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Joel Eriksson (Motopark), the current FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader, managed to score a race win on each of the three FIA Formula 3 European Championship race weekends held so far this season. This range of success continued at the 2.76 kilometres long street circuit of Pau.

At the foot of the Pyrenees, he finished ahead of Lando Norris (Carlin), with Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) taking third place. Nikita Mazepin (Hitech Grand Prix) scored his best FIA Formula 3 European Championship result to date by finishing fourth, followed by Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix) and Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing). In the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings, Eriksson extends his lead from Norris to eight points.

At the start, Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) converted his pole position into the race lead ahead of Lando Norris and Joel Eriksson. Still on the opening lap, however, the Brit retired from the lead following an accident. As Eriksson had moved past Norris just before that, the Swede inherited the lead. On lap five, Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam) was the next driver to crash into the Armco barriers, which prompted the race director to deploy the safety car. During the neutralisation, Eriksson led from Norris, Joey Mawson (Van Amersfoort Racing), Jake Dennis (Carlin), Maximilian Günther and Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix).

Racing resumed on lap eleven. While Eriksson’s lead was never under threat, rookie Mawson had to defend his position from a charging Jake Dennis. Six laps later, with a few drops of rain coming down, Hughes was unable to avoid a crash into the Armco barriers and retired. Just a little bit later, Mawson and Dennis did likewise in unrelated incidents. While the safety car was deployed once more, the new race order was Eriksson from Norris, Günther, Nikita Mazepin, Ralf Aron and Harrison Newey.

Two laps before the chequered flag was out, racing resumed. On the final 5.5 kilometres, there were no position changes at the front of the field. Joel Eriksson scored his maiden win on the streets of Pau. Lando Norris came second as the best-placed rookie, and crossed the finish line ahead of Maximilian Günther, Nikita Mazepin, Ralf Aron, Harrison Newey, Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing), Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam), Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin) and Jehan Daruvala (Carlin). As Schumacher had overtaken Carlin driver Habsburg under yellow, the stewards of the meeting imposed a penalty, after which he dropped one place. Therefore, he ended up ninth behind Habsburg in the final classification.

Joel Eriksson (Motopark): “I am really happy, because this win is my first on a street circuit. I had a very good start and I was able to keep Lando at bay in the battle for second. In front of me, Callum was very fast on the first few kilometres. Too fast from my point of view given the limited grip that was available. That showed as he retired after an accident. Later on, my pace was really good as well. At times, I was able to pull clear from Lando and I defended my first place until the finish.”

Lando Norris (Carlin): “The start was my best of the season so far, even though it wasn’t perfect yet. Initially, I was third and I was then second after Callum’s accident. I tried to put Joel under pressure, but he didn’t make any mistakes. Thus, I didn’t have a chance to overtake, but I am also happy with second place. According to me, the fact that drivers of the Motopark and Carlin teams are very good at the moment is mainly the result of the hard work by both teams over the winter. Perhaps, not everybody expected our current performance. As far as the engine is concerned, there is no significant difference between the Mercedes and the Volkswagen engines.”

Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam): “At the start, I had too much wheel spin, so I dropped back to sixth. After Callum’s crash, I was up in fifth and I was third after Joey Mawson and Jake Dennis had crashed out. I was very fortunate, because there was contact when I drove past Jake’s limping car. Fortunately, my car didn’t have any damage, so I was able to bring third place home. After my getaway, which wasn’t very good, this was still a good start into the weekend.”

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Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) is the winner of the sixth race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season at the 5.793 kilometres long Formula 1 track in the royal park of Monza.

The Brit finished ahead of his compatriot Lando Norris (Carlin), who was the best-placed rookie in the field. Third across the line in fine spring weather was German Maximilian Gunther (Prema Powerteam). In the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings, Swede Joel Eriksson (Motopark) remains in the lead. Following his fourth-place finish, his margin over Lando Norris as his closest rival has now been reduced to only one point.

Ilott already laid the foundation for his second victory of the season at the start as he moved up into the lead. Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam), Lando Norris and Joel Eriksson, who had started from pole position, followed behind Ilott after the opening lap.

In yet another entertaining race, McLaren junior driver Norris overtook Chinese Ferrari junior Guanyu Zhou on lap five, but turned out to be unable to decisively close the gap to race leader Ilott before the chequered flag was out. Thus, Prema driver Ilott scored his second win of the season in the home round for his Italian team.

Behind the two British drivers Ilott and Norris, Maximilian Gunther had the upper hand over Joel Eriksson in a battle for the final remaining podium slot over many laps. A few laps before the finish, the Swede started a final attack, but locked up under braking and had to make do with fourth place.

Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin), Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam) and Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing) secured fifth, sixth and seventh place in that order, all of them having managed to overtake Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix). The Estonian eventually finished eighth ahead of Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) and Guanyu Zhou, who dropped back to tenth.

Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam): “In the first two races, we were still having some problems. In the third race, however, things were going better after we had made some changes on the brakes. Especially in the early stages, my wheels were regularly locking up under braking. Later on, I managed to pull a slight gap ahead of my rivals. Compared to Lando, I was faster in the second sector, so that I was able to keep my margin at a consistent level for a long time.”

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In partly sunny, partly overcast conditions, the young drivers in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship battled for the starting grid positions for the seventh race of the season, to be held at the 2.76 kilometres long street circuit in the city of Pau.

At the foot of the Pyrenees, Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam, 1m09.514s) claimed pole position while rookie driver Lando Norris (Carlin, 1m09.724s) secured second place. Next up on the starting grid behind the two Brits are points’ leader Joel Eriksson (Motopark, 1m09.882s), last year’s runner-up Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam, 1m09:753s), rookie Joey Mawson (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1m09.907s) and stalwart Jake Dennis (Carlin, 1m09.856s).

Because of the track length of only 2.76 kilometres, qualifying was held in two groups. The driver to post the outright fastest time would be on pole position, with the fastest driver from the slower group second on the grid. The other drivers from the respective groups are following in a straight line behind their fastest driver, meaning that the drivers from one group line up on the left and the driver from the other group line up on the right side of the track.

In the first group, Callum Ilott came out on top and claimed first place. The British driver of the Prema Powerteam topped the time sheets from the very beginning and held on to his position throughout the session. Whenever one of his rivals reduced the gap, Ilott upped the ante as well. Thus, Joel Eriksson, Joey Mawson and Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam, 1m09.942s) all took turns in second place. Among the drivers behind Ilott, it was Eriksson who eventually came out on top and claimed second place on the grid. Mawson, Zhou, Nikita Mazepin (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m10.146s), Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m10.258s), Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam, 1m10.271s) and Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 1m10.350s) followed in third to eighth place in group A.

In group B, Lando Norris was on top around the halfway point, but soon was toppled by Maximilian Günther. Jake Dennis also managed to move ahead of the British McLaren junior driver, who thus found himself in third place only a few minutes before the end of qualifying. Then, however, Norris countered successfully and claimed back first place.

In the closing stages, David Beckmann (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1m10.673s) caused an interruption as his car came to a halt on the track. As no driver managed to improve his lap time later on, Norris ended up first in his group. Next up were Günther, Dennis, Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m09.959s), Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1m10.439s), Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1m10.498s), Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin, 1m10.634s) and Beckmann.

Eventually, Callum Ilott ended up on pole position for the first race as the fastest driver in group A as his lap time was faster than Norris’s of group B.

Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam): “I was in the first group and I was among the first to post a lap time as a result. I think I did a good job. I felt really well and didn’t have any issues during qualifying, apart from a yellow flag towards the end of the session. Most of the drivers already headed out on track early, because with the clouds, we weren’t sure whether or not we would be getting some rain again. However, we only had a few drops. Then, we had to wait what the other group would do as conditions for them were similar to ours. It was close, but it turned out to be enough for pole position.”

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The second FIA Formula 3 European Championship race at the 5.793 kilometres long Monza Grand Prix circuit again provided exciting racing action.

Joel Eriksson (Motopark) scored a lights-to-flag victory from the two rookie drivers Lando Norris (Carlin) and Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam). While Swedish driver Eriksson moved up into the lead of the drivers’ standings with his second win of the season, German Mick Schumacher, the son of Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher, scored his maiden overall podium finish in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. 

Joel Eriksson started from pole position and took the lead at the start. Initially, Mick Schumacher slotted in behind the Motopark driver, followed by Lando Norris, Callum Ilott and Jake Dennis. On lap six, Norris overtook Mick Schumacher for second, but at that time, he was already over three seconds behind race leader Eriksson.

Only towards the end of the race, Norris came considerably closer to Eriksson, but the gap was never small enough to mount a challenge. As a result, BMW junior driver Eriksson went on to claim his second win of the season. McLaren protégé Norris took the chequered flag in second place ahead of Mick Schumacher, whose third place was never under threat.

Schumacher’s team-mate Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) finished fourth in the race in Monza’s royal park. Around the halfway point, the German was involved in a battle with Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing) and had the upper hand over the Brit. Later on, Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin) put Günther under pressure for fourth, but a driving error during an attempt to overtake meant that the Austrian eventually crossed the finish line behind Günther. Earlier on, Harrison Newey and Jake Dennis had been battling for fifth, but both had to retire following a collision.

Ferrari junior Guanyu Zhou, (Prema Powerteam), Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam), Force India junior Jehan Daruvala (Carlin), Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix) and Nikita Mazepin (Hitech Grand Prix), who is also supported by the Force India Formula 1 team, rounded out the top ten in bright sunshine near the city of Milan.

Joel Eriksson (Motopark): “Winning a race at Monza is a dream coming true, I am really happy. For me, the race was nearly perfect. My start was really good and I was able to pull clear from the rest of the field very quickly. As a result, the drivers behind me didn’t have a slipstream, which was very important to me. In the closing stages, Lando was able to close up, but my victory was never really under threat.”

Lando Norris (Carlin): “Once again, the start was my weak point. When I continuously lose positions in the early stages, I am making life more difficult for me than necessary and that annoys me. However, my team and I are working on it, although the issue is more a driver’s problem. In this race, Joel was really fast and closing up to him after my start was all the more difficult as a result. Nevertheless, I am happy with my second place, especially after my start that wasn’t perfect.”

Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam): “My maiden FIA Formula 3 European Championship podium finish is a really nice feeling, especially as I managed to score it at the home race for my Italian team. I didn’t quite expect such a result on my second weekend in Formula 3 already, but third place in qualifying already gave me a very good position to start from. Initially, I was still able to keep up with Joel, but after I had made a slight error, he pulled away."

"Once Lando had overtaken me, I hoped for him to close up to Joel. Should the two have battled for the lead, that would perhaps have allowed me to close up as well. Admittedly, it didn’t work out that way, but I am happy with third place, too." He concluded

 

         

 

 

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