Round 1 of the new Formula 3 season started this weekend at the Red Bull Ring. With Vermin represented by reigning F3 champion Jack Smith, Oscar Williams and Maxi Junger with Alex Cochrane driving our sister team's car Triple Eight VDT. Using the newest F3 car which is now a much more accurate representation of the real life thing after a physics tune up exclusively for Formula trout.
Qualifying:
It was an intense qualifying session with a full grid of 20 drivers all battling it out for 15 minutes to find that one lap. With Jack finding the top end of the time sheet early, Oscar was his closest challenger for the pole, Arttu Nieminen had been as fast as Jack's 1:24.0 in practice but was unable to put in a time that was close to what he had done in practice ending up 3rd. Oscar took it down to the last couple of secondsto improve slightly but maintained 2nd behind Jack. Maxi qualified a solid 5th after very little practice in the car. Alex impressed for Triple Eight lining up 8th just behind the returning Jaap Wagenvoort.
Race 1:
Jack hurtled towards turn 1 with an excellent start and lead the pack. Oscar had a touch of wheelspin off the line which saw him battling for position with Nieminen, wheel to wheel through turn 1 and going down to turn 3 with Nieminen ahead but Oscar managed a move down the inside to retake 2nd. Behind Martijn Van T Land had a spin coming out of turn 3 narrowily avoided by the cars behind. Alex now up into 5th just behind Wagenvoort with Maxi having dropped back to 7th. With Oscar and Nieminen resuming their fight down the next straight, again with Nieminen having better traction out of the corner and back in front it was down to the braking zone where Oscar would again reclaim the place. Maxi avoiding a bit of mid corner drama slipped into 6th behind Wagenvoort, whilst Alex dropped back to 9th. Jack pulling a small gap to Oscar by the end of lap 1.
Wagenvoort and Sammy Salem's dicing for position allowed Maxi to remain in striking distance, and using the switch back to drive up alongside the Inforward out of Turn 3, however Wagervoort held his brakes going around the outside to defend his 5th place. Alex would breeze past Dave Southword for 7th and began to reel in Wagenvoort and Maxi as the pair diced infront of him. Oscar making a mistake allowing Nieminen to grab 2nd. Wagenvoort lost out to Maxi after some gripping action between the pair. Alex closed back in on the wing of Wagenvoort, and a new lap by lap fight would ensue. Alex looking incredibly racey and impatient, trying all sorts to get past but the veteran Wagenvoort was defending well under the pressure. Eventually Alex made a move around the outside to take the position away briefly as going into the next corner the rear end of the Triple Eight VDT would break traction and slide Alex off into the sidepod of Wagenvoort sending both of them into the gravel trap. Unfortunately for Alex he was sliding into the gravel backwards and it would lose him a lot of places, Wagenvoort would drop down to 11th amid a 5 car battle for 10th place.
With the last 3 minutes to go in race 1, back up front, Nieminen and Oscar had been maintaining around a 1 second gap and both had slightly closed up on Jack. Nieminen began to push more and more as the tyres started to lose grip. Coming off the final corner Nieminen's car spun, nearly collecting Oscar as it came to rest in the center of the track after a violent impact with the pit wall, dropping him down to 4th behind his team mate Sammy Salem and releasing both Vermin cars for an excellent 1, 2 finish. Jack had looked very comfortable and in control the entire race, taking a deserved victory and the perfect way to begin his title defense. Maxi crossed the line 5th to round off a very good first race for the team.
Race 2:
The reverse grid, a feature that has always mixed up the results for race 2, would see Ryan Wilson on pole, with Van T Land breathing down his neck into turn 1 and taking 1st going into turn 3 with Wagenvoort moving up past Wilson and David Bull for 2nd. Van T Land lost the rear end on acceleration out of turn 3, dropping him back into the thick of things and allowing Wagenvoort to steal the lead. A fast starting Oscar managed to get into 2nd from 9th by the start of lap 2, going around the outside of Bull into turn 1. Maxi had been hindered by Van T Land's spin but was running in 7th tucked up behind Wilson, Nieminen and Southword. Jack had a poor start swamped at the start running 13th. Alex was up to 10th but a collision with Ciprian Stoian would drop him towards the rear end of the field. Jack taking advantage of the collision would find himself up into 9th with around 15 minutes left of the race.
Meanwhile Oscar had been closing down Wagenvoort with Nieminen hunting down both. Oscar sizing up his old championship rival, he managed to squeeze past and take the lead through sector 3, which also opened the door for Nieminen to slip past half a lap later. A mistake from Bull would promote Maxi to 4th and Jack who had now cruised towards the gearbox of his teammate running 5th. Maxi in a gentlemanly gesture moved over for Jack gifting him 4th, a touch of wheel spin from Jack's car would cost Maxi a position though as he had to ease off the the throttle allowing Salem to catch and make a pass later in the lap. Jack would get on after Wagenvoort's car smelling a podium finish.
A few mistakes from Oscar as the tyres began to lose their grip would allow Nieminen to close the gap and breeze trough on the inside of Turn 3. Oscar would glue his nose cone to the rear of Nieminen's Toto Rosso but a mistake out of the final corner, ruined any chances of an immediate challenge for 1st place, allowing Nieminen to pull a small gap. Maxi and Salem continued their dance for 5th with some extremely close racing between the pair, all the while Van T Land recovering from his earlier spin was reducing the gap running in 7th. A half spin by Maxi would put him in the claws of Van T Land which would produce another great battle. Another recovering driver was Alex who had now quietly made his way into the top 10 running 9th.
With the last 3 minutes on the clock Jack had caught Wagenvoort and was ready to pounce, bearing down on the Inforward Jack piled on the pressure finally making a move down the inside, Wagenvoort defended hard but snatched a brake, locking slightly which was enough for Jack to gain the final podium spot with less than a lap to go. Oscar could not close distance to Nieminen who crossed the line for the victory, Oscar taking another 2nd place. Maxi's battle with Van T Land went literally to the line, Maxi managing to get past on the final lap but pipped at the finish line by Van T Land taking the position by less than 0.050 as the flag was waved. Alex maintained his 9th place to pick up some good points after a bit of a disappointing weekend for Triple Eight VDT.
Watch the race replay here:
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