Rain sets up dramatic qualifying session in Belgium

The inevitable rain finally struck Spa-Francorchamps in time for Friday afternoon’s second FIA F3 European Championship qualifying session, laying the foundations for a topsy-turvy set of grids for the final two races of the weekend.

The skies opened just before the start of the session, which was delayed by 15 minutes as race officials waited for conditions to stabilise. They finally did so enough for the first exploratory laps to be completed on slicks, only for Mitch Gilbert to crash on his first flyer and bring out the red flags.

Once the session resumed, the rain had intensified, with the full field heading out on wet-weather Hankooks. What followed next can only be described as a lottery, with intermittent downpours wetting various parts of the lap at various stages, and with the rain finally easing off towards the end – when most drivers (including Felix) were suffering from overheating tyres.

Out of it all to bag his first-ever pole position came Gustavo Menezes of Van Amersfoort Racing, the American leaving it until the later stages to join the track, enjoying superior grip from his tyres when conditions were at their best to out-pace the rest of the field by over a second. Felix wound up ninth overall, 3.7 seconds shy of Menezes, having momentarily topped the session during its damper stages. The outcome means Felix will start tomorrow’s Race 2 from ninth.

On the list charting the second-fastest lap times, which is based to form the Race 3 grid, Felix ended up tenth as the leading Mücke Motorsport runner. Pole for Race 3 went to Esteban Ocon (Prema Powerteam), who continued his streak of strong qualifying performances.

Ferrari-backed Antonio Fuoco had to sit out the majority of the session after literally driving into the wall on the straight leading into Eau Rouge in the early stages.

FELIX:

“That was a very strange session. I normally don’t believe in luck, but sometimes it exists – and this was all about being at the right place at the right time, with no chance of knowing when or where that was! It was raining at one corner on one lap, and the next time around it would be completely dry and vice versa; it was one of those classic Spa sessions, I suppose. My tyres were absolutely burning towards the end when conditions were at their best, and there was nothing more to do. It is what it is, so we can’t be happy neither unhappy.

“It’s not been a great day today, but the racing hasn’t started yet and I will give it my all in each of the three races. I think the podium is still perfectly possible, particularly given the unusual formation of the grid for Races 2 and 3, and I’m ready to fight for every position.”

RESULTS

Grid for Race 3 (second-fastest times)

Grid for Race 2 (outright times)