The 16-year-old Carlin driver was in charge from the very start, taking pole in qualifying and winning the first race by a massive 19 seconds in wet conditions.

Although he couldn’t quite hit the same heights over the remainder of the weekend, he was delighted to end up with a third-place finish in the final race.

It left the ADD Motorsports-supported, Somerset racer - who took the MSA Formula Championship title last season and New Zealand Toyota Racing Series title in February - in second place in the standings.

He said: “To get a win in the first race of the Championship was a great start to the season and the third place finish in the last race made it a good weekend overall.

“I struggled a bit in the last two races with overtaking, but the pace was really good across all the days.

“To be second in the standings at the end of the first weekend is a really solid start and hopefully I’ll improve as the season goes on.”

Lando found it difficult to get a good lap in during qualifying, but with three laps to go after a red flag managed to get the best lap in on the final one.

Despite the wet weather, the racer got off to a perfect start in the first race and had a four to five second gap on the first lap. 

He never looked back and was delighted to win the first race of the new season by a massive 19 seconds at the end.

The second and third races were delayed due to the weather on Monday, but by the time they got going the track had dried.

Lando got off to a good start on the reverse grid of the second race and was sixth at the end of the first lap. 

After moving into fifth place, he attempted to overtake the driver in front and hit a wet patch which caused his wheel to lock. As he inched in front, they made contact, allowing two opponents to pass and leave him in sixth place at the end.

The grid for the final race was determined by the fastest lap times across the first two races and with the first race in the wet, most of the times in the second race counted.

Even so, Lando had the fourth fastest time and so began the third race in fourth.

Again, he got off too a good start and was up to third by the end of lap two. 

He quickly caught up to second place, but didn’t quite have enough to get in a position to overtake for some time.

When he finally did, his front wheel locked and again he made contact with the driver he was overtaking, this time leaving his steering slightly damaged. 

It prevented him from pushing on again and in third place at the end of the race when he was happy to be on the podium again. 

Lando was in second place in the standings at the end of the weekend, although he will not be contesting the BRDC F3 title due to missing a number of rounds through other race commitments.

He added: “Although I can’t go for the title as I’m missing a few weekends, I still want to win as many races as possible and see where I end up.

“There are a lot of strong drivers in the Championship and I’m looking forward to going against them again in the next race.