Rising star and 2015 British GT4 champion Jamie Chadwick is making the switch from GT cars to single-seaters for the 2017 season.
Chadwick, the youngest driver and only female to ever claim a British GT title (when she was just 17), is moving into BRDC Formula 3 with Double R Racing this year.
Having impressed in Ginetta Juniors and then going on to win the British GT4 title in 2015 alongside Ross Gunn, she made sporadic GT and VLN race outings last year while completing her A Levels.
Now 18, she’s moving into single-seaters with the Double R Racing team – which, interestingly, was originally co-founded by Mr Bwoah himself, Kimi Raikkonen.
Double R has a strong racing pedigree in Formula 3, having fielded well-known names like Bruno Senna, Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr and a certain new Mercedes F1 racer Valtteri Bottas.
The team also took Matheus Leist to the BRDC British F3 title last year, so Chadwick certainly has a good platform to impress.
Her switch over to single-seaters is interesting after her success in GTs. Undoubtedly one of the biggest female racing talents around, it’ll be interesting to see how she fares with her move to British F3.
Double R’s signing also makes Chadwick the youngest ever female driver to compete in the series, at the age of just 18.
It isn’t her first taste of the machinery though, she completed a British F3 test last year and clearly made quite an impression.
Here’s what she has to say on the move:
“I’m absolutely delighted to be racing with Double R in British F3 this year. Whilst there were options to pursue the GT route, there is no doubt about the value of a top level single-seater series to further develop my technical ability and credentials as a racing driver.
“It will be a fascinating learning curve and we have set out a two-year programme for me to establish myself and make my mark in the series. I’m also hoping to compete in a few GT events this year, but my main focus will be Formula 3.”