Macau

Joel was forced to see a realistic shot at Macau Grand Prix victory shattered in heartbreaking circumstances when, while leading, he was taken out of Sunday’s 15-lap FIA F3 World Cup finale.

From second on the grid, Joel again made a lightning start to snatch the lead from pole-sitter Callum Ilott into Reservoir, before crucially defending his advantage on the long run to Lisboa to establish himself as the early leader.

The race was then neutralised when Marino Sato crashed out in the sweepers after Melco Hairpin, triggering a Full Course Yellow situation.

At the restart on lap three, Ilott took advantage of the slipstreaming effect to drag alongside Joel on the main straight. Joel covered the inside line as the duo stormed towards Lisboa, when Ilott suddenly steered into the left-hand side of Joel’s Motopark machine as he tried to steal the lead. 

The ensuing contact derailed Joel’s front wing endplate, which then got lodged underneath the left front tyre and sent Joel careering into the barrier. It brought his race to a brutal end. 

Ilott picked up a puncture, but continued following a pit stop only to retire two laps from the end. He was later hit with a ten-second time penalty, although irrelevant, for the clash. 

The race featured arguably the most sensational finish in recent memory, as both Sérgio Sette Câmara and Ferdinand Habsburg crashed at the final corner of the final lap while disputing the lead – allowing third-placed Dan Ticktum through to seal a highly unlikely victory.

Ticktum’s win meant Motopark with VEB claimed FIA F3 World Cup honours despite two of the team’s other drivers, Joel and Sette Câmara, frustratingly retiring from leading positions. 

Comment, Joel:

“Extremely disappointing. Hard one to take. Everything went exactly according to plan until that point. I made a good start, covered off the inside to Lisboa, and grabbed the lead. The car felt better today; we ran more downforce and I’m confident that I would have been able to build a gap in the mountain if given the chance.

“This is the second time Ilott takes me out from the lead at a street track (Norisring 2016 was the first) – he probably didn’t mean to on either occasion, but still it’s frustrating to have it happen again. We had a big opportunity to win Macau today and it is tough to take, but I’m pleased with my own performance. We got pole position and were in a position where we could win the Macau Grand Prix on pace, so that is encouraging. You need a bit of luck here, simple as that, and I certainly wasn’t lucky today.” 

RESULTS – 2017 Macau Grand Prix

Joel overcame a crucial hurdle in the hunt for FIA F3 World Cup glory on the streets of Macau by finishing a solid second in the important Qualification Race on Saturday morning.

After storming to the fastest time in qualifying yesterday, Joel commenced the 10-lap pre-finale from pole position, maintaining the early lead thanks to a rocket start.

He remained out in front until lap seven, when Callum Ilott – who had started the race from third but powered past the slow-starting Lando Norris off the line – made a move into the flat-out Mandarin bend to snatch the lead.

With Ilott now ahead and building a growing gap, Joel turned his attention towards simply bringing the car home on rapidly degrading tyres, covering off third-placed team-mate Sérgio Sette Câmara.

At the fall of the chequered flag, the order remained Ilott from Joel and Sette Câmara, with Maximilian Günther and Ferdinand Habsburg completing the top five.

Norris faded dramatically on the initial run to Lisboa following his poor start and could only finish seventh, behind Pedro Piquet.

The Qualification Race results determine the final grid for Sunday’s all-important 15-lap finale, which Joel is now duly set to start from the front row – an ideal position as he continues to contend for the FIA F3 World Cup title. 

Next session: Main Race, 15.30 local time (GMT+08:00) on Sunday.

Comment, Joel:

“A good result – I’m happy with that. I made a really good start and managed to defend my lead relatively easy into Lisboa, but then after a few laps, I felt the tyres going off badly. We started this race on the worst tyres available – we’re keeping the best ones for tomorrow – and the rears especially faded a lot. I had some oversteer moments as a result, and once Callum got past, I decided to just bring the car home in second place. We’re in pretty much an ideal position for tomorrow, so we’ll give it our best and see how it goes.”   

RESULTS – Qualification Race

Joel came out on top in a tense qualifying scrap with Britons Lando Norris and Callum Ilott to claim pole position for Saturday’s Qualification Race at the Macau Grand Prix, the leading trio covered by less than one tenth of a second.

The session soon turned into a three-way fight between the leading contenders, with Joel eventually edging out his British rivals courtesy of the fastest lap so far this weekend: a 2m10.720s.

That effort was enough to pip European champion Norris to pole by the tiniest of margins, 0.024s separating the season-long rivals as they locked out the front row.

In third, Ilott wound up just 0.090s adrift of Joel’s benchmark time, while his Prema Powerteam stablemate Maximilian Günther took fourth, 0.436s off the pace.

Joel becomes the sixth Swede in history to top F3 qualifying at Macau. 

Next session: Qualification Race, 10.20 local time (GMT+08:00) on Saturday.

Comment, Joel:

“Wow! I’m a bit lost for words right now, but this is one of the greatest emotions I’ve had in motorsport. That was one of the best laps of my life, no doubt. I went into each corner thinking I might have overdone it – it was right, right on the edge. To be on pole for the Macau Grand Prix… what can I say? I’m just thrilled. This was an important step, but now, we have to regroup and look ahead to the races. It will be extremely close, like we saw today, but I’m up for the challenge.”   

RESULTS – Qualifying 2

Joel set himself up strongly for this afternoon’s decisive qualifying showdown in Macau by topping the times in final FIA F3 World Cup practice.

Coming to the fore in the closing stages of the 40-minute session, which took place in comparatively chilly conditions on Friday morning, Joel used two new tyres to produce a 2m12.032s lap that would remain unchallenged.

This is the first time Joel tops a session at Macau, the annual Formula 3 blue-riband event. 

It was another convincing session overall for Motopark with VEB, with Joel followed by team-mate Dan Ticktum in second and Sérgio Sette Câmara taking sixth.

Joel survived a brief scare at R Bend – the final corner – as he came around to complete his pace-setting lap, picking up a wild slide but staying away from the barriers thanks to leaning onto the exit kerbs.

There were three red-flag stoppages in this session, triggered by separate incidents from Mick Schumacher, Pedro Piquet and Ralf Aron. The latter crashed out at Moorish Hill with just three minutes remaining, bringing practice to a slightly premature end.

The outcome of practice bodes well for the important second qualifying session in a few hours’ time, as Joel bids to improve on his preliminary fifth place on the grid (as sealed in Q1 yesterday) for Saturday’s Qualification Race.

Next session: Qualifying 2, 15.25 local time (GMT+08:00) this afternoon.

Comment, Joel:

“A good session, always fun to be on top! We wanted to get a feel for the car on new tyres – my tyres from yesterday were really worn – so we went for two new on the left side for a few laps of qualifying preparation at the end. We didn’t want to waste four new, though, so we still had two really old ones on the right. The car was quite poorly balanced as a result, but it was alright. It will be a cool experience to finally bolt on four new ones in qualifying this afternoon and really go for it.”   

RESULTS – Free Practice 2

Joel has sealed a preliminary grid slot of fifth for Saturday’s Qualification Race at the Macau Grand Prix, abstaining from the use of any new tyres in opening qualifying.

Unlike this morning’s free practice session, which ran largely without trouble and in which Joel was second fastest, first qualifying at the Guia street track was blighted by a full four red-flag stoppages amid a sequence of crashes. 

The worst of those struck Joel’s Motopark with VEB team-mate Sérgio Sette Câmara, who hit the guardrail violently at the bumpy Fishermen’s bend in an accident which brought about lengthy delays due to barrier repairs. 

At that point, Joel sat fourth on the timesheets, but he was bumped to fifth by FIA F3 European champion Lando Norris once running finally resumed – the Briton using new tyres to improve by over two seconds and haul himself all the way to first place in the closing moments.

As it was, Norris led the way from Pedro Piquet, Maximilian Günther, Dan Ticktum and Joel, who decided not to fit any new tyres (instead saving his allocation until later in the week).

Macau GP rules stipulate that each driver has access to 3,5 sets of tyres for the duration of the four-day event.

Thursday’s qualifying results provide the provisional grid for Saturday’s Qualification Race, but the final starting order will not be set until the second qualifying session has been contested tomorrow.  

Next session: Free Practice 2, 11.45 local time (GMT+08:00) on Friday.

Comment, Joel:

“I feel comfortable, no issues. We experimented a bit with our set-up in the first part of the session, and we’ve decided which way to go tomorrow. That’s the most important bit. The gap to Lando was quite large in the end, but I think that’s mainly down to tyres. After all, I was ahead of him before the break, so I’m not really worried. Tomorrow is when it really counts, and I’m optimistic that we can do a good job.”   

RESULTS – Qualifying 1

Joel enjoyed a strong start to the 2017 FIA F3 World Cup in Macau by going a convincing second fastest in Thursday’s opening free practice session.

Returning to the ultra-demanding street track for the second time following his 2016 Macau debut, Joel proved immediately capable of using his experience to good effect around the Guia Circuit. 

Posting a 2m14.916s best, Joel eventually wound up second fastest, trailing Motopark with VEB team-mate Sérgio Sette Câmara by just a mere tenth of a second. It was a strong performance overall from the Oschersleben-based squad, with Dan Ticktum taking third.

European F3 champion Lando Norris, whom Joel battled for the title for a large proporition of the season, was sixth.

Uncharacteristically for Macau, the session ran largely incident-free and required not a single red-flag stoppage.

Coming up next today is first qualifying. 

Next session: Qualifying 1, 14.15 local time (GMT+08:00).

Comment, Joel:

“It’s like I suspected: it’s a completely different thing coming back here for the second time. I feel much, much more confident pushing the car closer to the barriers, and it’s a big difference compared to last year. It’s a promising start, for sure, both for myself and for the team in total. It’s still very early days, however, and we need to keep working hard to try and maintain this level of competitiveness when it really counts.”   

RESULTS – Free Practice 1