The Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award is an award set up in 1989 to reward and recognise young racing drivers from the UK. As its names suggest, the award is backed by

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

, motorsport magazine

Autosport ''Autosport'' is a global motorsport publishing brand headquartered based in Richmond, London. It was established in 1950 at the same time as the origins of the Formula One World Championship. Autosport began life as a weekly magazine in 1950 ...

, and the

British Racing Drivers' Club The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) is an exclusive invitation-only members club for racecar drivers who are judged to have achieved success in the upper levels of motor sport for a number of seasons. Except under exceptional circumstances, me ...

(BRDC). As well as the prestige of winning the award, a test drive in an Aston Martin

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

car and £100,000 – increased from £50,000 in 2010 – cash prize, the award winner is also presented with the

Chris Bristow Christopher William Bristow (2 December 1937 – 19 June 1960) was a British Formula One driver. Bristow was the son of a garage owner from London, and was unmarried. Bristow was called the "wild man of British club racing", as he had spun or h ...

Trophy.

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

ended its longstanding partnership with the accolade in January 2019, and

replaced them. The 2019 winner received a test in a Red Bull F1 car at Silverstone, as Aston Martin was the team's sponsor. After 2020, the winner ran in an

Aston Martin F1 Team Aston Martin is a British car manufacturer that has participated in Formula One in various forms. The company first participated in Formula One during the 1959 season where they debuted the DBR4 chassis using their own engine but it failed t ...

car. The winner also gets a run in an FIA World Endurance Championship

Aston Martin Vantage __NOTOC__ Aston Martin has used the Vantage name on a number of vehicles, normally indicating a high-performance version of another model. In one case, during 1972–1973, the Vantage was a distinct model, being a straight-6 powered version of ...

GTE car. The award also has an overall £200,000 prize fund.

Procedure

Members of the public are invited to nominate drivers for the award and a shortlist of six finalists is decided upon by the award's judging panel. The finalists then spend two or three days at a British circuit in mid-November driving different types of car to evaluate their performance as well as interview sessions with the panel. The winner is announced at the annual

Autosport Awards The Autosport Awards are a series of awards presented by motor racing magazine '' Autosport'' to drivers that have achieved significant milestones each season. Some of the presentations are selected by the general public via a reader's poll. The awa ...

in early December.

Past winners and nominees

* A total of 134 drivers have been nominated for the prize since it was first handed out.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mclaren Autosport Brdc Award Motorsport in the United Kingdom Auto racing trophies and awards McLaren Group