On Sunday, Deagen Fairclough completed the most dominant and successful season in the 10-year history of the British F4 championship. Not only did the 18-year-old secure the title in record time, but he took 15 poles, 14 victories and scored 579.5 points, finishing more than 200 ahead of his nearest challenger.

When Lando Norris won the series in 2015, he finished with 413 points and won eight races.

Fairclough’s astonishing form has put him in the final four for the BRDC Young Driver of the Year award (past winners: Jenson Button and George Russell) where the prize is a testing session in an Aston Martin Formula One car and £200,000.

Fairclough is clear that his outstanding results are putting him on the path to the very top of motorsport: “I think now I am on that ladder to F1 and it is only what I have been dreaming of since I was a kid.”

Yet as valuable and rare as time in a modern F1 car is, the financial prize is arguably as important. In motorsport, ability and results alone are not sufficient to make it to the higher echelons without backing. Just a couple of years ago, getting a seat in British F4 would have been a dream. The costs, even in karting, can be prohibitive.

“When we were karting we couldn’t even afford wets for when it rained. That is probably where we got a little bit of skill and it has helped me this year,” Fairclough says. His 14th victory of the campaign came in the wet at Brands Hatch on Sunday.

After competing in karting and the Fiesta Junior Championship, Fairclough’s big break into single-seaters and British F4 came through winning the ROKiT sim-racing competition in 2022, a feat that earned him a fully-funded seat in British F4 in 2023. That would have been unthinkable not too long ago.

“I put so much hard work into making sure I won that. I took many days off school to be quick and get into that top 16 for the final,” Fairclough says.

A promising British F4 debut year at JHR Developments saw him finish third overall. ROKiT then placed him at Hitech Grand Prix, an outfit with teams in numerous single-seater series up to FIA F2, headed up by newly appointed Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes.

‘Last year I didn’t have the right mindset going into a race weekend’

There has also been a change in how he approached this season compared to last, with Fairclough admitting he put too much pressure on himself to deliver. That resulted in a few too many “eager” overtakes and ultimately points on his racing licence.

“Last year I didn’t have the right mindset going into a race weekend. When I got to 11 licence points out of 12 I was able to bring myself back a bit and have a better approach to each weekend, and since then I haven’t seen Trevor from the clerk’s office,” he says.

As well as getting him into British F4 in the first place, ROKiT – which also sponsors the championship – will continue to back Fairclough. Founder Jonathan Kendrick says the company will cease its title sponsorship of the series, with some of its budget to be put behind Fairclough, who knows that none of this would be possible without ROKiT.

“I look back two years ago and I was in Fiestas. I didn’t know where we were going to progress after the first year of Fiestas, we were really stuck,” he says. “We’re a working-class family. It’s really helped us and I’ve been able to show what I’m made of.”

Sim racing remains a part of Fairclough’s preparation for real-life racing, and the esports side of motorsport has grown in popularity in the last five years. Part of this expansion was down to the lack of actual racing in the pandemic and also that current F1 drivers like Norris and Max Verstappen spend hours honing their skills and having fun at the same time.

‘Oh my god! Mum, I beat Fernando Alonso!’

Fairclough has raced virtually against both Norris and Verstappen, but an early highlight was beating two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso. “I think I was 13 or 14. We were at Daytona in an LMP car and we were both starting dead last,” Fairclough recalls.

“Both of us came from last to P1 and P2. I actually beat him and I was so over the moon. I ran downstairs and was like, ‘oh my god! Mum, I beat Fernando Alonso!’ She then did the normal mum thing and put it on social media. I was very happy that day.”

Recently, Fairclough has been given high-end sim equipment by manufacturer Asetek. Its ‘rigs’ allow him to have feedback that is almost identical to his current F4 car. “Sim racing has helped to get me to the position I am in now. The new equipment by Asetek is as realistic as you can really get,” he says.

“It’s really helped me get that eye into a circuit I have never been to, like Zandvoort. I’m able to practice at home for many hours,” he adds. The preparation obviously worked – he won two out of three races (finishing third in the other) at the Dutch seaside in July.

After a record-breaking season, what are the next steps for Fairclough? It is a long road to F1 and drivers must ensure they keep moving up. Fairclough calls the FIA F3 series a “dream goal”. It runs as a support series at many of the grands prix throughout the season and its drivers have extra visibility to the F2 and F1 teams.

The backing from ROKiT helps, but securing a place in an F1 team’s driver programme or academy is almost a necessity these days. “We can progress up the ladder with them but some support from an F1 team would help,” Fairclough says.

Fortunately, Fairclough already has the ear of Alpine’s Oakes, a relationship that could prove invaluable. “He has helped me get into the spot I am now. We get along very well. We have a lot of laughing matters but he is very dedicated and professional and has taught me a lot of things,” Fairclough says.

“Any mistakes I have made he instantly told me off and would say, ‘do this better’. He has really helped me, that is what has helped this season in how my approach is to a race weekend. Who knows what is to come?”