Lewis Seton

Lewis David Seton (born November 30th, 1996) is a retired British Formula 4 driver who won 2 championships in 2016 and 2017. He is notable for his involvement in testing during F1CE rulebook development, and his testing work with the McLaren F1 Team, as well as his as-yet unexplained crash in September 2018 which ended his career and gave him life-changing injuries.

## Racing Career:

### Early Career:

Seton participated in karting events from as early as age 5, but did not compete at a national level until his teens. At age 16, he won his first national championship, a feat he repeated for the next two years. In early 2014, Seton moved into car racing, in preparation for the newly announced SMA British Formula 4 Championship to be held in 2016.

### British Formula 4:

His achievements at a karting level attracted the attention of Carlin Racing, who signed Seton for the 2016 season, alongside Rahul Patel. Seton struck out straight away, winning round 2 of the championship, and taking the points lead by round 5. Seton was renowned as a consistent racer who, whilst his raw speed wasn’t always at the highest level, was always able to grab a good result. This consistency saw him compete neck-and-neck with Nonagon Scott for the 2016 championship. Seton won just 3 races to Scott’s 7, but was able to win the championship by 2 points, in part due to that he competed every race, whilst Scott had 3 DNFs.

Seton returned with Carlin for 2017. He proved early on that nothing had changed from the year before, finishing no lower than third over the first four races, and sweeping the weekend at Donington Park. Consistency was not as big of an asset as before; Seton suffered his first career DNF following a collision at Pembrey Circuit, and would suffer two more, including a first-corner clash with rival Nonagon Scott at Oulton Park. However, he countered these DNFs by increasing his win count from three in 2016 to six wins in 2017, including the final race of the year, and as a result was able to successfully defend his title, winning by 11 points.

2018 would be a busier year for Seton; alongside attempting to defend his championship, once again with Carlin, he was one of seven drivers selected as the F1CE testing group, who would run extensive testing miles in a spec car as the SMA sanctioning body attempted to compile the rulebook for the inaugural F1CE season, to be held in 2019. Seton topped the timing boards at the first F1CE rulebook development test at Imola, although this did not mean much as the sessions were mostly about finding the limits of the car and working out which rule formula would give the best compromise between racing and economy. Meanwhile, Seton won the opening round of the British F4 Championship, and was an early favourite for the title. Seton remained consistent throughout the season, despite occasionally missing practice sessions to focus on the F1CE testing. Seton placed second in the “mock race” at Imola in June behind Canadian driver Laurent Dumoulin. F1CE rulebook testing concluded in July, and Seton could focus once again on the F4 championship, where he was now second in points, behind former teammate Rahul Patel. However, it did not remain his sole focus for long, as he once again found himself in F1CE testing: this time, involved in the development of McLaren F1’s challenger. It did not seem to detract from his on-track performances: Seton took consecutive wins at Silverstone and Snetterton and retook the championship lead.

### Accident and Injury:

In the two-week break between Snetterton and Croft, Seton travelled to the Hockenheimring in Germany to continue testing with McLaren, which had now received completed F1CE-spec Mercedes engines.

At around 1.30 PM on Thursday 20th September, Seton was roughly halfway through a 40-minute fuel efficiency test when he lost control of the car just before the braking zone for Spitzkehre and crashed into the left-hand wall. Whilst there are no recordings of the accident, there are two eyewitness accounts to go by: these agree that the car mounted the armco barrier and slid along it, losing parts and briefly catching fire. Seton reportedly entered the gravel trap still carrying significant speed, before the car turned over once completely, returning to its wheels before striking the far barrier.

Emergency response to Seton’s accident was good, despite limited presence due to this being a single-car, private test. Seton was extracted from the car and immediately transported to University Hospital Heidelberg. At this time it was revealed that Seton had been unconscious at the time of his extraction from the car, but was now conscious, and in a stable condition. Seton had suffered facial bruising and a concussion, as well as numerous fractures in his legs. Seton remained in hospital undergoing surgery on his damaged legs until being released November 16th, and even to this day suffers from limited mobility in his legs, leaving him on crutches.

Due to a lack of video footage of the crash, many have speculated surrounding the cause. It is generally agreed that it is unlikely Seton simply lost control - at that point the car would be barely turning, and he was far enough down a straight as to where a loss of traction is unlikely. Therefore, consensus says that the cause of the crash was a mechanical failure; this belief is further compounded by McLaren conducting an internal report into the crash and not releasing the details, as well as making private negotiations with Seton following his release from hospital. What that failure might be is disagreed on - the main theories suggest either a puncture, suspension failure, or brake failure, although the loss of an aero component is possible as well. Seton refuses to answer questions related to his accident, likely due to the lasting effect it has had on his life, but he revealed in an interview in 2021 that he still does not know what caused the crash.

## Legacy:

Considering the success of those Lewis Seton raced against and beat during his time in British F4, it is likely that he would have gone on to be a very successful driver in F1CE. McLaren’s 2019 car was very strong, winning 4 races and carrying Jake Galloway to championship contention, and McLaren made it very clear at the time the extent to which Seton was responsible for that. Galloway was in championship contention until the final weekend, and many speculate that Seton might have been able to deliver the championship had he been driving.

Seton elected to step entirely away from motorsport following his accident. He is still involved with cars, owning a garage and repair shop in Wareham, Dorset, where he now lives.

## Personal Life:

Seton’s personal life is complex. He is known to have been in a number of short-term relationships during his early career, although very few were made public. His best-known relationship was with Jamie Culver-Angliss, another British Formula 4 driver, with whom he had a child with and was reportedly engaged to at the time of his accident. His decision to step away from motorsport included stepping away from Culver-Angliss. Since leaving motorsport he has kept himself away from media attention, and as a result his current relationship status is not known, although it is believed he lives alone.