First corner melee delays Felix in Norisring Race 3

Felix was denied another shot at the podium in the final race of the weekend at Norisring when he was delayed in an opening-lap collision that involved almost half the field.

Starting from third on the grid, Felix had his eyes set on a podium assault to make up for a torrid opening two races at the Nuremberg venue, and was duly locked in a fight for the leading positions as the field headed towards the first corner.

Once there, however, Jake Dennis literally launched his Carlin machine across the inside of the pack, appearing to out-brake himself as he came bouncing over the apex kerbs – right into the path of Esteban Ocon and Felix, who could do nothing but take avoiding action while Dennis came to a halt.

With Felix trapped between the wall and the Englishman’s car, he was left with no option but to wait for the marshals to clear his way, and re-joined dead last in 20th place. Several other drivers, including Mücke Motorsport stablemate Lucas Auer, faced a similar – albeit less costly – destiny as the Grundig hairpin bore more resemblance to a parking lot than a racing corner.

From there, he did what he could to salvage any potential points, overtaking a host of rivals only to miss out on tenth – and the final point – by a tiny 0.05 seconds as he crossed the line side-by-side with team-mate Tatiana Calderón.

To lend weight to his original podium cause, Felix set the second-fastest lap of the race.

After bagging pole position in Friday qualifying, Felix’s weekend again went largely unrewarded. Never one to give up, however, Felix will be given his next opportunity to fight back when the FIA Formula 3 European Championship reaches Moscow in two weeks’ time.

FELIX:

“Well, there’s not much to say about that. Jake made a mistake that cost us dearly, and once I was stuck at the first corner it was always going to be tough to score points. The pace was good and it was fun fighting my way back up the field, but I was obviously hoping for much more in this race. It has been another tough weekend for us, but our qualifying performances show that there’s potential for the future. Next up is Moscow, which is a brand new circuit for me, and I will be back to try and turn the tide by then.”

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