Zak O’Sullivan and Carlin couldn’t have asked for a better start to their home GP after securing their first pole position in F3.
With his previous highest qualifying position being P5 in Barcelona, Leclerc’s P2 marks his best result of the year so far. He currently stands P5 in the championship fight just 15 points behind the leader Victor Martins.
Maloney finished close behind his Monegasque rival with the pair separated by just 0.014s. Though still an impressive result for the Barbadian; Maloney felt the car was capable of more than P3 and told the media that
“A small mistake from my side, cost me the pole today”
Maloney – Post Quali Press conference
The championship leader, Victor Martins, suffered a difficult session and was unable to post a time in the top 10, he starts Sunday’s feature race from P11.
Sprint Race
It was on of the calmer F3 races of the season but started off a lap less than expected due to an abandoned race lap; as at the start of the formation, Carlins Ben Benavides suffered car trouble which saw him crawl around the track to get back into the pit lane for the start.
Because of this all drivers had another lap to get into formation. This wasn’t great for the pole sitter for his home race and highest ever starting position.
“(It was a) learning experience, and a bit stressful”
Reece – Post Sprint race press conference.
This saw him slower off the line to his front row neighbor Victor Martins; who took the lead for majority of the race. But it wasn’t for Victor. Who had 3 drivers in his rear view looking to challenge for the top spot and the highest amount of championship points.
“It was difficult to focus and to look where to look behind and get a good exit and straight line speed into some of the corners.”
Victor Martins – Post Sprint race press conference
There was a late chance for Isaack Hadjar; the Red Bull junior, overtook Victor Martin at the last minute to win the sprint race. A breath-taking lunge around the ART Grand Prix driver on the penultimate lap was enough to secure a second Formula 3 win in his rookie season at Hitech Grand Prix’s home race. He also took the fastest lap of the race.
“Really happy with the result today! It was an amazing race. The pace was just fantastic, and I had a lot of fun. Really happy to give this victory to my team at our home race and we’ll be pushing for tomorrow’s one.”
Isack Hadjar – Post sprint race press conference
Speaking to Victor Martins from the press conference after the race, he was at first a bit frustrated. However, after seeing that they were able to take the points needed (one less than p1) and learn from what happened today. The lessons around the strength of the DRS will be a key thing for moving forward in the Sunday feature race. It was difficult from lap 1 to the end, finding it hard to hit the apex due to struggling with front rotation. He will need to work through that. The goal is to have an amazing start, see opportunities to take and not too be too aggressive, looking very much left to right.
What does Sunday’s feature race entail?
We have Carlin’s Zak starting from pole and Arthur Leclerc with him on the front row followed by the boy from Barbados Zane Maloney.
Could we expect rain to mix things up even more? Judging by all the action that has taken place today and looking at the forecast, the weather is very unpredictable this weekend.
Let us know who you think will take the top spot for tomorrows feature race?