FIA F3 European Championship: Zandvoort

The final race of the Zandvoort F3 weekend featured the same dynamic – or maybe lack of dynamic – as this morning’s Race 2, with Joel again stuck in traffic outside the points.

In a repeat of the Race 2 developments, Joel again started from 13th on the grid and came home 12th at the chequered flag.

He spent the majority of the race sitting on the tail of Mick Schumacher and Team Motopark colleague David Beckmann, eventually finding a way past his team-mate six laps from the end to take 12th.

Up front, Lando Norris converted pole position into victory.

Joel leaves Zandvoort still holding third in the overall FIA F3 European Championship standings, 55 points behind new leader Norris with Maximilian Günther sandwiching the duo in second place.

Comment, Joel:

“This race was very similar to that this morning. I made a good start again, was a lot quicker than the guys ahead, but simply got stuck. I did manage to overtake Beckmann, but it doesn’t matter when it’s for 12th place – that’s not the position we should be racing for. We will learn everything we can from this weekend, move on and do better at Nürburgring.”   

RESULTS – Race 3

Joel completed an undramatic run to 12th place in the second FIA F3 European Championship race of the weekend at Zandvoort.

From 13th on the grid, Joel was stuck behind a train of slower cars throughout the 22-lap race, unable to make any progress on a circuit famed and feared for its lack of overtaking opportunities.

In typical Zandvoort fashion, there was little change to the running order, although Joel did inherit 12th when Jehan Daruvala served a drive-through penalty for a jump start.

The race was won from pole position by Callum Ilott, who led a British 1-2-3-4 ahead of Jake Hughes, Lando Norris and Harrison Newey.

The final race of the weekend takes place late this afternoon.

Next session: Race 3, 16.55 local time (GMT+02:00) this afternoon.

Comment, Joel:

“There’s not a lot to say about this one, really. I tried my best to make up some places at the beginning, but it’s just impossible at this track. The tyres get destroyed when you’re too close to the car in front, so I had to back off and just take my place in the queue. Let’s hope for better things in Race 3.”   

RESULTS – Race 2

The grids for Sunday’s two FIA F3 European Championship races at Zandvoort have been vastly shuffled, after half the field was retroactively penalised for speeding under yellow flags in Saturday’s qualifying session.

The stewards of the meeting spent hours last night deliberating over the events of a confused final minute of qualifying, triggered by a spin from David Beckmann that brought out the yellow flags in sector two just as drivers kept throwing in their fastest laps.

A final decision on the matter has now been made, with the stewards finding that a full ten drivers – including Joel as well as main championship rivals Lando Norris and Maximilian Günther – had failed to slow sufficiently as they passed Beckmann’s stranded car.

Report: Qualifying 2

A host of penalties have been handed out, with the relevant drivers having their best or second-best lap times deleted and dropping two places on the respective grids. 

Among the more notable consequences is a change at the front of the grid for Race 2, with Norris losing pole and dropping to third. Callum Ilott will instead lead the pack when the lights go out this morning.

Unfortunately, Joel is one of those most severely affected. Having set two near-identical lap times in qualifying, he had originally sealed tenth and sixth place respectively for today’s races, but with his best lap now deleted, that will instead leave him P13/P13. This is because his third-quickest time, which is now effectively used as his Race 3-qualifier, was a full six tenths slower (set on a warm-up lap).

Race 2 gets underway at 11.05 local time.

Joel was unable to repeat yesterday’s encouraging qualifying performance in the second grid-deciding session of the Zandvoort weekend, struggling to positions outside the top five.

Having recouped his early-season FIA F3 European Championship qualifying form on Friday – and backed it up with a podium in this morning’s opening race – Joel went into second qualifying on Saturday afternoon hoping to again battle it out over pole position.

Unlike yesterday, however, he could not stage a proper frontrunning attack, instead taking P10 and P6 on the grids for the second and third races of the weekend.

The session was red-flagged with 4m26s to go when Jehan Daruvala spun off at Mastersbocht, with Joel sitting a lowly 13th at the time of the stoppage having not yet set a representative lap.

He did produce two near-identical laps of 1m28.613s and 1m28.673s in the closing stages, however, hauling himself a bit further up the order. 

To aggravate the situation, title rival Lando Norris sealed a set of pole positions for Sunday’s races, while championship leader Maximilian Günther will line up fifth and third respectively.

Next session: Race 2, 11.05 local time (GMT+02:00) tomorrow.

Comment, Joel:

“It’s strange having this result today, because the car felt good in the race this morning and I actually lapped quicker then than I did now, in qualifying trim. 

“We need to sit down and have a look at what happened – it’s still too early to really know. Obviously the red flag wasn’t ideal, but it was the same for everyone and I don’t think we suffered more than most. I also had a problem with my radio which meant I couldn’t get any information about track position and traffic. It’s going to be difficult tomorrow, but we’ll have to take it lap by lap. Some rain would help us, so let’s hope for that.”   

RESULTS – Qualifying 2 

Outright times (grid for Race 2)

Second-fastest times (grid for Race 3)

Joel racked up his ninth podium of the season by taking second place in the Zandvoort opener on Saturday morning, reducing Maximilian Günther’s championship lead in the process.

Starting from third on the grid, Joel immediately disposed of front-row man Ferdinand Habsburg on the run to the first corner, and even challenged the Austrian’s Carlin team-mate Lando Norris for the lead.

Norris fended off the attack, however, while a scary accident further down the field saw Joel’s Team Motopark colleague David Beckmann flipped upside-down in the gravel trap, triggering a safety car period. Beckmann, thankfully, escaped serious injury and was driven from the scene in the Medical Car.

At the restart a few laps later, Joel again launched an attack on Norris for the lead, but the McLaren F1 junior held firm and the race then turned into a typical Zandvoort event with virtually no changes to the running order at a track infamous for its lack of overtaking opportunities.

The leaders duly maintained their positions to the chequered flag, with Norris claiming victory ahead of Joel and Günther in third place.

The outcome sees an already close title race bunch up further still, with Joel remaining third overall but having now cut Günther’s lead from 26 to 23 points. Norris retains second.

Next session: Qualifying 2, 16.15 local time (GMT+02:00).

Comment, Joel:

“I’ll never be fully pleased until I win, but given the circumstances in this race I’m definitely satisfied. Lando had two new tyres today while I was on four old, so he was a couple of tenths quicker, which is quite normal in that situation. I tried to overtake on a couple of occasions on the first few laps, but he defended well. I think second was the best we could do today and it does give us many important points.”   

RESULTS – Race 1