Williams junior Luke Browning’s busy but successful weekend: how will the young Brit fare in the Formula 2 championship?

An action-packed weekend we had in the world of motorsports, Formula 1, Formula 2, and Formula 3 all raced around the Bahrain International Circuit. For the F2 series the Sakhir Desert marked the second round of their championship. With merely one sprint race under their belt, due to the cancellation of the feature race in Australia caused by heavy rainfall, this would be the first test of form for the youngsters who want to showcase their worth to the Formula 1 teams. Some drivers, however, had double duties this weekend as they had to run a test session in a Formula 1 car throughout their already packed Formula 2 race weekend. For the Williams team, it would be their junior driver Luke Browning who was let in on the action, and he fared quite well in both Formula 1 and Formula 2 across the race weekend. So, let’s talk about the 23-year-old Brit and his chances in the sport.

Williams F1 reserve driver Luke Browning, retrieved from Williamsf1.com.

Who is Luke Browning?

Williams junior driver Luke Browning currently drives for Hitech in the FIA Formula 2-championship. He has impressed the motorsports world by clinching titles in Formula 4 regional championships, a win in the Macau Grand Prix in 2023, and a third place in the 2024 F3 championship. Last year, the youngster made the step up to Formula 2, replacing one of ART’s drivers for the last three rounds of the championship. He did not quite impress in those, getting just two points finishes across six races. His previous performances did end up being enough for Hitech to sign the Brit for a fulltime drive in 2025.

And what a start it has been! Currently the Williams junior holds a shared second place in the standings with 25 points to his name, just one point shy of championship leader Dunne.

Browning’s Bahrain Grand Prix weekend

Commencing the weekend with a Formula 2 practice session, Browning only had limited time to cool down, change into his Williams suit and hop in the FW47 car for his first ever official Formula 1 session. Of course, a first free practice session is not quite meaningful or representative of anything most of the time, but they can, however, become meaningful if mistakes are made in which a car is damaged. Browning executed William’s run plan perfectly. He did, however, almost collide with his teammate for the occasion, Albon, but it became just a near miss in the end. Albon himself explained there was ‘no one to blame’ for this incident, however the FIA did fine him a whopping 7.500 euros. Browning himself happily reflected: “I am super grateful to be given the opportunity to drive the Formula 1 car by Williams. I think I showed with only one lap, I was the quickest of the rookies, and I think I did a good job.”

After FP1, it was time for Luke Browning to strap himself back into his Hitech car for Formula 2 qualifying. All of a sudden, he had to adapt to a completely different car again. Impressively, the Brit put his car in third place. Heading into the sprint, where the top 10 is reversed from qualifying, Browning had to make up some positions to score decent points. Unfortunately, he lost a position during the race and fell back into tenth.

Browning in his Hitech F2 car, retrieved from insidef2.com.

Sunday saw the young Brit depart from the front row of the grid. He knew a horrific start, dropping down to ninth. It did not matter for the Hitech driver, as he brilliantly cut through the field and picked up the pieces of on track battles. This all came together in a neat second place finish, had he not had such a dreadful start who knows what might have come off this race for him?

After the race a happy Luke Browning appeared in front of the press, emphasizing how: “Second place in the end is good. I'd like that win, but equally just for keeping a head on and keeping that consistency, it's fantastic.” Adding onto more questions on his superb performances so far, he said: “I am super pleased, so very happy.”

Browning into Formula 1

 Will Browning be in the running for an F1 seat in 2026? Or might he be on the radar at least? As far as the Williams team goes, I do not see any chances for the young Brit with them in Formula 1 any time soon. The Williams team possesses two sublime drivers in Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz. So even if Browning wins the F2 championship, which is not outside the realm of possibilities, the chances for him to secure a Williams drive are close to zero. Whether or not he might move to a different team depends on numerous factors. The main problem is that Browning’s performances so far are nowhere near as exceptional as the ones from the likes of Gabriel Bortoleto, Kimi Antonelli, and Isack Hadjar, who all compete in F1 as rookies this year. Furthermore, he must hope some drivers in F1 do not perform adequately, as that might be the chance for an F2 champion to secure a drive in the pinnacle of motorsport. Unfortunately for Browning, however, all teams have their own pool of reserve drivers, and it is therefore far more likely that teams would seek replacements internally. That is, unless the driver has an insanely good record of feeder series performances which is slightly lacking for Luke Browning as well. All in all, getting his hands on the championship in Formula 2 is almost a must for the Brit in order to put himself on the radars of F1 teams.