit that’s notoriously difficult to overtake round, but says that forward progress is a realistic aim.

With Browning just one point behind Championship leader Alexander Dunne entering Sunday’s race, the team will be targeting more crucial points as they also look to extend their advantage at the top of the Teams’ Standings.

“There’s always something you can take away from a Sprint Race, so we’ll have a look at the data overnight and see what we can come up with.

“I think as long as you’re making up places in the Feature Race around Monaco, you can consider it a success.”