McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award won by George Russell

George Russell capped a title-winning first year in car racing by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award.

The 16-year-old BRDC Formula 4 champion beat title rival Sennan Fielding, Formula Renault Eurocup frontrunner Alexander Albon, FR Northern European Cup champion Ben Barnicoat and race winner Seb Morris and British Formula Ford runner-up Harrison Scott to win the 26th edition of the Award.

Single-seater rookie Russell, who clinched the BRDC F4 title in a thrilling final-round shootout, also made a race-winning wildcard appearance in the FR Eurocup finale.

He has won $155,000, a McLaren Formula 1 test, BRDC membership and an Arai GP-6 RC carbon helmet.

"It's been a long wait since the assessment days, and I can't thank everyone on my table enough - I don't know what to say," Russell said as he collected the award.

Russell graduated into cars after a glittering karting career that included multiple British and European titles.

He moved straight into European competition with a season in FRenault ALPS - in which he finished fourth despite skipping a round with chickenpox - alongside his title-winning BRDC F4 campaign in the UK.

Russell's 2014 plans are almost finalized, with a move into the Formula 3 European Championship looking most likely after he initially planned to follow previous Award winners Oliver Rowland, Jake Dennis and Matt Parry into a full Eurocup campaign.

Originally on Autosport.com