We were one of the three fastest cars on track which was really good and I was very happy about that
Written by Peter Clifford
2 min readPublished on
Showing great pace in the opening weekend of the FIA F3 season, 17-year-old Colombian Red Bull Junior Sebastian Montoya fought back into the points in both races.
“Round 1 complete, I think that it was a very interesting week. The speed was really good in Qualifying, we had a bit of an issue on my last lap, my fast lap, where the downshift didn't really go in and so I went a little bit wide and I missed being able to get back on power out of the last corner otherwise we could have been top 5. In the end, it is what it is and since the times are so close we ended up out of the top 12 which made our weekend a bit harder than it had to be.”
“Race 1, the car in front of me stalled, which made me lose a lot of positions because I had to manoeuvre around him, it caused a lot of wheelspin and I lost a lot of momentum. Then at the first corner, I got a little bit sandwiched and then after that, it was just recovery mode and trying to get into the top 10. In the end, I was able to make a last-lap pass and I think our pace was really strong.”
We were one of the three fastest cars on track which was really good and I was very happy about that.
“Then, in the Feature Race, we weren't very quick. Straight out of the gate, I was passing for P10 I believe and I got pushed wide, I lost a few positions there. In the first couple of laps, I was struggling a lot, with the tyres, especially the front. I had a lot of understeer which made it very difficult to follow.”
But then, as the laps counted down we were getting quicker and quicker and at the end, I was able to finish in the top 10 again.
“Not exactly the weekend we wanted, I think that the potential shows for a lot more. But I am happy that we were able to get two top 10s and get into the points to start the championship.”
“Now full focus on the next round where I just need to improve my Qualifying and also a little bit my ability to adapt to the race car set-up in the races. Thanks to the team and everyone in my family, we'll just keep pushing.”
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