Aston Martin Lagonda is delighted to announce Joseph Loake as the recipient of the 2023 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. The 18-year-old British driver, hailing from Macclesfield, achieved this prestigious accolade at the gala Autosport Awards ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane this Sunday.
Loake, who demonstrated his prowess as a GB3 Championship race winner and consistent front-runner in 2023, has earned the privilege of testing an Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One® Team car on Silverstone’s iconic Grand Prix circuit. In addition to the test opportunity, he was presented with a £200,000 cheque, full membership to the BRDC, an Arai crash helmet, and a Jordan Bespoke helmet bag during the ceremony.
Joining the ranks of esteemed former winners such as 2009 FIA Formula 1® world champion Jenson Button, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, and Le Mans 24 Hours class winners like Aston Martin’s Darren Turner, Loake adds his name to a distinguished list. The roster also includes current F1® drivers George Russell and Lando Norris, along with last year’s winner Luke Browning, who clinched victory in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix (for F3 cars) last month.
Loake faced stiff competition to secure this Award, outshining three other exceptional finalists in what is regarded as one of the most closely contested shoot-outs in the Award’s history. The finalists—Taylor Barnard (19), runner-up in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship and a race winner in the 2023 FIA F3 Championship; Arvid Lindblad (16), Macau GP Formula 4 winner and third in the Italian F4 Championship; and Callum Voisin (17), GB3 champion—excelled in an intensive two-day shoot-out on Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit.
The four drivers went head-to-head in four 425bhp MotorSport Vision F2 cars, a Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and a United Autosports Ligier JS P320 LMP3 prototype. Additionally, they underwent a rigorous fitness test with Athletic Thinking and an in-depth simulator assessment with the Formula 1® world championship-winning Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1® Team before their on-track examination.
I honestly can’t believe I’ve won the Award. This is the best thing I have received in my life. Thank you to everyone for helping me and sticking by me.
This has topped off an incredible season for me, I wasn’t expecting it. It felt like I’d done a good job during the assessment and I think I stood out in the wet conditions, but I didn’t know what the others had done. Winning this has given me a lot of self belief and confidence that I can do this. Hopefully next year I can make a step towards the FIA F3 Championship, and after receiving this Award, I think I deserve the opportunity.
Leading the judging panel was Derek Warwick, the 1992 World Sportscar champion and vice-president of the BRDC. The panel comprised esteemed individuals, including four-time IndyCar champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar champion Alexander Sims, commentator Ian Titchmarsh, Garage 59 team principal Andrew Kirkaldy, Autosport editor Kevin Turner, and engineer Mark Williams. Adding to the distinguished lineup was the 1995 British Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert, who participated as a guest judge.
This marked the fourth instance of Aston Martin Lagonda serving as the title partner for the Award in collaboration with the renowned Autosport media platform and the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which owns Silverstone—the iconic home of British motorsport and also home to Aston Martin’s High Performance Test Centre. Notably, the previous recipients of the Award under Aston Martin’s title sponsorship include Johnathan Hoggard in 2019, Zak O’Sullivan in 2021, and Luke Browning.
It’s always a privilege to be a part of the judging panel for the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award, but what made this year stand out from others was how difficult it was to pick a winner. The standard was so high, and each of the finalists excelled during different stages of the assessment. Ultimately, Joseph grew stronger through the competition and made the most consistent and compelling case to receive the Award. He certainly showed all the attributes necessary to have an outstanding career in the years to come. Congratulations to Joseph, who thoroughly deserves to stand among an incredible group of champions that have won the Award previously. Performance is at the heart of everything that Aston Martin does, so for us it’s essential that we work to harness and develop outstanding motorsport talent and we are proud to associate with initiatives such as the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award.
