Bearman secures podium finish in Monza Race 1
PREMA Racing secured a podium finish today in the opening race of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Monza. After starting from P7, the British racer quickly started to make his way towards the front even though a lengthy safety car forced him to wait. In the final few laps, Bearman went to the attack, passing multiple cars and finding himself in close pursuit of the leader. While he ran out of time for an attack, he still achieved extremely valuable points that paired with the demise of some of his contenders, propelled him back into the championship fight albeit with a large gap. Today’s one was the Ferrari Driver Academy member’s seventh podium of 2022.
Jak Crawford started from P5 and was caught in the middle of a tight fight which became even more competitive with the DRS use. The American Red Bull Junior driver eventually crossed the finish line in P7, still totalling valuable points for the team championship.
Arthur Leclerc ended up in P8. The Monegasque was involved in early contact and dropped back in the opening stages, but fought back and eventually ended up in the same spot where he had started from. Leclerc is still in championship contention as well with a theoretical chance as he is waiting to line-up for race 2 in P5 right in front of Bearman.
#4 ARTHUR LECLERC
“Not the race I expected, I had a really hard first lap with contact with Martins that I couldn’t do anything about. I was in my line and just felt the contact losing quite a lot of positions. The car felt a bit different afterward for three or four laps. Then we came back to pace. In the end, the pace was good and we came back from P14 to P8.”
Qualifying: P5
Starting position Race 1: P8
Fastest lap: 1:37.945
Race 1: P8
#5 JAK CRAWFORD
“It was a qualifying session with mixed feelings for me. The first run was not the best, the car was a rivalling one to begin with. For the second run, we made improvements and the speed was looking good. I was improving by quite a bit on the last lap when I had traffic at the end of the second sector. It was a shame we didn’t get to complete that lap because I think it would have been good enough for top-5, but it is what it is, we’re at Monza, and we can race.
Qualifying: P8
Starting position Race 1: P5
Fastest lap: 1’38″031
Race 1: P7
#6 OLIVER BEARMAN
“Decent qualifying overall, top-6 is quite a good starting position for both races. Traffic was a bit of a mess especially when we got in the pitlane and I got my position lost. I was stuck behind slower cars, which compromised the second run. However, I think P6 and P7 for the races are quite good, let’s see what we can do.”
Qualifying: P6
Starting position Race 1: P7
Fastest lap: 1’37″760
Race 1: P2
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing