After crashing heavily against an Italian barrier last Sunday, Felix Rosenqvist returns to the cockpit of his Mücke Motorsport Dallara just days later as the FIA Formula 3 European Championship comes to a close at Hockenheim this weekend.
Having notched up two wins and one second place from three races at last year’s finale at the same circuit, Rosenqvist knows what can be accomplished as he heads back to the German F1 venue – where he also holds the all-time F3 lap record. Sore as he might be – it’s time for the final FIA Formula 3 European Championship encounter of 2014.
Flashback: the previous round
FIA F3 European Championship: Imola (Round 10)
10-12/10
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- Quick Rosenqvist escapes injury in massive Imola shunt
- Update: Felix remains sore in wake of crash
- Video: Felix’s Imola accident
- Gallery: all images from Italy
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LAYOUT – HOCKENHEIM
Length: 4.574 km
Opened: 1932
Lap record, F3: 1m32.599s (Felix Rosenqvist, 2011)
2013 results (Felix): 1st/1st/2nd
Race duration: 35 minutes
One of Hockenheim’s most exotic features is its “Parabolika” semi-straight. This pedal-to-the-metal left-hand sweep halfway around the lap creates a real technical dilemma for engineers, with the rest of the track being made up of a mixture of slow, medium and high speed corners. The fine balance between potentially race-winning top speed at the end of the straight and sufficient grip in the other sections of the circuit forces teams into a car set-up compromise, which often puts the driver in a difficult situation as he either struggles for straight-line speed or performance in the sweeping Motodrom at the end of the lap.
Turn 1 is one of the fastest and most spectacular on the entire calendar, taken at well over 200 km/h. The exit consists of a wide tarmac run-off area that is sometimes used a bit too extensively by drivers, leading to penalties or even to the occasional high-speed crash.
FELIX’S PERSPECTIVE:
“I’m still a bit sore and stiff after the crash last Sunday, but it hopefully won’t hold me back too much this weekend. It was a big shunt, but I’m now looking ahead as we move on to one of my favourite circuits. Historically, the Hockenheim finale has been our strongest event over time, and fact is that I’ve won races on that weekend in every season since I started out in European Formula 3. For that reason, this will mark our ultimate test – and I always travel to Hockenheim to win. I will do everything I possibly can to finish this season on a high.”
TIME TABLE
All times local (GMT+02:00)
Friday 17 October
Free Practice 1: 12.15 (40 minutes)
Free Practice 2: 13.00 (40 minutes)
Qualifying 1: 15.05 (20 minutes)
Qualifying 2: 17.40 (20 minutes)
Saturday 18 October
Race 1: 10.25 (35 minutes)
Race 2: 16.10 (35 minutes)
Sunday 19 October
Race 3: 11.05 (35 minutes)
HOW IT WORKS – AN FIA F3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP QUICK GUIDE
Each round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship is made up of three races, all of which are of equal length (35 minutes) and importance for the outcome in the title chase. The points structure mirrors that in use in Formula 1, running to the 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 system (with the top ten finishers in each race scoring points).
The grid for all three races is set in the two qualifying sessions. For Race 1, the starting order is established by the outright results of Qualifying 1, while the subsequent second qualifying session forms the grid for Race 2. For Race 3, the grid will be based on each driver’s second-fastest lap in Qualifying 2.
CALENDAR
The full 2014 calendar can be viewed here.
ENTRY LIST
FIA Formula 3 European Championship 2014 – teams and drivers
HOW TO FOLLOW FELIX THIS WEEKEND
WEBSITE
As always, www.felixracing.se will be fully updated throughout the weekend, with reports from each of the sessions that take place. The website is the central hub of information for everything that goes on both on and off the track, and will also feature other relevant news, pictures and videos.
TV
All three races at the event will be streamed LIVE at www.fiaf3europe.com, with a feed link set to appear in the slider field at the top of the www.felixracing.se index page. In addition to the real-time broadcasts, a new-for-2014 agreement will also see Eurosport produce a magazine-style wrap-up show to be aired on the Tuesday following each round.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
The interaction with fans and followers will principally involve Felix Racing’s official Facebook Fan Page, where supporters can discuss all the goings-on and post potential questions to Felix. Tweets will also be forthcoming through Felix’s own Twitter account (@FRosenqvist).