FIA F3 in Monaco
For the first time ever the FIA Formula 3 Championship races at the famous streets of Monaco. The hardest challenge of the whole calendar for our five Formula 3 drivers.
Just before the practice on Friday morning it started to rain quite heavily which meant it was the most difficult conditions imaginable for our drivers to get their first taste of the tight and tricky turns in Monaco. But all of them did an amazing job keeping their car under control and getting as many laps as possible in. After the practice our mechanics had to change the engine in the back of Sophia's car, because the temperature got too high on the way back to the paddock, because the pace car was just driving too slow. Our crew did very well finishing this work in time.
In Qualifying the drivers could push the car to the maximum limit on a dry track for the first time. For our drivers Nikita Bedrin and Taylor Barnard who both race for our partner team Jenzer Motorsport finished 7th and 5th in their groups. Nikita just missed out on the pole position for the sprint race by one position. After a penalty for another driver Taylor Barnard starts the sprint race from third position.
After a crash at the first corner of the sprint race Sophia Flörsch had to come to a full stop to avoid crashing into the stranded car and lost a lot of positions. Taylor Barnard at the front had a good start, but then was boxed in at the first corner by another driver and lost out on the last step of the podium. Piotr Wisnicki had a good race, made up a lot of positions and finished in 18th place after starting in 23rd place. Taylor Barnard finished 5th in the end and got 6 very valuable points for that.
Unfortunately all PHM Racing cars had to start the feature race from the pitlane, which especially in Monaco with 30 cars destroys every chance of points. Some tyre experts touched the tires too soon in parc ferme, which resulted in this penalty.
The feature started very eventful for Taylor as he had to cut the first corner because he got squeezed by another driver. By that he gained two positions. He had no other way to go, but despite that the stewards gave him a 10 second time penalty. Right before the end he was running comfortably in fifth place and pushed like hell in the end to extend the gap to the drivers behind him. Because of the penalty he dropped down to 8th place and still gets 4 points for his amazing drive. Nikita Bedrin finished just 1 second outside the points in 12th position. Roberto Faria, Sophia Flörsch and Piotr Wisnicki tried everything but overtaking in Monaco is almost impossible, so they finished in 27th, 23rd and 22nd position.
Next up is Barcelona, where we were testing a couple of weeks ago. We are looking forward to being on track again this weekend.
