King sees victory cruelly snatched away

It was devastating blow for the 17-year-old, who started the race from pole and led all the way until the late coming together.

That Lynn subsequently received a fine and points on his licence for his ill-advised manoeuvre was of little consolation to King, who is still chasing his maiden Formula Renault UK victory.

“On the penultimate lap, he decided to go for a bit of a lunge,” said King.

“Just as I was about to turn in at the end of Bentley Straight, I had a quick glance in my mirror and saw him diving up my inside.

“He was partly on the grass, so I delayed turning to give him a little bit of room to back out of it, but he didn’t and his front wheel hit my back wheel and spun me round.

“I was really surprised that he had tried to pass me into that corner, particularly with such a half-hearted attempt, and I was so disappointed that we didn’t get the result we should have done.

“We were the quickest on the track, and we should have won. The only consolation was a new lap record, which was certainly an achievement and at least proved we had the pace and are making real progress.”