BRDC Rising Star Taylor Barnard on racing at Silverstone

Currently in his first season in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, 19-year-old British driver Taylor Barnard is competing with Swiss team Jenzer Motorsport. With a number of different racing categories to his name, including the Formula 4 UAE Championship powered by Abarth and the Formula Regional Middle East Championship, Taylor’s outing at Silverstone across the 2023 British Grand Prix weekend was his first experience in a formula car in his home country.

Taylor was first introduced to motorsport in his younger years by his dad, who has experience in karting as a hobby.

“When I was little, I was running around the track watching him,” Taylor remembers. “One day, I asked if I could try and from there, I ended up here.”

With an array of experience in different karting categories, Taylor has built on his racing knowledge through his younger years and more recent single seater racing years. When he first started in single seaters, he found the racing difficult and he had no results, but it definitely built him mentally as a driver.

“Having all of the tough weekends definitely made me stronger and that helps so much now,” he says. “Every situation you get into is always beneficial, but last year, I definitely grew most as a driver.

“I got the most results which boosted me and my confidence.”

2023 is Taylor’s first season in F3 and so far, he’s had quite a difficult year. After struggling in the first rounds, the Qualifying pace has come back to Taylor in his Jenzer car, particularly after in-season testing at Barcelona and Imola. His confidence in the car has improved hugely, too.

“It’s just a matter of time before we get it right,” Taylor says. “Then the race pace and more points will start to come in.”

As well as experiencing his first F3 season this year, Taylor is also racing across a global calendar as a Formula 1 support series. This year alone, he has raced at some iconic circuits including Albert Park, Red Bull Ring and of course, Silverstone.

With fan support all over the world too, it’s no surprise that racing on a global calendar is as incredible as Taylor describes it.

“It’s a completely different world to racing in another championship,” he says. “You get to see F1 drivers on the track walk and I definitely think it makes the experience more enjoyable as a driver.”

As a BRDC Rising Star, Taylor has been to Silverstone a few times but never to race. His BRDC experience so far has given him the opportunity to see the track itself a few times, as well as being able to speak to those involved with the BRDC and learn from them. “The BRDC has been around for so long and the history is incredible,” he says.

“There’s a lot to learn from the other drivers and the people who are running it.” Despite never racing at Silverstone until this year’s British Grand Prix weekend, Taylor hoped to take away some more race pace and some more experience. Regardless of his result, racing at his home circuit for the first time in a formula car would be a special moment for Taylor.

Taylor qualified P10 on the Friday, but unfortunately, he was hit with a string of bad luck for both F3 races at Silverstone. An incident in Saturday’s Sprint, despite fighting at the front of the pack and showing good pace, left Taylor finishing the race in P30 after he received a 10-second time penalty. Tyre degradation during Sunday’s Feature saw Taylor take the chequered flag in P21.

You can keep updated with the rest of Taylor’s F3 campaign and his adventures as a BRDC Rising Star by following his Instagram.

Photo Credit: Dutch Photo Agency