Monza through the eyes of ART drivers

Last weekend was not easy for the GP3 drivers. Rain ruined the plans and reorganized the events at the Temple of Speed. With no qualifying and only one race, the Italian race weekend can be considered as the most chaotic round of the season. With ART domination and an impressive 1-2-3 finish on the race we asked the top 3 drivers to summarize their Italian weekend on the historical track in Monza.

The Mercedes junior George Russell scored his fourth win of the 2017 season. He finished second in the free practice which meant first row for the race with Nirei Fukuzumi ahead, who later could not start due to technical failure. 

“It’s been a strange weekend for all the GP3 drivers. No qualifying, race 2 cancelled, but obviously the race today was extremely good. I had amazing battles with my teammates, and I feel pleased to have the victory on the only race we had today. I am a bit disappointed not to get pole because there was a small silly mistake in the practice, which costs me 4 points in the end, but nevertheless we won the race and I am happy.” said George about his weekend.

Jack Aitken finished the practice on P4. The Renault Junior had a good race, and with an amazing restart after the virtual safety car, he led the race for a while. In the end, his speed put him on the second place of the podium.

“Free practice went quite well but we were just trying a lot of different things. I was quite close to the top but ended up fourth and then Saturday got completely canceled, which is a shame. We started the race quite well, then I was just staying behind Anthoine and George. When they started to fight, I managed to catch them and then I had a good restart but then unfortunately, in the end there was a bit of under steer. Now, I have to figure out why and we need to fix it before the next races! Saturday, we were all just waiting to get back in the car so It was nice to race again. Generally, it was a good race so I can’t complain.” summarized the weekend Jack.

Anthoine is the only ART driver who did not score victory in the season yet. He was aiming for it and had high chances. With a good free practice, and nice racing, he finished third behind his teammates, which made him a bit disappointed.

“On the race, my target was to win for the first time, I pushed quite hard in the first lap to get the lead. Unfortunately, it was a bit messy race with the safety car, virtual safety car, and after that I was not anymore on the lead, I was second. In the end, I think I have destroyed my first tyres, so I struggled in the end with the degradation and I could not follow the lead from George and Jack, I could stay on third place, which is quite good in the championship, good points. I have also the best lap of the race so it means more points, which is good. I am a bit upset not to win this race, because I really wanted to. I want podium, I want trophy but I want to win so I have mixed feelings now.” said Anthoine.

It is never easy if the plans change unexpectedly. For Anthoine it was the first time to drive in Monza, which made it even more difficult for the Frenchman to race after only one free practice on track. We asked him about the canceled Saturday sessions.

“It was my first time in Monza, so it was not easy to get used to the track, but in spite of this free practice went quite well. I was P3 in the end and quite often on the top places of the session. I was quite happy about the practice and quite confident also for the qualy. Unfortunately, Saturday it was really wet so the qualifying session got cancelled, which meant that my P3 from free practice put me also to P3 on the grid. It is a very strange feeling when you are on track, preparing yourself to drive and then you have to wait. You don’t know if you are going to drive or not. Emotionally, it is hard to manage. You are nervous and then someone tells you the session may will be cancelled, but you don’t know how to prepare yourself. I really did not like Saturday. It was first of all cold, and also rainy all day. Going to the pitlane and then not driving. Coming back with a cancelled session, as I said it is emotionally very difficult to manage.” summarized Anthoine his thoughts about the weekend.