The 19-year-old won the Autosport British Racing Drivers’ Club award, which also includes £100,000 in prize money and full membership of the BRDC.

Rowland was runner-up in the Formula Renault UK race series in 2011.

The winner was announced after evaluation in Formula 2, HWA Mercedes-Benz DTM and McLaren MP4-12C GT3 cars at Silverstone, and Rowland said that it had been far from a smooth year.

“I don’t know what to say,” Oliver Rowland said. “It’s been a difficult year for me. I lost someone very close to me in [karting guru] Martin Hines, who passed away this year. He’s helped me for six or seven years. I’ve had lots to learn this year in my first year of Formula Renault. I have learned a lot and now I’m here. I just can’t believe it.”

The award is backed by McLaren, motorsport magazine Autosport and the BRDC. It was set up in 1989 to acknowledge young racing drivers from the UK.

Meanwhile Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, a double world champion after winning his second successive Formula 1 title with Red Bull this year, was named as International Racing Driver of the Year.

Force India F1 driver Di Resta was named Rookie of the Year.

This black round-neck T-shirt features a large JENSON print with flock detail in Rocket Red and a subtle BUTTON foil print in silver on the chest.

With a smaller JENSON print and his signature on the back and subtle Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes branding to the left sleeve. On the right sleeve with a 2009 F1 Drivers’ World Champion logo.

Product Description

• Black round-neck Jenson Button T-shirt
• A large JENSON print with flock detail in Rocket Red and a subtle BUTTON foil print in silver on the chest
• A smaller JENSON print and his signature on the back
• Subtle Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes branding to the left sleeve and, on the right sleeve, the 2009 F1 Drivers’ World Champion logo

With 2009 F1 Drivers’ World Champion logo to the back. Distinctive chrome effect to the edge of the peak. New innovatively shaped rip-strip size adjuster for improved comfort.

Exclusive Jenson Button & Lewis Hamilton Predictions

Button and Hamilton with the new McLaren MP4-25

McLaren MP4-25

World Champion Jenson Button and 2008 Champion Lewis Hamilton launch McLaren’s new F1 car, the MP4-25, and talk of their determination to make the partnership work.

Button said: “It’s been quite a while since we had four world champions on the grid. It’s possibly the most exciting we’ve ever seen.”

Hamilton added: “Hopefully we will push the team to both championships.”

With KERS-equipped cars expected to feature prominently on the high-speed Monza circuit, McLaren used its class-leading system to dominate the morning session, Hamilton in particular quickly got into the groove to outpace Kovalainen by almost 0.4s and finish just over 0.5s clear of the first non-McLaren with a best time of 1m23.936s.

1 – L Hamilton  McLaren
2 – H Kovalainen     McLaren
3 – A Sutil     Force India
4 – F Alonso     Renault
5 – N Heidfeld     BMW Sauber
6 – S Buemi     Toro Rosso
7 – J Button     Brawn
8 – G Fisichella     Ferrari
9 – M Webber     Red Bull
10 – K Raikkonen     Ferrari
11 – R Kubica     BMW Sauber
12 – R Barrichello     Brawn
13 – N Rosberg     Williams
14 – K Nakajima     Williams
15 – R Grosjean     Renault
16 – V Liuzzi     Force India
17 – J Alguersuari     Toro Rosso
18 – S Vettel     Red Bull
19 – J Trulli     Toyota
20 – T Glock     Toyota

Running with a new aerodynamic package the Briton was quickest on Friday and he maintained his good form as he clocked one minute 31.121 seconds.

The Renault of Fernando Alonso was second and Ferrai’s Felipe Massa third.

Championship leader Jenson Button was down in 11th as the drivers struggled for grip in the cold conditions.

This morning’s session again took place in cold (12C) and overcast conditions, although this time the rain held off throughout the hour.

Ferrari have also come to Germany having made a few aerodynamic tweaks and they too appeared to pay dividends with both drivers in the top six.

But it was a different story for leading constructor Brawn GP as Button complained of being unable to get any heat into his front tyres.

The Briton’s team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, also struggled as he finished down in 14th.

The reigning world champion has won just nine points this campaign, with his McLaren car struggling to keep pace with the likes of Brawn and Red Bull.

But Hamilton, who finished 16th at the British Grand Prix, still harbours some optimism for the rest of the season.

“I’m hoping we will have some huge improvements for the next race… (and) for our end-of-season push,” he said.

“While the result didn’t look so good for us again, I think we can take some positives away from this weekend because we genuinely learnt a lot about our car.

“It’s still not going to be a day-and-night change that makes the difference, but I’m hoping we can gain some advantage to help improve our results.”

Hamilton’s best result of the season, after he was stripped of third place at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, has been his fourth place in Bahrain back in April.

from bbc

Kovalainen‘s one minute 28.841 second lap in the second session beat Fernando Alonso of Renault by just 0.006secs.

Championship leader Jenson Button was 12th in his Brawn – one place ahead of world champion Lewis Hamilton, who said he was hoping to qualify in the top 10.

Williams’s Nico Rosberg was fastest in the morning as the day’s running gave little indication of form for the race.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, whose team are tipped for a strong showing, stopped on the track after just four laps of the second session with a suspected driveshaft failure.

The dusty conditions at the Istanbul Park track posed problems throughout the day.

Hamilton was one of several drivers to spin – the world champion losing control of his car twice in quick succession as he explored the limits of grip.

Renault’s Alonso, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima, who finished fourth fastest, were just three of 10 drivers to experience off-track moments in the second session.

There was better news for Robert Kubica whose revamped BMW Sauber, complete with new double-decker diffuser, was third fastest in the second session to give the Polish driver his best practice result of the season.

The morning’s first practice session was briefly brought to a halt by the red flag when the artificial turf at the front of the run off area at the exit to Turn One was damaged as several cars ran off line.

Sourse BBC