Felix Rosenqvist made significant inroads in the fight for the FIA Formula 3 European Championship title as he claimed an important victory and completed a podium clean-sweep at Zandvoort this weekend.
Rosenqvist – returning to the Dutch circuit on which he won the 2011 and 2013 Masters of Formula 3 events – controlled proceedings from pole position to win the second of the weekend’s three races, and backed up his sixth triumph of the season with second and third place respectively in races one and three.
Underlining his pace at the winding seaside venue, Rosenqvist set the fastest lap in Race 2, headed Friday’s free practice session and featured among the top three in each and every outing over the course of the weekend. A total of 34 drivers contested the Dutch event.
The outcome means Rosenqvist has now considerably sliced a pre-weekend 66.5-point deficit in the championship standings, with the Swede leaving Zandvoort sitting just 27 points adrift of new overall spearhead Antonio Giovinazzi (Italy). Previous leader Charles Leclerc, Monaco, is now second, just 19.5 points ahead of third-placed Rosenqvist. An FIA Formula 3 European Championship race win is awarded with 25 points.
“This was an important weekend for us, and we managed to do exactly what we needed to,” says Felix Rosenqvist. “I really love Zandvoort – it is a real, old-school driving challenge – and this victory in particular was great. Having said that, I am a competitive person and I do think there was even more in it for us this weekend. I was held up badly by traffic in both qualifying sessions, and I’m convinced we had the pace for a triple pole. It’s difficult to overtake around this place, so there wasn’t much I could do in races one and three, but from pole I think we proved in Race 2 that victory would have been achievable. It was still a great weekend overall, however. I think the most promising fact we take away from here is that the rest of the circuits on the calendar require similar car characteristics, so we know we have a strong package for the final part of the season.”
The fight for the FIA F3 European Championship title continues at Austria’s Red Bull Ring on July 31-August 2.