19 year old British teenager Oliver Rowland has been awarded Formula 1 a test drive with McLaren. He won the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) award. He also pocketed prize money of £100,000 and membership of the BRDC. Rowland was also runner-up in the 2011 Formula Renault race series.

Previous winners of the award include David Coulthard in 1989, Jenson Button in 1998 and Paul di Resta in 2004.

List of Winners from 1989 to present:

• David Coulthard
• Gareth Rees
• Oliver Gavin
• Dario Franchitti
• Ralph Firman
• Jamie Davies
• Jonny Kane
• Darren Turner
• Andrew Kirkaldy
• Jenson Button
• Gary Paffett
• Anthony Davidson
• Steven Kane
• Jamie Green
• Alex Lloyd
• Paul di Resta
• Oliver Jarvis
• Oliver Turvey
• Stefan Wilson
• Alexander Sims
• Dean Smith
• Lewis Williamson

Oliver said that he has learned so much in his year with Formula Renault and can’t believe that he has made it to this point in his career.

The award is backed by BRDC, Autosport the motorsport magazine and McLaren to acknowledge emerging talent among UK racing drivers.

The other finalists were Tom Blomqvist, Dino Zamparelli, Alex Lynn, Emil Bernstorff and Scott Malvern. They were all tested in November at Silverstone on a very wet and windy day. The drivers drove a McLaren GT3, a Formula 2 single-seater and a Mercedes DTM. They were finally interviewed before a panel.

The International Racing Driver of the Year award went to Germany’s Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull after becoming F1 Champion for the second year running. Paul di Resta was named as rookie of the year driving for Force India.

British driver Dan Whelton who was twice a winner of the Indy 500 who crashed and died in Las Vegas was awarded a lifetime achievement award that was received by his father.

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