Race Report

2019 Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia
FIA F3 CHAMPIONSHIP

Circuit: Monza (I), Length 5.793 km, 6^th - 8^th September 2019, Rounds 13 & 14
www.monzanet.it

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2019 mit:
Yuki Tsunoda (JPN), Andreas Estner (D) and Giorgio Carrara (ARG)

Tsunoda wins at Monza

The FIA F3 Teams met up on the very fast Monza (I) circuit, as ever racing as one of the support races for the Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia 2019. This was their seventh outing in Europe supporting the 2019 Grand Prix Programme. At the start the weather was still agreeably warm, but then the temperature dropped and the rain set in. Competition was tough and everybody gave it their best shot to try and shine.

Race One Qualifying

Friday, 06.09.19, 17.50 – 18.20, Weather: Overcast, 18°C

A few minutes into free practice on Friday morning it began to rain, and the track that had been damp was now really wet. Andreas spun and slipped off track, damaging his car and bringing his session to a premature end. Yuki and Giorgio were 20^th and 22^nd when the session was halted, and after the restart no one was able to improve their lap times in the rain.
With more rain in the afternoon, the qualifying session took place on Friday evening on a drying track. Initially everyone was able to steadily improve their lap times. Then all the drivers came in to change tyres, and as they all headed out again there was a lot of slow driving to try and get into an advantageous position. This caused some hairy situations when drivers who were on a fast lap suddenly encountered several slow-moving drivers. When the situation did not improve, the race director decided to red flag the session a few minutes early of its scheduled end for safety reasons. At this point our drivers were in the following positions: 10^th (Giorgio Carrara), 11^th (Yuki Tsunoda), and 30TH (Andreas Estner).
After the session numerous penalties were handed out and the grid changed completely, shifting out drives to 4^th (Giorgio), 6^th (Yuki), and 26^th (Andreas).

FIA F3 Championship

Race One (40 Minutes)

Saturday, 07/09/19, 10.30, Weather: Cloudy, 18°C

The start went well and the huge field made it through the first chicane without too much trouble. Yuki slotted into 6th place and was immediately embroiled in a battle for positions, with the help of slipstreaming and then the DRS. The Safety Car had to be deployed when Vips went off and couldn’t restart his damaged car. At the restart Yuki managed to get past Verschoor as did Daruvala. Yuki, who was now 4^th, of course then set about Daruvala, but couldn’t get past. Peroni was next to crash and his accident meant the final laps of the race were run behind the Safety Car. Yuki brought home an excellent 4th place as a result, after a very strong race. Giorgio had a great start, but then got trapped on the inside of the racing line and had to slam on the brakes. That cost him most of his momentum and several places. At the start of lap 2 he found himself sandwiched between Fernandez and Kari, and as a result had to retire with a damaged car. Fernandez was handed a drive-through penalty for pushing Giorgio off, but of course this didn’t help Giorgio at all. Andreas lost a few places after the start, but managed to get back up to 22^nd during the race. After the race Armstrong was given a time penalty for an infringement during the VSC phase and lost his 2^nd place, which moved Yuki up to 3^rd place in the final classification.

The grid for the second race of the weekend was set by reversing the order of the first eight finishers in the first race, with the rest of the places set according to finishing order in the first race.

FIA F3 Championship

Race Two (40 Minutes)

Sunday, 08/09/19, 09.30, Weather: Wet, 13°C

It rained in the night, and the forecast was for rain all morning. In addition, the temperature had dropped noticeably. When the race started, the track was still very wet and there was a lot of spray around. Visibility was very poor and the conditions on track were very slippery and difficult. Yuki made a good start and hung onto 3rd place. Soon he pulled off a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre and slid his way through to 2^nd. Once there he piled the pressure on Hughes and went on the attack straight away; he was lucky it didn’t end in an accident. It did cost him some momentum and he took a few laps to get back to chasing Hughes. Then, after a few changes of place, he managed to take the lead from Hughes and make it stick. After a very strong race, Yuki earned a deserved win for the first time in this category and claimed his third podium in a row! Giorgio made a good start and was already in 22^nd place when he ran wide in the difficult conditions and lost ground. He crossed the finish line in 23^rd place. Andreas also drove well and finished the race just behind Giorgio in 24^th place.

We look forward to the next and final race of the 2019 FIA F3 championship which will be held on the weekend of 29^th September at Sochi (RUS).

Championship standings after 14 out of 18 races:

1^st Robert Shwartzman (RUS), 180 points; 2^nd Jehan Daruvala (IND), 147 points; 3^rd Juri Vips (EST), 122 points; 4^th Marcus Armstrong (NZ), 119 points; 5^th Christian Lundgaard (DK), 97 points; 6^th Pedro Piquet (BRA), 90 points; 8^th Yuki Tsunoda (JPN), 67 points

Yuki Tsunoda (JAP)

Andreas Estner (D)

Giorgio Carrara (ARG)

© Photo Pellegrini

2019 FIA F3 Championship

For more information:

• www.fiaformula3.com
• www.italiaracing.net