2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship
Round 13, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, June 20^th/22^nd 2014
© Lynne Waite and Stella-Maria Thomas

Race 1 Grid (Fastest Qualifying Laps of Qualifying Session 1 after penalties):
1^st – No. 2, Esteban Ocon*, FRA, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:10.049
2^nd – No. 30, Max Verstappen*, NLD, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:10.110
3^rd – No. 25, Antonio Fuoco*, ITA, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:10.225
4^th – No. 3, Lucas Auer, AUT, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:10.340
5^th – No. 16, Gustavo Menezes, USA, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:10.572
6^th – No. 31, Tom Blomqvist, GBR, Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:10.601
7^th – No. 27, Felix Rosenqvist, SWE, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:10.625
8^th – No. 28, Jake Dennis*, GBR, Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:10.659
9^th – No. 21, Felix Serralles, PRT, Team West-TecF3, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:10.834
10^th – No. 12, Alexander Toril, ESP, ThreeBond with T-Sport, Dallara F312, NBE, 2:10.933
11^th – No. 1, Nicholas Latifi, CDN, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:10.976
12^th – No. 15, Jules Szymkowiak*, NLD, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:10.983
13^th – No. 19, Antonio Giovinazzi, ITA, Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2;11.123
14^th – No. 9, Mitch Gilbert, AUS, Fortec Motorsports, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:11.411
15^th – No. 14, Felipe Guimaraes, BRA, Double R Racing, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:11.553
16^th – No. 29, Santino Ferrucci, USA, Eurointernational, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:11.576
17^th – No. 11, Richard Goddard, AUS, ThreeBond with T-Sport, Dallara F312, NBE, 2:11.623
18^th – No. 4, Roy Nissany, ISR, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:11.730
19^th – No. 18, Tatiana Calderon, COL, Jo Zeller Racing, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:11.811
20^th – No. 20, Sean Gelael, IDN, Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:11.813
21^st – No. 10, John Bryant Meisner, SWE, Fortec Motorsports, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:11.854
22^nd – No. 22, Hector Hurst, GBR, Team West-TecF3, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:12.218
23^rd – No. 8, Michele Beretta*, ITA, Eurointernational, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:12.406
24^th – No. 17, Sandro Zeller, SWI, Jo Zeller Racing, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 2:12.630
25^th – No. 5, Jordan King, GBR, Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:12.753
26^th – No. 26, Dennis van de Laar, NLD, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, no time set

*Rookie

Race Report – Round 13 (Race 1):
A sunny Spa-Francorchamps provided a highly entertaining first race of the FIA F3 weekend, with Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing) claiming his second victory of the season from Lucas Auer (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Jake Dennis (Carlin). The young Dutchman had to work for it though, especially as the series leader, Esteban Ocon (Prema Powerteam), started from pole yet again after a wet qualifying session on Friday threw up some interesting results despite it being business as usual at the sharp end.

The start got a bit messy but everyone made it through La Source in one piece. However, it proved costly for Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin), who tried to gain ground off the start, but ended up running wide and losing ground instead. Meanwhile, out at Les Combes, Verstappen has seen his opportunity and was through on Ocon to snatch the lead from the Frenchman. Ocon then tangled with team-mate Antonio Fuoco. Whose fault it was was hard to say but the end result was a DNF for Prema’s star driver. Team principal Rene Rosin was probably not best pleased.

By the close of lap 1 then, Verstappen was in the lead from Auer, while Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) was 3^rd ahead of Dennis, Felix Serralles (Fortec Motorsport), Felipe Guimaraes (Double R Racing), Fuoco, Blomqvist, Nicholas Latifi (Prema Powerteam), and Jules Szymkowiak (Van Amersfoort Racing). Jordan King (Carlin), who had started from the back row after missing the crucial part of qualifying, meanwhile, was up to 19^th already and pushing hard.

Fuoco, who was now in recovery mode, now began what would become a race long squabble with Guimaraes, passing the Brazilian at Eau Rouge, towing Latifi and Blomqvist with him. The battle 6^th was well and truly joined. A lap later and Latifi was all over Guimaraes, which allowed Blomqvist to slip through to claim 7^th. While Verstappen continued to lead – albeit by a mere 1.000 second – life was getting very fraught outside the top ten too.

Roy Nissany (kfztiele24 Muecke Motorsport) had a queue building on his rear wing, including King who really wanted to get past as soon as possible. In the middle of it, new boy Santino Ferrucci (Eurointernational), tangled with Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) putting both of them out on the spot and leading to what appeared to be a free and frank exchange of views as the two drivers stood behind the tyre wall and debated blame. That put the retirements at four, as Alexander Toril (ThreeBond with T-Sport) had gone out by now as well, a shame as the youngster had qualified very well.

Meanwhile Fuoco was attacking Felix Serralles (Team West-TecF3) for 5^th, a tussle that resolved when Serralles ran wide exiting Les Combes. Not only did Fuoco blast through, but so did Blomqvist, who then proceeded to take 5^th from Fuoco.

With two cars stuck out on the track we now got the inevitable Safety Car. Verstappen settled in behind it, still leading from Auer, Rosenqvist, Dennis, Blomqvist, Fuoco, Serralles, Guimaraes, Latifi and Gustavo Menezes (Van Amersfoort Racing). Szymkowiak was now 11^th, from Nissany, a somewhat frustrated King, Richard “Spike” Goddard (ThreeBond with T-Sport), Tatiana Calderon (Jo Zeller Racing), Dennis van de Laar (Prema Powerteam), John Bryant-Meisner (Fortec Motorsport), Sean Gelael (Double R Racing), Sandro Zeller (Jo Zeller Racing) and Hector Hurst (Team West-TecF3). The final two runners were Michele Beretta (Eurointernational) and Mitch Gilbert (Fortec Motorsport).

At the restart there were fifteen minutes or so left. Verstappen controlled the restart well, despite the best efforts of Auer who was trying very hard to snatch the lead from the annoyingly fast rookie. Further back King was on the attack knowing he had the perfect opportunity to get past Nissany. What sorted it out, and let King through, was Latifi just ahead losing out badly and ending up 12^th, which unsettled Nissany and let both King and Goddard through.

Although the winner’s identity now looked to be a foregone conclusion, nothing else was as was proved when Fuoco stole 5^th from Blomqvist, while Menezes set about Serralles, squeezing through to go 8^th. Blomqvist, for one, wasn’t about to take that lying down and immediately launched a counter-attack on Fuoco, quickly claiming the place back.

At the back end of the top ten King was now all over Szymkowiak for 9^th, while it was all kicking off behind Nissany, the Israeli now building up something of a traffic jam as he and Goddard slugged it out for 13^th place. You could have been forgiven for thinking there were points in it, the way the two of them were battling it out. It didn’t help that Bryant-Meisner and van de Laar were also bottled up in the resulting queue and were also keen to get by.

As the race moved towards its conclusion Menezes hacked past Guimaraes for 7^th, while for Rosenqvist things suddenly fell apart. Having been 3^rd for most of the race he suddenly lost the place to Dennis on what would be the penultimate lap. Rosenqvist took it back, but then slowed dramatically, and saw Blomqvist go past on the final lap, followed by Fuoco and Menezes just to add insult to injury.

Meanwhile Auer closed on Verstappen, making a determined effort to claim the lead that was stopped when Verstappen slammed the door on him, damaging the Mücke car’s front wing in the process. Verstappen would not be denied and he hung on to the flag, keeping the Austrian at bay to win. 3^rd was Dennis, from Blomqvist, Fuoco, Menezes, Rosenqvist, Guimaraes, Szymkowiak, and King. Serralles ended the race in 11^th, from Goddard, Latifi, Bryant-Meisner, Calderon, Nissany, van de Laar, Gelael, Hurst and Gilbert. Zeller was 21^st from Beretta, who was last.

Verstappen set the fastest lap of the race.

Race 1 Result:
1^st – No. 30, Max Verstappen*, NLD, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 15 laps, 35:52.582
2^nd – No. 3, Lucas Auer, AUT, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 0.817
3^rd – No. 28, Jake Dennis*, GBR, Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, gap 4.225
4^th – No. 31, Tom Blomqvist, GBR, Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, gap 4.670
5^th – No. 25, Antonio Fuoco*, ITA, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 7.392
6^th – No. 16, Gustavo Menezes, USA, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, gap 7.799
7^th – No. 27, Felix Rosenqvist, SWE, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 9.427
8^th – No. 14, Felipe Guimaraes, BRA, Double R Racing, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 13.047
9^th – No. 15, Jules Szymkowiak*, NLD, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, gap 14.230
10^th – No. 5, Jordan King, GBR, Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, gap 14.893
11^th – No. 21, Felix Serralles, PRT, Team West-TecF3, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 19.667
12^th – No. 11, Richard Goddard, AUS, ThreeBond with T-Sport, Dallara F312, NBE, gap 20.169
13^th – No. 1, Nicholas Latifi, CDN, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 21.277
14^th – No. 10, John Bryant Meisner, SWE, Fortec Motorsports, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 21.841
15^th – No. 18, Tatiana Calderon, COL, Jo Zeller Racing, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 22.462
16^th – No. 4, Roy Nissany, ISR, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, 23.240
17^th – No. 26, Dennis van de Laar, NLD, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 25.584
18^th – No. 20, Sean Gelael, IDN, Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, gap 26.183
19^th – No. 22, Hector Hurst, GBR, Team West-TecF3, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 27.905
20^th – No. 9, Mitch Gilbert, AUS, Fortec Motorsports, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 29.256
21^st – No. 17, Sandro Zeller, SWI, Jo Zeller Racing, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 31.463
22^nd – No. 8, Michele Beretta*, ITA, Eurointernational, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, gap 32.505

Not Classified:
No. 19, Antonio Giovinazzi, ITA, Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, lap 6
No. 29, Santino Ferrucci, USA, Eurointernational, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, lap 6
No. 12, Alexander Toril, ESP, ThreeBond with T-Sport, Dallara F312, NBE, lap 3
No. 2, Esteban Ocon*, FRA, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F312, Mercedes-Benz, lap 1

Fastest Lap:
No. 30, Max Verstappen*, NLD, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F312, Volkswagen, 2:11:111, lap 5, 119.498mph, 192.313kph

*Rookie