Moscow uphill woes continue

Qualifying for Sunday’s weekend-concluding second and third FIA F3 European Championship races at Moscow Raceway marked only a slight improvement in form for Felix over yesterday’s opening qualifying session, as continued struggles left him with positions outside the top five.

In lovely temperatures and under clear blue skies, Qualifying 2 proved more collected than the rather messy session of yesterday, with all drivers pushing from the beginning in their need for not one, but two quick laps for the respective Sunday grids.

Felix wound up ninth quickest overall, 0.856s down on pole man and Race 1 winner Esteban Ocon, to bag that same position on the Race 2 grid – leaving him two spots further up the order than yesterday.

On the list charting second-fastest laps – used to determine the Race 3 grid – Felix was tenth, a frustrating 0.001s shy of ninth (which went to Gustavo Menezes).

The first of Sunday’s two races gets underway at 12.50 local time.

FELIX:

“This was the best I could do today, simple as that. We still struggle to find a consistent set-up that allows me to push, and with the current conditions, on this track, this is what we’ve got. It’s not that it feels great and the time isn’t there – I can feel that there is a lot of room for improvement. When I drive, I know that it’s not quick enough, and it’s obviously a massive disappointment. Lucas (Auer) managed to squeeze out some further tenths, and we’ll see what we can learn from his side of the garage. We have to keep working as a team and I’m absolutely sure that the tide will turn sooner or later.”

RESULTS

Outright times (grid for Race 2) 

Second-fastest times (grid for Race 3)