It had been something of a slow start to the 2013 GP2 Series season for both Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.
Indeed Ericsson had not even scored a point by the time he secured pole in Barcelona, although he would have to wait a further two months before he would score in an actual race.
His season would eventually recover to a degree with one win and four podiums coming from Germany onward, but it is unlikely that one of the pre-season favourites will delight in 6th place overall come year end.
Nasr, meanwhile, had spent the opening few rounds playing the role of GP2 nearly man; a position emphasised when he missed out on a Sprint Race win in Bahrain to Sam Bird by 0.08s. While Nasr’s consistent nature kept him in the title battle for a time, a drop off in results following the summer break rendered his challenge mute.
Still no wins were forthcoming and after Abu Dhabi, Nasr lost 3rd spot in the standings to the charging James Calado.
There is no doubt that both are talented, but with the shining lights of Formula One dimming as they focus upon the likes of Daniil Kvyat and Kevin Magnussen, both Ericsson and Nasr need something special to reinvigorate their respective causes. But it needs to happen soon.
Ericsson (centre) and Nasr (right). © Leigh O’Gorman
Alex Lynn claimed the Macau F3 Grand Prix qualifying race in superb style this morning, with the Prema Powerteam racer winning by 2.4s from Felix Rosenqvist.
It a masterful display from the Englishman that saw him make a fabulous start to grab 2nd just behind the early leading Rosenqvist, before sweeping past the Swede following the race’s sole safety car period.
From there, Lynn built a gap of 2.7s by the eighth tour, while Rosenqvist, Marciello and 2012 Macau F3 GP winner Antonio Felix da Costa battled it out for the runner-up spot.
Despite this early success, Lynn kept his delight in check, knowing the big race is not until tomorrow. “In terms of the qualification race this is nice, but the Grand Prix itself is another thing. The main positive is that the car felt really nice. I made a good start, and my restart was good as well.” He then added: “I’ve been reminded all week by my engineer that Sunday is the goal, and the rest of the week is just the journey. But it feels great ¬ now I’ve won a race around Macau!”
A bad start from Marciello dropped the Italian from pole to 5th, although that easily became 4th when Lucas Auer took himself out of contention by crashing at San Francisco Bend on lap three. From there, Marciello hounded da Costa for a podium spot and eventually swept by the Portuguese racer with a somewhat risky move into the tight Lisboa bend at the half way point.
Despite some not insignificant pressure, Marciello was powerless against the 2nd place Rosenqvist, while at the same time; the Swede could do nothing about the leading Lynn.
Pipo Derani took 5th following a somewhat lonely race in the highest finishing Fortec. Although some 3.6s adrift of da Costa, the Brazilian Derani was still a 3.0s clear of next man Alexander Sims (T-Sport)
Sims had taken 6th from Carlin’s Jordan King (7th) after the safety car period, but could not shake the British F3 champion thereafter, while the feisty Will Buller (Fortec) clung to their coattails.
Carlos Sainz Jr could do nothing to progress further than 9th, while Esteban Ocon swept by Stefano Coletti with three laps remaining to complete the top ten.
As noted, the Macau opener was not free from some sort of destruction. On the grid, Tom Blomqvist was hit from behind by Harry Tincknell, while Dennis van de Laar appeared to stall – these incidents brought out the safety car until the beginning of lap three.
Ed Jones also crashed out at the R-Bend, while Nelson Mason ignored a drive through penalty, eventually resulting in a black flag – not something the Macau stewards will appreciate in the slightest.
2013 Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix (Qualification Race; 10 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc 24m41.968s
2. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc +2.411s
3. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc +3.461s
4. Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin Dallara-VW +4.089s
5. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc +7.620s
6. Alexander Sims T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +10.620s
7. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW +10.958s
8. Will Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc +11.691s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW +13.045s
10. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc +14.713s
11. Stefano Coletti Eurointernational Dallara-Merc +15.853s
12. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW +17.068s
13. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW +30.339s
14. Yuhi Sekiguchi Mucke Dallara-Merc +30.990s
15. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc +34.049s
16. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Mercedes +35.563s
17. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc +36.620s
18. Yuichi Nakayama TOM'S Dallara-Toyota +38.920s
19. Katsumasa Chiyo B-Max Dallara-Toyota +40.040s
20. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc +40.503s
21. Sun Zheng Double R Dallara-Merc +1m06.786s
22. Nelson Mason Zeller Dallara-Merc +1m11.265s
23. Kevin Korjus Double R Dallara-Merc +1 lap
Retirements:
Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc +7 laps
Ed Jones Fortec Dallara-Merc +7 laps
Tom Blomqvist Fortec Dallara-Merc +10 laps
Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW +10 laps
Dennis van de Laar Mucke Dallara-Merc +10 laps
For those who work 24 hour races, this is most likely a familiar feeling and sight.
As the second morning arises, those who have spent the night – and in many cases, also the previous day – taking precision photographs and / or reporting the finer details of the race begin to falter somewhat.
Where one was once fresh and alert, by 6 or 7 the following morning, lethargy and sluggishness have set in. Some give in to the natural urges and buy a little sleep time on their desk, while others – such as this writer – carry on, unaware of just how tired they will be come the chequered flag.
There is the inevitable second wind that hits around 10am; just after the twelfth coffee of the day and this – along with a quick shower – should be enough to get one through the day… you hope.
By the time everything gets wrapped up, many of these people will have been on the go for close to thirty hours. Just whatever you do, don’t tell them that there is still ten hours of the race remaining when the sun begins to rise.
For more, check out Leigh O’Gorman’s Instagram page.
© Leigh O’Gorman
They are probably used to this already, even at Formula 3 level. The glaring lights, the cameras, questions that come from the series media representative — and then us, the rest of the media, keyboard tappers and scribblers alike.
For most drivers, the post-race press meetings start small and increase gradually, until one finally hits their peak point of exposure, whether that be F1, the World Endurance Championship, DTM or the WRC.
Then there are the likes of Daniil Kvyat (left). The presence of worldwide media upon the young Russian will be instantly apparent as he makes the jump from a joint GP3 and FIA European F3 campaign straight to the pinnacle of single-seaters, increasing even moreso when (if) Formula One debut debuts in Sochi next year for the first Grand Prix in the country since 1914.
Indeed getting used to his 2014 Toro Rosso machine could be the least of his worries when the lights begin to shine bright.
FIA European F3 championship runner-up Felix Rosenqvist (centre) may also need to start adapting soon, as the possibility of a Mercedes DTM seat for 2014 lingers closer — at the moment, Felix still needs to wait…
For Alex Lynn (right), he may still have some time to prepare himself and breathe. Under the tutelage of Toyota’s WEC star Alexander Wurz, the young Englishman has maintained a maturity about his person that will serve him well when the lights begin to shine brighter upon him.
Right now, the trio can only prepare for what lies ahead, but when it hits…
For more, check out Leigh O’Gorman’s Instagram page.
© Leigh O’Gorman
In this week’s Motorsport Monday, I look to this year’s Macau F3 Grand Prix with Antonio Felix da Costa and have a glance over last week’s GP2 Series and GP3 Series tests at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
There’s also news from the World Series by Renault and Auto GP camps, as well as a report from the final European F3 Open round of the season.
In the rest of the magazine, find pieces from this weekend’s Shanghai 6 Hours, a build-up to the US Grand Prix and all the latest WRC and ERC coverage.
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News emerged from Italy today that Pirelli bosses had met with member of the FIA and FOM over the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend to discuss the possibility of mandating two tyre changes in Formula One next season.
I will be quick about this, but will probably fail.
To me, the current sporting formula of endless tyre stops are just a dull reminder of the drab years of refuelling, where a mirage of pitstops disguised itself as great racing, while teams determinately ran almost identical strategies in each race in order to achieve the same result that they got the week before.
In a sense, it doesn’t help that we have been partially brainwashed into thinking the old days were always amazing. Those who rave about the 1979 French Grand Prix and the four-lap battle between Rene Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve should try to sit through the opening 76 laps… Same for the dreary 1992 Monaco Grand Prix, until Nigel Mansell decided a tyre stop was necessary.
‘Back in the day’, the joy of highlights and magazine-style broadcasts was that the dross was often left on the cutting room floor.
In a sense, it is a shame that the occasional procession is deemed to be the end of the sport. Like football, rugby and all other sports, sometimes a game / race / contest is just not that enthralling.
That’s life, it happens sometimes – but engineering the sport to invent crude excitement at the expense of tension and suspense can be just a dull.
This entire story reminds me of an April’s Day joke played by the BBC and the English FA during one of the Grandstand broadcasts in 1994. In the practical joke, the show reported that from the 1994-95 season onward that the FA would make the goalposts larger in order to make scoring goals easier.
So, they set up a scene at Highbury with specially made goalposts that were about 20ft wide x 12ft high.
For sure, if the goalposts were increased in height and width, then there would naturally be more goals scored, because no goalkeeper could ever psychically reach that high or across. And that would be fantastic, because every match would probably end 7-6 and more goals equals more excitement, right?
They then showed mock interviews with some players, David Seaman and FA top brass during which they all said the idea was wonderful and that they couldn’t wait for the weekly goalfests.
Except it was nonsense. It was a joke and at the end of the sketch, the presenter Bob Wilson did an ol’ “Gotcha!” and the pundits and everyone else involved had a good laugh. No harm, no foul and all that stuff.
After every had a good chuckle, the panel had a brief discussion about what would happen if this came to pass and one of the general themes became “if the goals come too easily, then each play and score becomes less fun and less relevant” and they concluded that it was a good thing that goalposts had not grown as it might dilute such an important aspect of the sport.
It is doubtful that those running and supplying modern Formula One were paying attention that day.
The drive for mindless passing, whether it be through a DRS flyby or endless pitstops, when hands wash quickly as they change jelly tyres is to me, just mind-numbing. The overtakes that were special 25 years ago are still special today, but as with the Alonso / Webber battle from Spa-Francorchamps last year, the efforts can be annulled by an open flap on the rear wing.
But let’s be fair. Sport – all sport – is entertainment and finding the balance between sport and entertainment is incredibly difficult, especially in a sport that demands so much of technology.
Those who argue Formula One is more of a business than a sport are probably sprouting nonsense clouded by rose tinted glasses in need of a quick polish – Grand Prix racing has always been about selling something, whether it be under the name of Karl Benz or Dietrich Mateschitz. It is exists to sell time on television for sponsors, partners, governments who wish their cities to appear polished and other branded entities.
Alas, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull may be utterly dominant at the moment but they aren’t killing Formula One as an entertainment spectacle. Formula One is killing Formula One.
For those in the mood for a read, check out this week’s Motorsport Monday, in which I describe the final round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and the World Series by Renault.
As well as that, I delve into the latest preparations for the upcoming Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix and also look towards this week’s Auto GP test, before finishing with some morsels from the final round of the French Formula 4 Championship.
In the rest of the magazine, you can find pieces from this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix by Luke Smith as well as Rally Spain coverage by Martin Holmes.
There’s also a preview to this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and some technical bits and bobs from Scarbs. All this and more in Motorsport Monday (Edition 35).
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Raffaele Marciello won the final race of the FIA European Formula 3 championship in torrid conditions at Hockenheim.
The Italian led from start-to-finish in a race twice neutralised by the safety car, as puddles gathered at the famed German circuit.
Behind the victorious Marciello were series runner-up Felix Rosenqvist, while series rookie Lucas Auer completed the podium.
Such were conditions; the race was started behind the safety car with the field tiptoeing around the 2.84 mile track, although that did not stop backmarker Lucas Wolf from crashing out.
When the race did finally get going on lap four, the lead yo-yoed from 0.3-1.2s, as Rosenqvist closed up to the rear of Marciello, only to have to pull back as the spray from the Prema Powerteam’s tyres intensified.
It was only a brief period of green before the next safety car intrusion. Six laps in, Pipo Derani and Eddie Cheever collided in the hairpin, with the Brazilian Derani receiving front left damage.
Cheever, meanwhile, was spun around and appeared to stall for a moment, but kept the engine alive long enough to escape retirement. Elsewhere on track, Nicholas Latifi took rear end damage, dropping his rear wing on track and ending his race prematurely.
Things were slightly calmer upon the lap eight restart, although the leading battle continued with the gap growing and shrinking each time around, as noted by Rosenqvist: “The vision was difficult, especially when I got very close to him and then I lost a bit, because I couldn’t really see.”
Out front, Marciello was even having trouble on the straights, as water continued to gather within Hockenheim’s dips and creeks; however the 18-year-old took it in his stride, as he remembered the poor conditions that hampered the start of the season. “We adjusted. At the beginning of the year, it was wet, so I had some confidence, but today it was really, really wet and it was difficult to go flat in the straights.”
The Prema racer was also good enough to admit that being out front helped his cause considerably. “There was a lot of rain on the track through the race and it was difficult to control the car. I was lucky, because there was no traffic in front of me. It was nearly undrivable and it was easy to make a mistake,” said Marciello, before adding, “It is nice to have won the championship and take this victory.”
The Swedish Rosenqvist thought for a moment that race might be stopped early, but in the end, it mattered little. Despite the conditions, Marciello confident had more than enough in hand to stay out front and win, although Rosenqvist made his presence felt, as he closed to just 0.2s of the Italian at the finish line.
It marked a solid finish to a good year for Rosenqvist, who takes 2nd in the championship. “It was like that for the whole race and in the middle of the race when it started to rain more, it made me think that they would stop [the race], because even in the straights it was hard to go flat.”
Rosenqvist concluded, “I think it was a nice way to end the season. It was a shame that we had to start behind the safety car, because I wanted to take him at the start, but it was a good battle until the last lap and I am quite happy with my race.”
Auer took his ninth podium of the season and his second of the weekend, although the Austrian racer was certainly given a helping hand when Carlin’s Harry Tincknell ran wide and off track at the Stadium entry on lap 12.
The young Prema racer was pleased with his efforts today: “It was a really good race and a good battle with Tincknell. At the end, he made a little mistake and he went off – after that I could see something, which was quite good.”
Tincknell’s error also promoted EuroInternational’s Tom Blomqvist to 4th place – a tidy reward for the Red Bull junior driver, after he had also battled passed Antonio Giovinazzi (lap 4), before entering into a lengthy battle with Nick Cassidy.
Blomqvist took Cassidy for 6th just before the second safety car emerged and was helped further when Jordan King spun on lap nine. Tincknell’s minor off was the icing on the cake for Blomqvist who has endured a tough second half of the season.
Giovinazzi claimed 6th place – his best finish of the season – when Cassidy’s pace trailed off in the second half of the race. In what has been his best weekend of the season, the Italian has looked confident and somewhat more mature, especially alongside his Double R teammates Sean Gelael and Tatiana Calderon.
Sven Muller took more points for 7th ahead of Alex Lynn – the latter of whom fought bravely from 20th on the grid. King’s spin dropped him down to 13th place; however the British F3 champion made hay in the final laps, as he climbed his way back up to 9th place.
King’s last scalp was Michael Lewis, whom he passed on lap 14, dropping the American to 10th place.
A 4th place finish was all Raffaele Marciello needed to claim the 2013 FIA European Formula 3 championship this evening.
In the final tours, the Italian racer dropped some 15 seconds behind series runner-up and race winner Felix Rosenqvist, with Marciello taking the twelve points necessary to secure the title.
Meanwhile Marciello’s Prema Powerteam teammates Alex Lynn and Lucas Auer took 2nd and 3rd respectively.
During what can be best described as a processional race, Rosenqvist led from pole, while front row man Marciello dropped to 3rd behind the fast starting Lynn.
Through the 22-lap distance, Rosenqvist drew a slender lead over Lynn, with the Swede heading his Prema rival by 3.5s at the final flag, yet Rosenqvist was far from delighted with his performance. “It was a strange race, because I actually made a lot of mistakes, but I was still able to maintain the lead. Winning the race was all I could do. From that point of view, the weekend has been perfect so far, but still, I am not happy, because I wanted to keep the battle for the title open until tomorrow.”
Despite his very best efforts, there was little Rosenqvist could do to stop the title from going the Italian’s way, but while the Mucke man was disappointed to have lost the championship, he remained gracious in defeat. “Now, I congratulate Raffaele for winning the title, his season was better than mine. I will learn from it and come back stronger next year, wherever I will be racing then.”
Lynn, meanwhile, had something of a lonely race. A brief look at Rosenqvist in the early laps saw Lynn receive a warning for breaching track limits and from there, the Prema racer conceded the win to assume the runner-up spot. In scoring his 14th podium of the season, Lynn had secured 3rd in the championship, pushing out of reach of teammate Auer. “My start was good and I was able to overtake Raffaele without any problems. Then, I tried to put Felix under pressure, but when I got a warning for exceeding the track limits, I took it a little bit easier. I was consistent and quick, but Felix was a little quicker.”
Marciello stayed 3rd for much of the race, but with the Italian only needing a top four to confirm the title, Marciello allowed teammate Auer to take the last podium spot on lap 15. According to the European F3 rookie: “My start was relatively good and I had a good opening lap. Later on, I was able to overtake Raffaele without any problems, because 4th place was enough for him. Thus, he didn’t have to defend at all.”
There are those who may lament Marciello’s decision to safely bring the car home, rather go for the all out victory – that may have been a solution for the Marciello of old, but this matured driver made sure the title was the priority. Not only is the 18-year-old the European Champion, it is also the first title success of his young career.
If nothing else, it gave Marciello a good reason to smile. “It is unbelievable, I am the European champion. I really don’t know what to say. In the race, I was very cautious, because I didn’t want to risk a penalty. But I didn’t have to either, because 4th place was enough for me to seal the title. Admittedly, I didn’t win this race, but I still won the title, and that surely isn’t bad either.”
Behind the top four, Harry Tincknell took yet another top five for Carlin, although the Englishman could not relax thanks to continuous pressure from the feisty Sven Muller.
The Van Amersfoort driver made a majestic start, rising from 13th on the grid to 7th on the opening lap and eventually grabbed 6th from Antonio Giovinazzi on lap eleven, promoting Muller 9th in the points standings above the absent Alexander Sims.
To his credit, Giovinazzi stayed with the Tincknell / Muller battle to register his fifth points finish of the season, equaling his best result of 7th from last week’s round at Vallelunga.
Jordan King’s decent season continued with a fighting drive to 8th place. The Carlin racer spent the early running holding both Pipo Derani (Fortec) and Eddie Cheever (Prema Powerteam) at bay, before beginning a concerted attack on Dennis van de Laar. The position would eventually come for King, who passed the second Van Amersfoort driver with three laps remaining.
Cheever would eventually assume the final points position behind Van de Laar, but only after he too fought off the intentions of Derani.
The Brazilian Derani had initially passed Giovinazzi on the second lap, only for the Double R racer to retake Derani five tours later. In the latter stages, EuroInternational’s Tom Blomqvist also pressed Derani, but could not take 11th place from the Fortec man before the chequered flag.
The race was marred by a ridiculous incident on lap 15, when Kevin Korjus clumsily ran into the side of Felix Serralles on the approach to the hairpin. With both cars damaged and possibly heading for retirement, the limping Serralles swung into the side of Korjus in frustration, making retirement a certainty for the pair.
Both drivers had already received drive through penalties for exceeding tack limits and were battling over 25th and 26th places when the collisions happened. For his troubles, Serralles will start the final race from last position.
2013 FIA European Formula 3 Championship (Rd 10, Race 2; 22 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 34m51.886s
2. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc +03.570s
3. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc +07.372s
4. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc +15.361s
5. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW +22.011s
6. Sven Muller Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW +22.464s
7. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc +23.684s
8. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW +24.244s
9. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW +25.686s
10. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc +26.412s
11. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc +27.150s
12. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc +27.609s
13. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW +28.747s
14. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc +32.470s
15. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc +38.089s
16. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc +38.719s
17. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc +41.407s
18. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW +42.118s
19. Michael Lewis Mucke Dallara-Merc +43.515s
20. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +49.857s
21. Nick Cassidy Carlin Dallara-VW +51.148s
22. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc +51.935s
23. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc +54.748s
24. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc +57.661s
25. Stefano Coletti Ma-con Dallara-VW +1m18.909s
Retirements:
Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc +9 laps
Kevin Korjus T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +9 laps
Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW +11 laps
Felix Rosenqvist triumphed in the opening FIA European Formula 3 Championship race of the weekend at Hockenheim to keep his title hunt alive.
The Swede made a masterful start to jump ahead of key rival Raffaele Marciello prior to the opening corner, going on to gently extend his gap to 5.9s at the chequered flag.
The Mücke race had no choice but to win to keep the championship alive and his good start and run to the flag has brought the gap to Marciello down to 38.5 points ahead of this afternoon’s race. “I tried to make as good a start as possible; [Marciello] made a good start as well, but I was able to beat him to turn one.”
For a few brief period, Rosenqvist had hoped Marciello’s start was much worse than it was; however the team extinguished such hopes. “At the start, it looked like he was battling with others – I thought it might have been Lynn [in 2nd], but heard on the radio that it was Marciello,” commented the 21-year-old, before adding, “Disappointed by that, but I’m happy about my performance.”
Rosenqvist held a narrow lead through the opening few tours – the somewhat cool morning weather ensured the Hankook tyres took a touch longer to pick up temperature around the seventeen-turn Hockenheim course.
There were threats too from the stewards, who were kept busy during the race by drivers taking advantage of the turn one kerbs, including the two title rivals; however beyond a single warning, neither driver faced serious sanction. “When on the limit, you have to push a bit, but in the beginning, I had a bit of understeer, because the tyres were cold and it’s quite hard to get around turn one without using too much,” said Rosenqvist.
Initially, Rosenqvist worried Marciello may grab an advantage in Hockenheim’s lengthy bends, but the Italian wasn’t convinced he could take the Mücke man on sheer pace alone. “[Rosenqvist] was fast in the first ten laps, but [after that] it was the same. We lost a lot of time in the first laps.”
With the first dozen laps in the books, Rosenqvist had built a gap of 3.8s, but from there, growth slowed as Rosenqvist drew out just 1.4s over Marciello come the end of the penultimate tour. The Italian driver explains further: “It was quite boring. Felix was really fast compared to me; he did a really good start. I just needed to finish 2nd and that’s good for the championship, so it’s important to make points and not make stupid moves.”
While it may not make for the most enticing of contest’s on screen, Marciello’s race to solid points puts on display some of the maturity gained by the 18-year-old.
While Rosenqvist and Marciello massaged their top two positions, Sven Muller secured his first podium finish of the season and Van Amersfoort’s first ever podium in European F3 competition.
Muller made a solid start – jumping from 6th to 5th – and spent the opening portion of the race lingering behind Harry Tincknell (Carlin) and Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam), until an over eager move by Lynn into and out of the hairpin on lap seven took both briefly off track.
According to Muller: “They were really close and I thought it cannot be too long. I was patient and then I saw them touch and go off – I was sure that they would touch each other, so I stayed behind.”
For a moment, Muller jumped both, only for Tincknell to retaliate and attempt to re-pass in the Arena section, only to run wide, solidifying Muller’s 3rd place. “My pace was really good; the car was better than in qualifying. The team did a really good job,” said the Van Amersfoort man.
He added: “My start was really good – I was 6th and before the hairpin, I was P5. This is my first podium of the year and this was my goal – maybe this afternoon, I can go higher on the podium.”
In the melee, Antonio Giovinazzi and Dennis van de Laar also got involved in the battle for what was now 4th place, with Lynn emerging at the head of the group in front of Giovinazzi, Tincknell and Muller.
Within a lap, Giovinazzi had pitted, bringing Tincknell back up to 5th, while Jordan King and Pipo Derani emerged to steal 6th from Van de Laar. Muller would eventually finish down in 8th (only seven-tenths behind Derani, who had started 13th!) – a poor reward for what was looking like a positive result only a few laps earlier.
Eddie Cheever took 9th, despite a poor start. A move on Felix Serralles – aided by the pitting Kevin Korjus and Giovinazzi – brought Cheever back into the points, where he finished ahead of EuroInternational’s Tom Blomqvist.
GP2 Series racer Stefano Coletti endured a horror race. A collision with the lapped Lucas Auer on lap ten broke the Monegasque racer’s nosecone, before he received a drive through penalty for exceeding the track limits repeatedly.
2013 FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 10, Race 1; 22 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 34m42.654s
2. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Mercedes +5.940s
3. Sven Muller Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW +10.813s
4. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Mercedes +14.396s
5. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW +17.373s
6. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW +18.565s
7. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +22.014s
8. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW +22.728s
9. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Mercedes +25.311s
10. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-M/cedes +26.436s
11. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +28.602s
12. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW +30.010s
13. John Bryant-Meisne Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +30.655s
14. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Mercedes +33.941s
15. Michael Lewis Mucke Dallara-Mercedes +34.554s
16. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW +41.522s
17. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Mercedes +43.424s
18. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Mercedes +47.126s
19. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Mercedes +51.318s
20. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW +52.025s
21. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Mercedes +54.500s
22. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +59.995s
23. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Mercedes +1:02.335s
24. Nick Cassidy Carlin Dallara-VW +1m10.780s
25. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Mercedes +1m22.496s
26. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Mercedes +1 lap
Retirements:
Stefano Coletti Ma-con Dallara-VW +5 laps
Kevin Korjus T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +20 laps
Mücke Motorsport’s Felix Rosenqvist and Carlin’s Harry Tincknell headed the practice sessions of the final FIA European Formula 3 round of the season today.
Title contender Rosenqvist set the quickest time of all – 1:33.692 – in the opening session, pipping Prema Powerteam’s Alex Lynn by less than a tenth of a second.
Behind Rosenqvist were Sven Muller (van Ammersfoort), Lucas Auer (Preman Powerteam) and Dennis van de Laar (van Amersfoort); all of whom set times in the 1:33.8s bracket.
Championship leader Raffaele Marciello ended the opening session 6th overall, some three-tenths off of Rosenqvist’s pace.
Nick Cassidy returns to the Formula 3 paddock this weekend, following the collapse of his deal with EuroInternational. The Kiwi replaces Daniil Kvyat at Carlin, while the Russian is on Red Bull duty in Russia.
Cassidy made his presence felt immediately. The substitute grabbed 7th in the times, heading relative new boy John Bryant-Meisner (Fortec). Eddie Cheever (Prema) and Pipo Derani (Fortec) rounded out the top ten.
Tincknell topped the slower second session in the afternoon with a best of 1:33.977 in his Volkswagen-powered Carlin. The Englishman headed Prema rival Lynn by two-tenths, with Cassidy making 3rd spot his own as the chequered flag flew.
Auer retained 4th place in session two; however Jordan King (Carlin), Tom Blomqvist (EuroInternational) and Nicholas Latifi (Carlin) jumped into the top ten, pipping Marciello (8th). Van de Laar and Cheever showed well again, with the duo capturing 9th and 10th respectively.
Rosenqvist fell back down the order in the latter session with the Swede managing a best of 1:34.587, giving him 13th place, some six-tenths down on Tincknell.
Guest drivers Kevin Korjus and Stefano Coletti endured tricky sessions as they bedded themselves into Formula 3 machinery, with the Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2 Series members ending the first session 17th and 20th respectively. Korjus improved to 14th in session two, while Coletti dropped to 23rd in the standings following an off thanks to a puncture.
Andre Rudersdorf enjoyed precious little running during practice. Only twenty minutes into the session, the German ran off wide at the entry to the Stadium, lightly tapping the barrier as he scrubbed off speed.
Campos Racing are to return to the GP2 Series in 2014, replacing Barwa Addax – the team who originally took over from Campos several years ago.
The Spanish squad dropped out of GP2 at the end of 2008, having won the Teams’ Championship with Lucas di Grassi, Vitaly Petrov and Ben Hanley.
Campos’s addition keeps the field count at 26 cars – a difficult prospect as noted by GP2 Series CEO Bruno Michel: “We received high quality requests from new teams who wished to join our Series. However, as we did in the past we decided to show loyalty to the existing teams who have done a very good job in a difficult economic environment.”
With Barwa Addax team boss Alejandro Agag committed to running the new-for-2014 FIA Formula E Championship, it is no surprise to see the Spaniard withdraw his squad, as he concentrates on upcoming ventures.
Confirmed GP2 Series entries for 2014-16 seasons:
Team Nationality Arden International GBR ART Grand Prix FRA Campos Racing ESP Carlin GBR DAMS FRA EQ8 Caterham Racing MAS Hilmer Motorsport GER MP Motorsport NED Racing Engineering ESP Rapax ITA RUSSIAN TIME RUS Trident ITA Venezuela GP Lazarus VEN
Raffaele Marciello won the final FIA European F3ormula 3 race of the weekend at Vallelunga to extend his lead over rival Felix Rosenqvist to 45.5 points. Going into the final round at Hockenheim.
The Italian led from start to finish, Pipo Derani for the 22-lap duration. Alexander Sims came home 3rd to assume his third podium of the weekend.
While Marciello initially started well, Derani drew ahead momentarily on the opening lap, before dropping back in behind the race leader just as the race’s sole safety car period – following a pair of collisions – began in earnest.
The first incident involved Eddie Cheever III and Nicholas Latifi – the former stalled his Prema Powerteam machine on the grid, only to be hit lightly by the unsighted Latifi, rendering both out on the spot.
Moments later, Tatiana Calderon collided with Lucas Wolf, who then claimed the innocent Sean Gelael at Curve Grande. Although Calderon emerged unscathed, both Gelael and Wolf were pitched at speed across the grassy bank, with both retiring shortly after.
Following the brief stoppage, Marciello began to pull away from Derani, although the Brazilian – on fresh tyres – held relatively close for sometime, until Marciello began to ease away as the race ticked over.
Marciello was rarely hugely faster than Derani, but he had enough in hand to build a four second gap toward the end of the timed race. As he crossed the line, Marciello managed a 3.9s lead over Derani.
Sims, meanwhile, was the beneficiary of a hard battle between Felix Serralles and Alex Lynn during the early part of the race. Initially running in 4th spot, Sims was taken by Lynn on lap four with the latter commencing a battle with Serralles thereafter.
As Serralles and Lynn battled hard and even swapped positions on occasion, Sims kept closed and was allowed to duck by both drivers when the eventually interlocked wheels on the seventh lap, promoting Sims to 3rd, while Lynn assumed 4th spot.
The incident caused Serralles to drop into the clutches of Rosenqvist and Lucas Auer, with pitching Serralles into a spin and effectively ending his race. Auer also came out of the touching cars in a bad way, with the Austrian picking up damage and retiring on the twelfth tour. In the melee, Jordan King snuck through to 5th place, as he slyly crept by Rosenqvist who was held up by stuttering Auer.
Rosenqvist’s 6th could well be a significant result after he started 13th on the grid. The Swede was 8th after the first lap, gaining two more positions when Auer and Serralles disappeared from contention. With 75 points still available next weekend, Rosenqvist has a chance against Marciello to win the title, but it will be a long shot indeed.
Daniil Kvyat took 7th place, although he is not registered to score points in the series. Therefore Harry Tincknell picks up six points in 8th place, finishing ahead of the feisty Dennis van de Laar (9th), Michael Lewis (10th) and Jann Mardenborough (11th).
Van de Laar’s teammate at an Amersfoort Racing, Sven Muller, was running in a competitive 6th place, when his Dallara suffered a mechanical failure on lap six.
There was some contention at the beginning of the race when Auer stalled on the parade lap and dropped to the rear of the field; however the Austrian retook his grid position despite being informed that he had to start last.
Oddly, at the time of his retire no penalty had been issued to the Prema Powerteam racer.
Alex Lynn romped away to his third FIA European F3 victory of the season at Vallelunga this morning.
Driving for Prema Powerteam, the Briton managed two safety car periods, but easily distanced himself from runner-up Alexander Sims and Daniil Kvyat under green conditions.
Lynn drew out a 1.3s lead after the opening lap, before the first safety car stoppage on lap 2, while he had opened up a 1.8s gap when the race restarted on lap four, extending to 5.9s when the second safety car period began on the tenth tour.
At the beginning of the final stint on lap thirteen Lynn was already 2.1s after one tour, before drawing out a 5 second advantage at the flag. For Lynn, everything was as close to perfect as possible. “Everything was perfect, the car was just fantastic – I haven’t been able to check out like that since 2011. Our pace was really strong. We had a set of new tyres and I knew that [Sims] didn’t, so when I was in the lead and he was 2nd, I knew that I should be faster, but didn’t expect to be that much faster.”
The first safety car emerged when Jann Mardenborough’s stricken Carlin could not be moved following a race start off, while the second came out when Lucas Wolf’s went off into the barriers.
However the Prema Powerteam racer had it all in hand. “I stayed up quite late last night – I couldn’t get to sleep, because I was thinking about [the starts] and the last thing I remember was racing someone and thinking ‘if the safety car comes out, where am I going to go and what am I going to do?’”
Lynn continued, “So I thought about it and it all seemed to go to plan. The car was magnificent and the pace was really good. I asked my engineer if we needed to use the tyres in race three and he said ‘no, no, but make sure you keep some life in them for restarts,’ so after I did three or four 1:29.3’s on the bounce and the gap was about 4.5s, he said to cool it a bit.”
On partially used tyres, Sims held Kvyat at bay for much of the running, until the Russian, too, began to drop slightly back, with the Englishman building a gap of around a second – just enough to keep him ahead of Kvyat’s Carlin.
Eddie Cheever enjoyed another magnificent drive to 4th, improving by one place from the opening race. Cheever enjoyed a 2.4s advantage over Lucas Auer, who had battled with Pipo Derani for much of the race, overtaking the Brazilian for 5th on the eighth lap.
Antonio Giovinazzi secured 7th place thanks to an early move on FIA F3 weekend rookie John Bryant-Meisner. Giovinazzi was shdowed across the line by the fast starting Sven Muller, who jumped from 15th to 9th on the opening tour, before following Giovinazzi passed Bryant-Meisner.
Title contender Felix Rosenqvist took 9th place overall, but claimed four points, as Kvyat is not registered in the championship. The Swede enjoyed another top drive, taking ten places on the opening lap before scything his way through the field as the race aged. From the lap four restart, Rosenqvist picked off Tom Blomqvist, Sean Gelael, Tatiana Calderon, Roy Nissany, Nicholas Latifi, Bryant-Meisner and the robust Dennis van de Laar.
Problems for Felix Serralles and Spike Goddard helped propel Rosenqvist into the 9th position, while Bryant-Meisner settled for 10th, just ahead of Latifi who claimed the final point.
Championship leader Raffaele Marciello retired on the grid, when a mechanical issue killed his engine. The Italian will start the final race in pole position; however is lead over Rosenqvist has been reduced to 28.5points.
Raffaele Marciello took the opening race of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship weekend at Vallelunga, but it was a far from easy win.
The Italian led from start-to-finish, but was shadowed for the duration by T-Sport ace Alexander Sims and Prema Powerteam counterpart Alex Lynn.
It was a very aggressive start by the leading trio, with Marciello edging ahead of Sims through the opening turns, while Lynn lurked in their engine fumes.
As Sims attacked, Marciello managed the gap to approximately 0.7s-0.8s, with Marciello, Sims and Lynn consistently circulating within three-tenths of the pole lap.
However when the race eased into its second half, rear tyre wear began to factor and the leading group began to drop tenths here and there; however none could take advantage of the situation.
Sims lost a little time in the mid-part of the race, allowing the gap to grow as much as 1.3s by lap 14; however the fell back to under one second in the final third, but not enough for advantage to be taken.
After 24 tours, Marciello crossed the finish line, just 1.053s ahead of Sims, bringing the Italian’s championship lead over Felix Rosenqvist up to 33.5 points. Lynn took the final podium spot a further 1.1s behind the 2nd place man.
Carlin’s Daniil Kvyat raced to a lonely 4th, several seconds ahead of Prema Powerteam rookie Eddie Cheever, who took 5th place – his best finish of the season.
Cheever was untroubled by the tense battle for 6th place between Pipo Derani, Lucas Auer and Sven Muller. The threesome battled hard in the second half of the race, even going side-by-side through several turns, but despite Auer’s best efforts, Derani maintained his top six.
Muller, too, was on watch, taking the chequered flag just six-tenths behind Auer, yet the German could nothing to move up the order.
Antonio Giovinazzi drove very well to 9th to be the highest finishing Double-R runner. Giovinazzi held his own late on again a hard charging Felix Rosenqvist, who took the final point after starting 27th and last.
Rosenqvist was left in the final row after a crash in qualifying session one took him out of contention; however the Swede made several places on the opening lap, before picking off Tatiana Calderon (lap 2), Lucas Wolf, Michael Lewis, Jann Mardenborough (all lap 3), John Bryant-Meisner (lap 4), Jordan King (lap 7), Dennis van de Laar (lap 9), Tom Blomqvist (lap 14) and Harry Tincknell (lap 16).
Felix Serralles crashed his Fortec out from the points early on, while Spike Goddard had two offs, but finished, albeit lapped. Mitch Gilbert stalled from 18th on the grid, rendering his race rather mute.
2013 FIA European Formula 3 Championship (Rd 9, Race 1; 24 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 36m08.051s
2. Alexander Sims T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +1.053s
3. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc +2.195s
4. Daniil Kvyat Carlin Dallara-VW +7.437s
5. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc +14.104s
6. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc +18.105s
7. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc +18.806s
8. Sven Muller Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW +19.333s
9. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc +21.119s
10. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc +22.122s
11. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW +26.404s
12. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc +27.621s
13. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW +33.115s
14. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW +34.838s
15. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc +35.380s
16. Michael Lewis Mucke Dallara-Merc +35.826s
17. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW +36.974s
18. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW +37.358s
19. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc +42.474s
20. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc +45.216s
21. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW +45.665s
22. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc +48.373s
23. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc +55.395s
24. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc +56.641s
25. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +1 lap
Retirements:
Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc +23 laps
Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc +24 laps
Felix Rosenqvist (Mucke) © FIA.
Last week, despite the late autumn heat, Felix Rosenqvist appeared to be the coolest man in Zandvoort.
With only two rounds of Formula 3’s primary series still remaining, the Swede is laying pressure on rival Raffaele Marciello for the title, but what is his mindset as the series goes to Vallelunga?
Despite a few droplets of sweat on his forehead, Felix Rosenqvist looks like a relatively unflustered young man.
His sand coloured hair, lightly damp and pulling slightly to one side of his forehead, does not betray the fact that he had just completed twenty-one laps around the historic Zandvoort circuit, taking his second victory of the weekend in the process.
Meanwhile Rosenqvist’s archrival in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, Raffaele Marciello, has left the Dutch coastal circuit with a 5th, 16th and a non-finish. Following the trio of races, the 21-year-old Rosenqvist has clawed 63 points out of Marciello’s lead title battle.
No wonder Rosenqvist can afford himself a light smile. “I haven’t really let it sink it yet,” the Swede says, before taking a long breath. “Tomorrow I am going to wake up quite a happy man.”
There is an odd post-race calmness and modesty about Rosenqvist; a quiet charm that has evolved from a desire for success and frenzied attack behind the wheel. When he speaks, his speech is often considered, thoughtful and delivered with slight Swedish-English drawl – there are few buzzwords or media management speak and that is very refreshing.
On track, there is no doubt the Mücke racer knows how to push; although he does so without the jagged ferocity of Marciello and a few others in the series.
If nothing else, it creates a pallet of tones that is contradictory and interesting and as the championship draws to a close, pressures are clearly rising, yet Rosenqvist is keen not to get too far ahead of himself. “It’s been a different week from most others; it’s been colder; the tyres have been graining a bit, which never really happened this season, so the drivers had to adapt to something slightly different and maybe some didn’t cope with that,” he notes dryly.
The gap – prior to Zandvoort was as large as 72.5 points – now stands at just 9.5, while 150 points remain up for grabs; however there is one sting in the tail for Rosenqvist and his Mücke Motorsport team.
The penultimate round takes place at Vallelunga, some 40 km north of Rome and it happens to be Prema Powerteam’s primary test track – something that caused some grumbling amongst the teams earlier this year.
It is also a track on which Rosenqvist has never raced, yet in his typically laid back style, he brushes of concerns that Prema Powerteam’s quartet of runners will run away with the weekend.
Prior to weekend, the Swede was loosely planning his preparation for the upcoming round. “I’m not sure what going to happen in the days before then. Obviously I can do some simulator work at home; download the track and play some computer games, so I will start with that, just to know how the track goes.”
There is one saving grace for the non-Prema Powerteam competitors though – an eight-hour test session on Friday and while some of the drivers from the Italian team were not overly delighted at the prospect of their rivals gaining track time, series organisers felt it the fairest way to resolve the inequality of track knowledge.
Rosenqvist agrees: “Eight hours should be enough. I’m not too worried really, but I’m going to try and get some data from someone, or maybe the team was there before – just to get an idea of how quick the corners are, as well as the gears and so on,” before adding, “I know ‘Lello’ [Marciello] will be good in Vallelunga – I’m not expecting anything else, so I will do my normal thing.”
Despite his positive outlook, Rosenqvist is well aware that taking a further 75 points from Vallelunga may be difficult to say the least; however he has hopes that his Mücke team can make strides come Friday. “Sometimes it’s also quite good to come to a track with a clear mind. If you test a lot at a track, you can get used to certain lines, but with Superstars are out with a different rubber, then you have to do different lines.”
In his usual measured tone, Rosenqvist elaborates further: “It makes you think outside of the box, because if you test at a track a lot, it is quite easy to get stuck into old lines, so I think that is a positive side. And then maybe we are really quick…”
Rosenqvist knows full well that the weekend ahead will be tough, but that doesn’t mean he can’t plan ahead. “Vallelunga will be the hardest part of the season to get through, but I think we should be OK. [My aim is] to keep or reduce the gap; take a realistic approach.”
And with that, he departs to wash off the victory champagne. It’s almost sensible.
© The Cahier Archive
With Jackie Stewart set to retire from Formula One at the end of the 1973 season, preparations had been made to promote his understudy, François Cevert, to the lead seat in Ken Tyrrell’s world championship winning team.
At this stage, already a winner of one Grand Prix, overall podium finisher at Le Mans and a French Formula 3 champion, Cevert was deemed ready to make the step up.
It was not to be. As he vied for pole position with Ronnie Peterson for the final World Championship Grand Prix of the year at Watkins Glen, Cevert spun off during morning qualifying at the Esses and hit the barrier head on.
Such was the angle and speed, the Tyrrell compromised the guardrail and Cevert was killed instantly. The venue where Cevert had two years previously claimed his sole Grand Prix success, would also be where he was cut down at the tender age of 29.
Stewart, by now sickened by the human damage inflicted by the sport, walked away after practice and never raced; however he would continue on his charge to make motor racing a safer sport to practice.
Adding to feeling of misery at Tyrrell was the knowledge that two of the candidates under scrutiny for the second seat with the team in 1974 – Roger Williamson and Gerry Birrell – had also been killed behind the wheel during the year.
For Cevert, wider success was considered a possibility and with Emerson Fittipaldi moving to McLaren and Niki Lauda getting comfortable alongside the already settled Clay Regazzoni at Ferrari, it surely would have been stellar battle to take Stewart’s crown.
Tyrrell’s vacant drives would eventually go to the inexperienced pairing of Patrick Depailler and Jody Scheckter; the latter of that pairing would go on to claim two race victories in 1974 – at Anderstorp and Brands Hatch – taking 3rd in the World Championship. For his efforts, Depailler took a pole position and a podium at the Swedish track, behind the affable Scheckter.
© Copyright unknown.
In today’s ultra-precise Formula One, it may seem almost unfathomable for a driver to run out of fuel prior to the end of a race, but in previous generations, it wasn’t a completely unusual situation.
A reduction of allowed race fuel countered Formula One’s powerful turbo’s, producing mileage runs to the flag that were not completely unlike the tyre preservation races of today.
And like last year’s Chinese Grand Prix that saw Kimi Raikkonen drop from 2nd to 14th in three laps when his Pirelli’s fell away, it was just a conceivable during the 1985 season that a driver could fall down the order by just pushing the fuel count a little too hard.
Toward the end of the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna was leading from the Ferrari driver Stefan Johansson, with the Brazilian ace on the verge of ensuring Lotus securing a collective spot on the top of the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championship’s for the first time since 1978.
With Senna in control, the race seem sown up, until the Renault-powered Lotus spluttered just over three laps from the end, allowing Johansson into a popular lead, cheered on by the ecstatic Tifosi. The joy would be short-lived though – within a lap of claiming the lead, Johansson’s car also ran dry thanks to an electrical malfunction that had upped the fuel drainage.
This time, Alain Prost drew into the lead in the red-and-white McLaren ahead of Elio de Angelis and Thierry Boutsen, while the distant Patrick Tambay, Niki Lauda and Nigel Mansell rounded out the top six; however there would be near disaster for Boutsen, who also ran out of fuel, but did enough to push his car over the line to solidify 3rd place at least.
As all of this was transpiring, Nelson Piquet pulled off in his fuel starved Brabham, while the luckless Martin Brundle and Derek Warwick also ran short less than three laps from the end.
Eventually, Prost slowed to take the flag, eventually stopping on his slow down lap – only to later be disqualified when it was discovered his McLaren was 2 kg’s underweight. With Prost out, de Angelis was declared the winner, promoting Boutsen to 2nd and Tambay to 3rd. Lauda and Mansell were next on the classification with the retired Johansson taking a point for 6th place.
Although it made for an unpredictable end to the Grand Prix, it was also a complete farce.
It would prove to be a poignant celebration for de Angelis – his second win would be his last. The Roman was killed a year later testing for Brabham at Paul Ricard, signalling the end for the original big power turbo era in F1.
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