F3 Euro Series: Charles Leclerc opens his winning account at Silverstone.

Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing) is the winner of the third FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship season race. Thus, the 17-year-old Monegasque became the second rookie driver to win a race at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit this weekend, with George Russell (Carlin) having won the second race the day before. Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) came second to score his third podium finish from as many races over the weekend and starts his homeward journey to Italy as points’ leader in the FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings. The best-placed driver on home soil in the only British round of this year’s FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship, Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam) finished third.

At the start, Charles Leclerc converted his first place on the grid into the race lead and led the field into the first corner. Antonio Giovinazzi and Gustavo Menezes (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) followed behind him. An error by Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam) saw the safety car deployed for the first time. After the restart, the order at the front of the field remained unchanged. Initially, Leclerc was about one second clear of his rivals, while Menezes had to let the duo in front pull away. Even though Giovinazzi managed to reduce the gap a little bit later on, he wasn’t able to challenge Leclerc. Eventually, the Van Amersfoort Racing rookie driver won with a margin of 0.44 seconds.

For a long time, Menezes drove an untroubled race in third place in front of Jake Dennis, Alexander Albon (Signature) and George Russell. After the second safety car intervention, the result of a spin by Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports), Dennis got a chance to attack the American with Brazilian roots and went past to take third place. George Russell, Alexander Albon, Markus Pommer (Motopark), Brandon Maïsano (Prema Powerteam), Callum Ilott (Carlin) and Mikkel Jensen (Mücke Motorsport) completed the top ten.

Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing): “My start wasn’t the best, but at least I was able to keep my position. After that, I managed to open a slight gap until I got a warning for high oil temperature in my cockpit and for a while, I didn’t know what to do. Antonio closed up, but he couldn’t overtake me. Of course, I didn’t really expect to win a race on my first weekend of racing straight away, but things were already going quite well in pre-season testing”.

Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin): “I am really happy with my score of three podium finishes this weekend. During the race, I tried to put Charles under pressure to force him into a mistake, but he drove really well and didn’t give me any opportunity to overtake”.

Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam): “I was in fourth place for a long time, but then Gustavo Menezes suddenly slowed down in front of me. I had to do my utmost to avoid him, but managed. I am really happy with two podium finishes from the first race weekend of the season. For me, this was a considerably better start of the season than last year”.

Photos: FIA F3 Euro Series

F3 Euro Series: Rookie driver George Russell claims maiden Fórmula 3 race win.

Having only just missed out on a podium finish by finishing fourth in the first FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship race of the season, George Russell (Carlin) made it onto the top step of the podium a few hours later. At the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, he overtook pole setter Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing) at the start and went on to score his maiden FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship race win. In second and third place respectively, Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) completed the podium. Rookie driver Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam) finished fourth. After his second podium finish in as many races, Giovinazzi is the new FIA Fórmula 3 European Drivers’ Championship leader.

On the first few metres, Charles Leclerc, who had started from pole position, already had to surrender his leading position to George Russell after a successful attack by the Brit. A few metres later, Tatiana Calderón (Carlin), Michele Beretta (Mücke Motorsport) Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark) and Sam MacLeod (Motopark) retired after a collision that caused the only safety car intervention of the race. Racing resumed on the start of lap four and Russell was able to hold on to his lead from Leclerc and Giovinazzi.

On lap eight, Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam), who was relegated to 35th place on the grid as a penalty, showed up in the top ten for the first time. The Swede, the winner of the first race of the weekend on Saturday morning, found himself in the middle of a group of drivers, led by Fabian Schiller (Team West-Tec F3) and Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports), battling for seventh place. Three laps later, Rosenqvist had left the entire group behind him. Almost at the same time, Fittipaldi came out on top in the battle against Schiller. In the closing stages of the race, the German collided with Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam) and dropped back to eleventh behind Santino Ferrucci (Mücke Motorsport) and Mikkel Jensen (Mücke Motorsport).

Meanwhile, out in front, George Russell scored his maiden FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship victory. The British rookie crossed the finish line 1.723 seconds ahead of rookie Charles Leclerc and 5.412 seconds clear of Italian Antonio Giovinazzi. Lance Stroll, Brandon Maïsano (Prema Powerteam) and Alexander Albon (Signature) followed behind the top three.

George Russell (Carlin): “Even though pre-season testing went pretty well for me, I didn’t expect this victory. My start into the race was good and I was able to take first place. The restart after the safety car went well, too. After that, I tried to manage my tyres throughout the race, in which I succeeded”.

Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing): “Unfortunately, my start wasn’t good, but then, initially, I was able to keep up with George. Later on, my tyres degraded and I had to let him pull away. For me, on the last couple of laps, it was only about bringing second place home”.

Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin): “I had a really good start into this race, but I made slight contact with George’s car. After that, I was having minor problems in fast corners, but generally, my speed was good. Two podium finishes in the first two races are a decent result”.

Photos: FIA F3 Euro Series

F3 Euro Series: Felix Rosenqvist claims first pole position of the year.

Swede Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam, 1:51s007) claimed the first pole position of the new FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship season. At the 5.901 kilometres long Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, the 23-year-old stalwart ended up ahead of Italian Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 1:51s274), who was second. Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam, 1:51s332) was the best-placed British driver in third place in front of his compatriot George Russell (Carlin, 1:51s652), who emerged as the fastest rookie driver in first qualifying.

Felix Rosenqvist moved up to the top of the time sheets with eight minutes remaining, claiming first place from Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1:51s685) who was leading the Qualifying until then. In Rosenqvist’s slipstream, the Swede’s team-mate Jake Dennis also came to the fore and was second for a while. Later on, the Brit lost that position again two Antonio Giovinazzi. After that, the order in front remained unchanged until the end of the session. Thus, Rosenqvist claimed his first pole position in the 2015 FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship.

Behind the two best-placed rookie drivers George Russell and Charles Leclerc, Brandon Maïsano (Prema Powerteam, 1:51s768) was classified sixth. The Frenchman, who is contesting his maiden FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship season, had topped the time sheets in free practice on Friday morning. Lotus Fórmula 1 junior driver Alexander Albon (Signature, 1:51s792) from Thailand, Canadian Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam, 1:52s066) and German Markus Pommer (Motopark, 1:52s113) ended up in seventh to ninth place respectively. Thus, Pommer scored the first top ten result in the first-ever FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship qualifying session for his team Motopark. Brit Callum Ilott (Carlin, 1:52s113), a member of the Red Bull junior team, was classified tenth behind Pommer.

Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam): “For our team, things were already going quite well in free practice, because all the Prema Powerteam drivers were within the top six. Our performance was already pretty good. In qualifying, the main thing was to find a lap without too much traffic and then push it to the limit on this lap, in which I succeeded. Surprisingly, my first lap was also the fastest. Starting off the season with a pole position is always nice”.

F3 Euro Series: Ready for the pre-season testing.

In four weeks, the FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship will kick off its new season but the twelve teams already are working flat out on preparing for the first races at Silverstone. In the coming week, a total of 36 drivers will travel to Spain for the traditional pre-season tests at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

On 16th March, the programme features photo shoots and preparations but on 17th and 18th, the greedy young-guns will go out onto the track to prepare themselves and work on their cars, at the 4.005 kilometre circuit. The pre-season tests is the first official clash of the rivals in the 2015 season.

Also involved will be Indonesian Sean Gelael who plans to make several F3 guest appearances, this year and will be testing at Valencia in the cockpit of one of the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin single-seaters.

The two Fortec drivers Hongwei Cao and Zhi Cong Li will alternate at the wheel of one vehicle, at Valencia, with Cao testing on Tuesday and Li on Wednesday.

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

F3 Euro Series: Motopark-Cockpit for Sérgio Sette Câmara.

Having already signed Scotland’s Sam MacLeod, the German Markus Pommer and India’s Mahaveer Raghunathan, FIA Formula 3 European Championship newcomers Motopark now announced that Brazilian Sérgio Sette Câmara also is going to contest the 2015 season for the German squad. For the Brazilian, it will be the first full season on the FIA Formula 3 European Championship grid.

“I’m really delighted with having the chance of contesting my first FIA Formula 3 European Championship season for Motopark,” said the 16-yeasr old Brazilian from Belo Horizonte. “It already feels great to be a part of this team – they are like a big family. I’m ready for the biggest challenge in my career to date. I set myself the goal to learn as much as possible and demonstrate my potential step by step. I want to find my position among the greats of this sport”.

Sérgio Sette Câmara made his FIA Formula 3 European Championship debut last year at Imola and in addition, he contested several rounds of the Brazilian F3 Championship. In the finale of that series, he secured his first car-racing pole and celebrated his first podium by finishing second in the race. The steep learning curve of the young Brazilian who also continued his karting career, in 2014, also was realised by his new Team Principal, Timo Rumpfkeil. “You already could see that he has got the potential. Yes, he still lacks the experience. After all, he contested just a few car races, to date. Therefore, 2015 certainly will be a learning year, for him. But for us as team it will be a great task to help this young talent on his way to honing his skills and becoming a great racing driver”.

Photo: Motorpark.com

F3 Euro Series: Will rookie Esteban Ocon secure the title as early as at Imola?

For the first time in its history, the FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship is going to hold a race weekend at Imola’s 4.909-kilometre Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. For 18-year old Esteban Ocon (Prema Powerteam), the race meeting at the Italian racetrack represents the first chance of securing the title. The only drivers that still have the chance of stealing the French Lotus driver’s lead are Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing) - who already has been signed as GP driver for the 2015 season - Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) and Lucas Auer (Mücke Motorsport).

Ocon’s lead over Verstappen amounts to 77 points, Great Britain’s Tom Blomqvist follows another 10 points behind - and Lucas Auer’s gap to Ocon adds up to 119 points. With a maximum of 75 points to be awarded on an FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship race weekend, this means that Ocon could follow the footsteps of last year’s champion Raffaele Marciello as early as on the penultimate race weekend of the 2014 season

In addition, the grid of the Imola meeting will feature four new faces: Nick Cassidy (ThreeBond with T-Sport) already gathered his first Fórmula 3 European Championship experiences in 2013 and is making his comeback, now. Virtually the same applies to William Buller (Signature) who also already has got some FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship experience under his belt. He will race a Dallara-Volkswagen for Team Signature who are contesting their first race weekend of the season, at Imola. Meanwhile, China’s Hongwei Cao (Fortec Motorsports) who secured the British F3 title, four weeks ago, and Brazilian Sérgio Sette Câmara (Eurointernational) are making their FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship debuts, this weekend.

Câmara’s team-mate is Michele Beretta (Eurointernational), one of the three Italian’s on the FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship grid. Apart from him, Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) and Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam) also will represent the Italian colours, at Imola. The currently best-placed driver of the three Italians is rookie Fuoco. With six more races to go, the Ferrari Driver Academy protégé holds fifth position in the championship, right ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi who celebrated his first FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship win at the Red Bull Ring.

Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin): “I’m living a five-hour ride from Imola but it’s my home race, nevertheless. I’m looking forward to all the friends and relatives that will come to see me, this weekend, and I want to provide them a good performance. On Tuesday and Wednesday, during the official mid-season tests, I completed my first Imola laps and I really like the circuit: it is demanding and you quickly can make a mistake but this also allows you to learn a lot and demonstrate your skills. I think it’s one of the most demanding venues on the entire FIA Fórmula 3 European Championship calendar”.

Photos: FIA F3 Euro Series