Linus Lundqvist took pole and win on a super Saturday for the British F3 championship leader to hold off championship rival Kush Maini, while second in the standings Nicolai Kjaergaard could only manage sixth after qualifying seventh.
Jordan Cane made an impressive return to the podium. Here’s what they had to say following a busy Saturday.
Lundqvist:
“Today was perfect, we got pole and win and I’m super happy. There’s another two races tomorrow but I’m going to enjoy this victory for a short time.
When someone is as close as Kush was there doesn’t go a lap where you aren’t looking in your mirrors, you sort of look at what they’re trying to do and I made a small mistake out of the hairpin and he got a run on me. We went side by side a Brooklands and Copse, I just stayed cool and was able to stay ahead.
I would like a win where it’s easier but all in all we’ve had a great car all weekend so thanks to Double R. I just did my part today.
You could say it’s almost perfect. I’m always happy with a win and it’s always a bonus if your main rival isn’t doing too well. We’re always happy with a win when it’s there.”
Maini:
Today was perfect, we got pole and win and I’m super happy. There’s another two races tomorrow but I’m going to enjoy this victory for a short time.
When someone is as close as Kush was there doesn’t go a lap where you aren’t looking in your mirrors, you sort of look at what they’re trying to do and I made a small mistake out of the hairpin and he got a run on me. We went side by side a Brooklands and Copse, I just stayed cool and was able to stay ahead.
I would like a win where it’s easier but all in all we’ve had a great car all weekend so thanks to Double R. I just did my part today.
You could say it’s almost perfect. I’m always happy with a win and it’s always a bonus if your main rival isn’t doing too well. We’re always happy with a win when it’s there.
Kjaergaard:
We’ve struggled a lot yesterday and today. We were slow yesterday and we’re only a bit better today, Clement did a really good job in qualifying.
I didn’t put my lap together so I was P7 and a lot of others put new tyres on and we didn’t have the pace anyway. It was going to be hard.
Tomorrow we need to have a look and see what we can do, we definitely need to find some speed as we weren’t fast enough.
Hopefully these things even themselves out, normally we do have a very quick car. This time it’s weird, we just can’t figure out exactly what the problem is. We seem to have the same problem every time. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be faster.
Cane:
You always aim for the top step but third isn’t bad, Douglas gave me a great car. It was about focussing and staying with the front two, got close towards the end as they battled more than they did. It’s a good result today.
I knew Maini had four new tyres, where we had two like Linus, set the second fastest lap time so we’re in a good position for race three. We’ll be pushing to stick with these boys tomorrow. This is the one place you can have a go at overtaking, as we have a lot of downforce it usually is quite difficult.
Ah, Monte Carlo, the signature event on the Formula One calendar. While the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix won’t go down in history as the most exciting race (the word ‘processional’ comes to mind), the challenging nature of the circuit itself makes for an interesting technical race. This season’s running certainly offered up some worthwhile moments, though the lack of a full Safety Car made it seem like it wasn’t quite Monaco.
Daniel Ricciardo leading the pack in Monaco. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Daniel Ricciardo stole the show with his masterful pace control from pole position. Capitalising on a clean start, he was able to back the field up for the first several laps, babysitting his hypersoft tyres. Several other drivers commented on the slow pace of the opening stint, but due to the difficulties of overtaking on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo nobody was able to mount an effective attack.
The race appeared to begin in earnest around lap 15, when Ricciardo opened up the throttle. Responding to Vettel’s lap 16 pit stop, Red Bull pulled Ricciardo in for a set of ultrasofts on lap 17. Enjoying a comfortable lead, Ricciardo rejoined the race in first.
On lap 28 Ricciardo reported losing power. While Ricciardo later admitted that Red Bull had identified an issue with the MGU-K on lap 18, it was ten laps later when he announced the problem. Despite being down on power, and further only able to use six of his eight gears, Ricciardo was able to manage his pace remarkably.
As the race progressed, pervasive graining on the left front tyre helped discourage Vettel and others on ultrasofts from pursuing too aggressive an approach, whereas the Red Bull’s chassis served tyre management well. In time, Vettel’s tyres settled in and he was able to mount an attack on Ricciardo, but the Red Bull man defended brilliantly.
A late Virtual Safety Car played into Ricciardo’s hands, as Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren emerged from the pits between Ricciardo and Vettel, albeit a lap down. This traffic allowed Ricciardo to rebuild a lead that saw him cross the finish line over 7 seconds ahead of Vettel to claim victory. After the stunning strategy mistake of 2016 cost him that win, this victory was particularly sweet for the Australian. The fact that he remained in P1 through the entire race could’ve only sweetened it further. His Driver of the Day award was well-earned.
Max Verstappen – image courtesy of Rob Smalley / Red Bull Content Pool
On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Max Verstappen drove a solid race. Starting from the back of the grid, he had claimed both Haas cars on the opening lap, and patiently climbed the order. Verstappen maintained a cool head throughout the race, shepherding his starting set of ultrasofts for 47 laps.
Despite some early complaints of pitting late for a set of hypersofts, he engaged in a duel with Carlos Sainz in which both drivers cut chicanes (leading to an amusing radio call of, “He cut the chicane!” from Sainz who moments before did exactly the same thing) resulting in a warning from the pit wall to keep his overtaking clean. After a weekend of trouble and serious errors in previous races, Max drove a clean race to finish in ninth, up from 20th.
Sebastian Vettel at Monaco 2018. Finishing 2nd. Image courtesy of Ferarri.com
Scuderia Ferrari delivered a workmanlike race, though not terribly memorable. Sebastian Vettel consistently kept pressure on Ricciardo, though he wasn’t able to overtake. The pervasive left front graining on the ultrasoft tyres combined with the narrow streets prevented him from pushing past Ricciardo. Technical gremlins briefly popped up for the German on lap 41, causing a brief blackout on his dash. Happily, this wasn’t to become a more serious issue. Vandoorne’s late pitstop during the VSC period sealed Vettel’s second place.
Kimi Räikkönen, despite pushing hard against Lewis Hamilton, was similarly unable to make any meaningful gains. Suffering from the ubiquitous trouble with his left front tyre, the Finn started and finished in fourth.
On the Mercedes front, it looked briefly like Valtteri Bottas might have a chance at upsetting the order as Mercedes elected to send him out on supersofts after pitting on lap 17. While he avoided the graining issues that held up the other drivers at the sharp end of the grid, tyre temperature issues caused him to back off from Räikkönen for several laps, and he wasn’t able to mount a serious challenge to his fellow Finn. Bottas further continued the trend of finishing where he started, in fifth.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, while vocal about his tyre issues, race pace and so forth, wasn’t able to do much about any of it either. Starting in third, he finished in third.
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG
And so it went for the frontrunners (and Max), though there was a bit more excitement down the grid.
Perhaps the most exciting moment of the race came on lap 72, when local boy Charles Leclerc’s Sauber suffered a brake failure while approaching the chicane. Accompanied by a large puff of brake dust (and brakes), he plowed into the back of Brendan Hartley’s Toro Rosso. While Hartley limped back to the pits to retire, Race Control invoked the Virtual Safety Car while marshals recovered the damaged Sauber.
Leclerc’s teammate Marcus Ericsson had a much less eventful race, finishing in 13th, from starting in 16th.
Pierre Gasly. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly drove an excellent race. Starting in tenth, he shepherded his used set of hypersofts for 37 laps before pitting for supersofts. Avoiding drama, the Frenchman put in a workmanlike drive to finish in seventh.
Renault displayed an admirable amount of teamwork and coordination when defending against Max Verstappen’s charge. On lap 55, Nico Hulkenberg, running in ninth, clearly had pace over teammate Carlos Sainz, who was running in eighth. Sainz did a brilliant job of ceding eighth to Hulkenberg while preventing Verstappen from following through the door. Though Sainz would eventually lose ninth to the Dutchman, he didn’t give up the position without a fight. Hulkenberg proceeded to finish in eighth, up from eleventh, while Sainz finished in ninth, down from eighth.
It’s tempting to say that McLaren’s early form is waning, though there are still many races left in the season. Long-suffering Fernando Alonso suffered his first retirement of the season, with a gearbox failure on lap 54 after running in the points. His teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finished in 14th, having stymied Vettel’s chances, starting from 12th. Perhaps Ricciardo will send him a fruit basket for his efforts, or at least a nice note.
Sahara Force India F1 Team
Force India suffered from bad luck on one side of the garage, as a troublesome right rear wheel caused Sergio Perez’s lap 23 pit stop to run precious seconds long. Though emerging on the durable supersoft tyres, he was unable to make up positions and finished in 12th, down from his starting position of ninth. Teammate Esteban Ocon, though, despite some graining in the middle stint, had a relatively trouble-free drive to finish where he started, in sixth.
Williams is… continuing to be Williams. The storied organisation’s run of poor performance continued today, even before the race start. Sergey Sirotkin was given a 10-second stop/go penalty for not having his tyres fitted by the 3-minute warning, and was investigated again when it appeared that his crew worked on his car while he served the penalty. He was cleared of this, and went on to finish in 16th, down from 13th.
Lance Stroll had an eventful, though negative, outing. One could be excused for thinking that Stroll was attempting to fill in the punches on his Frequent Pit Stop card, pitting three times. Pitting on lap 9 for a new front wing and supersoft tyres, he emerged in 20th and would have remained there save for retirements up the field. Subsequent stops in laps 34 and 59 for fresh sets of hypersofts didn’t help him overmuch. The Canadian finished in 17th, where he started.
Glenn Dunbar/Williams F1
Haas too continued to struggle. After qualifying 18th and 19th, both of the drivers failed to make significant gains on-track, though they did finish ahead of both Williams’. Kevin Magnussen, this season’s points-generator for the American team, finished out of the points in 13th, while Romain Grosjean finished in 15th.
At the end of the day, Lewis Hamilton retains the lead in the Drivers Championship with 100 points, with Sebastian Vettel in second with 96. Daniel Ricciardo rounds out the top three, with 72 points. On the Constructors side, the teams so far mirror the driver standings. Mercedes leads Ferrari by 178 to 156, and Red Bull is comfortably in third with 107 points.
As we approach Canada, the Drivers and Constructors Championships are still wide open. It should be exciting to see how the teams cope with the demands of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montréal under the new regulations. Stick with us on the weekend of 8–10 June for your Grand Prix du Canada coverage.
Featured image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Carlin Motorsport’s Billy Monger says he is getting used to the challenges that the British F3 series has thrown at him this season.
The 19-year-old drives an adapted car having lost both of his legs in an F4 accident at Donnington Park a year ago.
Those adaptations feature a throttle paddle behind right of his steering wheel, while the gear shifting paddles are both on the left.
Monger says that it has been difficult, but he is getting on top of the added challenges.
“Of course it has been a challenge because the step up from F4 to F3 is already massive on its own along with the fact that I’m learning new controls as well.
“It has been a steep learning curve, but I do feel like I’m getting the hang of it now.”
At the first weekend at Oulton Park, the man from Surrey took a fairytale podium, but at Rockingham things did not go his way with two races lost to incidents and contact.
At Snetterton, he was closer to the sharp end of the field with a seventh, a ninth and a sixth and feels that the first dry weekend of the season helped him.
“In the dry I feel more confident in the car than the rain because the hand throttle is quite difficult in the wet but I’m getting on alright.
“The feel is different from hands to with feet, it is difficult to get a feel for everything, that is something I have to learn really.”
And one of the championship’s bigger names is confident of fighting for the top three after misfortune earlier in the season.
“We’re definitely competitive enough, it’s just about having the luck on our side to put us up there fighting for podiums and wins.”
Monger does concede that his long-term involvement in the championship depends on finance and sponsorship, but is keen to stay with Carlin.
“The plan is to finish the season with Carlin in British F3, it does depend on budget and sponsorship, those are things that will come into play with regards to whether I can finish the season or not.
“We want a good solid position in the championship come the end of the year.”
Once again, the Indy 500 delivered an action-packed race full of twists, turns and the inevitable cautions, seven this time! We had a new Indy 500 victor in Will Power, who now tops the championship as a result of his 100-point haul, but the likes of Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi all put up very good fights. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, the new, lower downforce cars coupled with the higher temperatures and subsequently lower grip caught more than one notable driver out.
Starting at the top, Power may have taken the win and led a sizeable number of laps in the process however, it wasn’t until well after half-way in that he actually took the lead for the first time. After qualifying third, Power dropped back at the start but regained the lost ground at the first round of pit stops under the first caution, gaining three positions in one go and putting him back up to third. In the latter quarter of the race, Power’s win rarely looked in doubt but there was very nearly a surprise when Stefan Wilson, Jack Harvey and Oriol Servia all didn’t pit under the last caution. Wilson led the race for three laps after the restart, making him and his late brother Justin the fourth set of brothers to do so, but it wasn’t to be as all three drivers had to pull into the pits having run out of fuel. With those three out of the way, Power had a clear track ahead of him to take a dominant win, well ahead of Carpenter and Dixon. Power, along with his Penske squad, was clearly elated in victory circle and it was a win he certainly deserved after a less than great start to the season.
Super-speedway specialist, Carpenter, was tipped by many to take the victory and seemed in charge in the opening stages of the race but he was overhauled by first Tony Kanaan and then, once Kanaan had eliminated himself from the lead with a puncture, Power who went on to the victory. Carpenter had taken a few front row starts at the Indy 500 before but never a win, he was confident that he could rectify that before the race but the cautions and changes in strategy just didn’t play into his favour and he was left in a rather disappointing second. A story of what could’ve been for Carpenter who knows time is fast running out for him to get that elusive Indy 500 win.
Scot Dixon. Indycar 2018: Round Six – image courtesy of hondanews.eu
Third on the road was Dixon who managed to not go flying this year to take a well-deserved podium. The #9 Chip Ganassi driver had a fairly quiet first half of the race, other than very nearly crashing with Sebastien Bourdais, often running within the top five but never taking the lead however, he rolled the dice under the sixth caution by pitting and trying to make the end. Once the rest of the pit stops had cycled out, Dixon found himself in the net lead and a fair amount ahead of Power however, he was soon caught on his older tyres with both Power and Carpenter blasting past, leaving Dixon to fend off Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay. That he did, taking third and propelling himself into fourth in the championship.
Rossi was, amazingly, the bookmakers favourite going into the race despite the fact that he was starting second-to-last in thirty-second. After enjoying the last row club, along with Harvey and Conor Daly, it was down to business for the #27 Andretti driver. He made up a good six positions in the first five laps, but his progress stalled somewhat, only making up a further three positions in the next forty laps. By the third caution, Rossi had made it up to twelfth before he made incredible progress on the fourth restart, going around the outside, in very brave fashion, of just about everyone in his group. This trait was continued on the fifth restart when he went high to take a further two cars, putting him into third. The last round of pit stops didn’t play into the 2016 winner’s hands with Rossi eventually having to settle for fourth but gaining twenty-seven positions in one race is nothing to be ashamed of!
Penske, despite the win, didn’t have the best of days with their other three drivers. Josef Newgarden’s off strategy gamble under the third caution didn’t really pay off and, after being as low as twentieth, he was only able to recover an eighth-place finish putting him ten points back from the lead in the championship. Simon Pagenaud went fairly unnoticed throughout the race but a long last stop quashed any remaining chance the Frenchman had of a podium, eventually coming home in sixth. The last Penske of Helio Castroneves was the most unfortunate after he was the cause of the fifth caution. He was clearly upset after losing the rear and ending up hitting the inside wall, but he wasn’t along in doing so.
Danica Patrick’s last race. Image courtesy of media.gm.com
First to fall foul of these oversteer-prone cars was last year’s third place finisher, and arguably Rookie of the Year, Ed Jones who ploughed into the wall, causing the second caution of the day. This crash was repeated by Danica Patrick whose fairy-tale final race at Indy was ended when she too lost the rear after struggling with her car all day. Bourdais, Sage Karam and Kanaan all had very similar crashes to Jones and Patrick with those three causing the fourth, sixth and seventh cautions respectively.
Takuma Sato. Indycar 2018: Round Six – Indy 500, Indianapolis. Image courtesy of media.gm.com
All but one of the cautions were caused by a single car crash which is very unusual for the Indy 500, usually famed for its wrecks. The only exception to that rule was the very first caution which was caused by last year’s winner, Takuma Sato, hitting the back of James Davison. Davison had been running considerably slower than the cars around him for quite a number of laps before Sato was caught out by the pace differential coming out of the corner, leaving him a passenger as he hit the side of Davison.
All drivers were thankfully ok following their incidents, with only Jones’ in slight doubt for next week’s double header at Detroit after being taken to hospital as a precautionary measure with head and neck pain.
It hasn’t been announced yet, but Schmidt Peterson’s Robert Wickens is expected to take Rookie of the Year after an impressive ninth place finish in the absence of bumped teammate James Hinchcliffe.
Will Power, driver of the #12 Verizon Team Penske IndyCar Chevrolet V6, celebrates his victory Sunday, May 27, 2018, after winning the Verizon IndyCar 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is the first Indy 500 win for Power and the 17th win for team owner Roger Penske. Image courtesy of media.gm.com and the photo by Phillip Abbott/LAT for Chevy Racing.
With the 102nd running done, it won’t be long before talk points to the 103rd running of the Indy 500 however, for now, IndyCar heads to the double header that is the Duel in Detroit next weekend before completing the second, and most valuable, triple header at Texas Motor Speedway.
Full Race Result:
Will Power
Ed Carpenter
Scott Dixon
Alexander Rossi
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Simon Pagenaud
Carlos Munoz
Josef Newgarden
Robert Wickens (R)
Graham Rahal
JR Hildebrand
Marco Andretti
Matheus Leist (R)
Gabby Chaves
Stefan Wilson
Jack Harvey
Oriol Servia
Charlie Kimball
Zachary Claman De Melo (R)
Spencer Pigot
Conor Daly
Max Chilton
Zach Veach (R)
Jay Howard
DNF – Tony Kanaan, Sage Karam, Helio Castroneves, Sebastien Bourdais, Kyle Kaiser (R), Danica Patrick, Ed Jones, Takuma Sato, James Davison
Lanan Motorsport’s Kush Maini remained upbeat despite losing ground to championship rivals Linus undqvist and Nicolai Kjaergaard.
Maini finished Race Two 14th after a third in Race One on Saturday, his race scuppered by a puncture sustained while trying to move through the field.
The 17-year-old Indian made no excuses.
“It’s a setback, the puncture was a bit of my own fault. That’s racing, Nicolai had similar luck. All I can do is look forward. It’s disappointing but it is all about how you react.
“You win championships on how you react on your bad weekends, not your good weekends. At Oulton I could easily have lost my head and not finished races there but I got a podium, a fifth and made the best of the situation. The race was my error in race two, but it’s all a case of what ifs now.”
Maini was still able to take third in the final race of the day, having threatened the Scandinavian lead duo of Lundqvist and Kjaergaard early on.
Having already suffered in Race Two, he was keen to stay in the race avoid risks at a circuit that proved difficult to pass on.
“I was driving with my head, honestly. It played a little on my mind, there was a time where I could get second off Nicolai where he’d gone off trying to pass Linus. I could have risked it but if I’d risked it there it could have been all over. We’re still in the game.
“I wanted more than third as we had got the best lap in Race Two but this track is so difficult to follow at. I was getting closer in the slower corners but in the fast ones I was losing it all again, because you lose downforce.”
Lanan were strong at Silverstone last year, and Maini is hoping to repeat that form when the British F3 series visits the home of British Motorsport again in two weeks time.
“We went really well at Silverstone last year, two firsts and a second and we did well at the test. You can expect a fight between us three again, I’m excited and I can’t wait for it.
“I love getting in the car and driving my heart out, I always have fun. Let’s see what happens at Silverstone.”
Nicolai Kjaergaard is hopeful that luck will soon start smiling down on him after a costly retirement in Race Two on Sunday.
The Carlin Motorsport driver had ascended to the top of the standings on Saturday with victory in the opening race of the weekend, but contact with Tom Gamble saw him retire having climbed ten places early on.
“I had gained a lot of positions in the first two laps and my speed was good.
“I thought I was on for a podium so that was really good, but then I came up to Gamble. We were close to touching at Turn One, and he misjudged it at Turn Three where I was on his outside, put us on the grass and we hit the wall. He probably thought he left more room.
“Hopefully that is my last DNF of the season.”
Kjaergaard was second in the final race of the day behind championship leader Linus Lundqvist, and admits that the Swede’s consistency is cause for concern.
“He just doesn’t not finish. He’s always there, and not making mistakes. I was really pushing, but Linus was just too fast. He’s getting further and further away in the championship so I really need to finish ahead of him now in all races.”
Kjaergaard was realistic about his chances in Race Two, with Snetterton proving hard to pass at this weekend.
“Second is a lot better than Race Two, it’s difficult to expect much around here because it is not an easy track to overtake on. The pole man has won here in all three races which tells the story. I was hoping for the win but we knew it was going to be hard.”
And the Dane is looking forward to Silverstone in two weeks’ time, where he sees an opportunity to start making up ground to Lundqvist.
“Usually at Silverstone Carlin have a really good car so I’m expecting to be at the front as we have been for these first three weekends. We need to get some wins.”
Sweden’s Linus Lundqvist enjoyed an almost perfect Sunday at Snetterton to stretch out a 30-point lead over nearest rival Nicolai Kjaergaard.
In the full reverse grid Race Two, Lundqvist picked his way from 15th to fourth while Kjaergaard came to grief with Tom Gamble and third in the standings Kush Maini also faltered.
Lundqvist was quick to acknowledge his good fortune in the morning.
“I don’t like to be happy about other people’s misfortune but with the position in the championship, I won’t say that I was disappointed to see Nicolai off the track.
“All in all I’m very happy with how my race turned out, my performance that we had a great car balance. We’ve had a strong car all weekend and we improved from yesterday’s race, the car and me as I’ve made less mistakes today. A big thanks to RR Racing for that.”
The championship leader was keen to take advantage of opportunities presented to him by slower drivers starting higher up the grid, despite the difficulty in overtaking at Snetterton.
“Going into this race we knew that there would be overtaking opportunities early on but we actually made up some places later on in the race, had some good battles, so I’m very happy and quite surprised at how close we could battle. That’s what this full reverse grid offers in that sense”
Lundqvist went on to win from pole in Race Three, and dedicated the victory to his mother on Mother’s Day in his homeland, and places importance on the support his family offer.
“I hope my mother is happy and proud of this result, I have planned something else for Swedish Mothers’ Day! I’m sure she’s happy. My family have been here with me every weekend since I started over here, it means a lot to me to have them here.”
The mantra from Lundqvist throughout the weekend has been about staying consistent, and after three straight podiums at Rockingham followed by a second, fourth and a win he felt it important to build on the strong results achieved four weeks ago.
“I’ll take these results any day, we’ve built on the weekend we had a Rockingham where we had all of those podiums. Here, we almost got the same results and it’s been a very good weekend results wise and championship wise. It feels really good leaving the weekend with these results, I just played my part in a team effort all weekend.”
With Kjaergaard and Maini praising the intelligence shown by the championship leader, he agrees that it is the big weapon in his arsenal.
“It is definitely an advantage I would say. We’ve been happy to take those fourth, fifth positions and score good points.”
Max Verstappen – Photo credit, Redbull Content Pool
After some impressive Free Practice sessions for the Dutchman –finishing second in both first and second Free Practice- it was looking to be a very promising weekend for Max Verstappen. The Red Bull dominated both sessions on the Thursday, with Daniel Ricciardo finding himself on top spot twice. They both outclassed the Ferrari and Mercedes, who already deemed Red Bull favourite for a potential victory. This might be the chance for Max to get his first ever pole position, and that on a track where pole position can mean the race win. Knowing how well he can defend, that special win could be guaranteed. It thus seemed like a fairy tale would come true in what is the crown jewel on the F1 calendar.
They couldn’t be more wrong, as this fairy tale turned into a horror even before qualifying started. With just four minutes to go in FP3 –having set the fastest time yet that session- Max crashed his number 33 car into the wall at the Piscine section, one of the fastest sections of the track. Pushing maybe too hard that lap he steered in too early, hitting the wall which led to a suspension failure as he went straight into the wall. It looked almost identical as the crash he had there back in 2016. The car was damaged heavily and the question was raised if the Red Bull mechanics could fix the car on time for qualifying. Pictures on TV looked promising as the mechanics were working hard on the car with just 15 minutes to go in Q1. The dream of a potential first pole position ended quickly after that, when news came out that they found issues with the gearbox which they had to change.
Of course such things can happen on Monaco, but after having incidents in all of the races this season so far the time might come for Max to ask himself if he can continue to drive like this, or if he has to change his driving style. We all know Max for his aggressive driving, both attacking and defending. That’s what makes him stand out from the rest. He takes risks like no one else. That might be just the problem. Those risks don’t get you as a driver nor the team the very important points. Max was criticised for his incidents like the crash in China with Vettel and his spin into the barriers at Bahrain and even his team became more critical. He responded to that, saying that he won’t change his driving style as he thinks that isn’t necessary. Now however, after the costly crash in FP3, Christian Horner has warned the young Dutchman that something has to change and the crashes need to stop. On TV we could see a seemingly angry Helmut Marko talking to Max, probably telling him the same. They are running out of patience at Red Bull. Afterwards he admitted he made the mistake all by his own. Does that mean he learned from it though?
Max – Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Starting the race from last position, he had nothing to lose. After overtaking both Haas cars immediately after the start, his race already looked promising. He was very cautious at turn 6 on the first lap as he really left some room there so it might be clear that he really listened to his team. Some impressive overtakes on Leclerc, Sainz and Stroll brought him up to P12 in lap 20. Finishing the race in P9, on a track where overtaking is deemed very tough, starting from last place he really impressed F1 fans from all over the world. He has proven himself again.
One thing that was noted over the course of this season, especially after another unnecessary and very costly crash, is the attitude towards Max from his Dutch fans. The comments on Facebook and Twitter have become way more negative. Dutch fans have become more divided on the subject of his driving style. On the one hand people enjoy his aggressive style and accept that this can lead to crashes as this style also brought him his victories, but on the other hand people get annoyed by the fact that he struggles to get points to fight for the championship especially when they see that his teammate dominated the whole weekend. One thing they all have in common is that they all think Max needs to learn from his mistakes to prevent them from happening again in the future. After all, he could have won the Monaco GP this weekend..
Sweden’s Linus Lundqvist goes into the third British F3 meeting of the season with a slender lead in the championship with rounds seven, eight and nine at Snetterton in Norfolk this weekend.
An ultra-consistent Lundqvist was on the podium in all three races last time out at Rockingham and heads the standings by 11 points from Nicolai Kjaergaard, with Tom Gamble and Kush Maini also in close attendance.
Following a last-ditch pole position (his first in car racing) in the wet it was Gamble who was the class of the field in race one on Saturday excelling in the cold, wind and rain typical of a British race weekend.
Kush Maini then recovered from midfield finish in race one to dominate in similar fashion to Gamble in the Sunday morning race, the Indian relieved at finally getting some dry running.
Lundqvist took top honours in a tight race three, the Swede having to fend off Kjaergaard and Maini throughout much of the race.
After his race two victory, Maini was confident that with more dry races over the coming rounds of the F3 championship that his Lanan Motorsports package would be the quickest while vowing to work on his starts and wet pace.
Kjaergaard came from way back on the grid in race two at Rockingham to finish second and has already won this season at Oulton Park.
Billy Monger returns for Carlin this weekend having endured a tough weekend in Northamptonshire last time out, the 19-year-old retiring from race three after colliding with Tom Gamble having previously managed only a seventh in the first two races. Monger had stepped on the podium at Oulton Park.
Maini had hoped to improve his wet pace and certainly got the chance to prove that as he took top spot in a sodden final test session on Thursday, while Lundqvist once again showed strength to claim the overall fastest time of the day ahead of the weekend’s racing.
Check out the latest video from Mobil 1 The Grid. In this piece, the Japanese driver discusses his win in 2017, how he went about winning the race, whilst laying down a blueprint of the key to success at Indianapolis.
Takuma On Winning The Indy 500: “In my entire life, maybe the birth of my child, that is obviously an amazing day. But besides on that, [winning at Indy] was my significant moment in my life, and certainly the best day of my race career. And that changed so many different things. I just never forget the feeling of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has and how deeply I understood the history and the energy that the Indy 500 has. That was just an unbelievable, amazing, amazing experience for me.”
Takuma On How To Win At Indy: “The key is to stay out of trouble problem, because it’s just such a long race. Anything can happen. Just stay calm, because the race comes back to you.”
Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana Credit: hondanews.eu
Takuma On How Heartbreak In 2012 Prepared Him: “Going through all the preparation by yourself and as an athlete, you learn from your faults: What you didn’t go through, and what you know already. Then there is a great chance to learn new things. Moving forward, that’s the name of the sport. 2012 is obviously a bitter experience and but I really appreciate it because I’m proud that I was able to challenge for that. In the end, I failed it. But it’s really made me stronger. Going through every single year, there’s lots of ways you think about it, and of course, before the 2017 start, you’re going through 2012, saying ‘What could I have done? What should I have done? What we will need to do?’ And that’s exactly what I did. That was the moment I really needed.”
Takuma Sato On The Legacy Of Winning The Indy 500: “Indy 500 winner… we knew that’s a big deal. People say that it’s going to be forever, and then like almost every month there is some award or there is ceremonies and the events just it’s go on and on and on. When I go back to Japan, there was almost every week, an event or award. So it was an unbelievably busy winter, but it was a happy busy moment. The Indy 500 is beyond your imagination.”
Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana Credit: hondanews.eu
Takuma Sato On Indy 2018: “I can’t imagine how it’s going to be as a defending champion going to the Month of May. I think it will be so cool, so pressured and so busy. I can’t wait [to] go there. But, equally, I think that now everyone wants to win and beat me so, basically, I have to have a huge challenge to do back-to-back race wins. Nothing is impossible, but I think it’s going to be very tough but we will challenge for that anyway.”
