The compressed FIA F3 season ends this weekend in the Tuscan hills as part of the first Grand Prix at Mugello. Liam Lawson should have been heading south from Monza closer to the championship lead but a post-race penalty robbed the 18-year-old New Zealander of second place in Race 2 and the points that went with it.
The Hitech driver remains focused on winning and making the most of the last two races, as are fellow Red Bull Juniors Dennis Hauger, Jack Doohan and Igor Fraga.
Lawson looks forward
FIA F3 Championship position: 4th – 127 points – after 16 of 18 races
“Obviously the end result of Monza was disappointing, but I guess that’s racing and it happens all the time so you just have to move on. It’s a shame because we’d really closed the gap and now we’ve lost a lot of points but we’ll keep fighting this weekend. Mugello looks like a cool track and it’s the first time for me and I think for a lot of drivers so I think it should be interesting, we’re going to be learning a lot off Dennis,” added the Kiwi with a chuckle.
“It is the last weekend, I guess at the end if you need a little bit more to get something you might take a few more risks but otherwise it’s a normal race weekend and we are going there to win like we always do.”
“For us we still need consistency, as I’ve said before I think we have a smaller window than some of the others in terms of what works and so we’ve got to make sure we are in that window. So the focus is to be in that top bunch consistently and not have the little issues that have been costing us a lot.”
“I think we are going to be running the hard tyre this weekend and looking at the track I think that the deg will be quite high with the layout so that will be interesting,” concluded Lawson.
Hauger already a Mugello winner
FIA F3 Championship position: 16th – 14 points – after 16 of 18 races
Last year Dennis Hauger totally dominated in Italian F4 and clinched the title at Mugello. The 17-year-old Norwegian knows that the F3 Hitech Dallara is not the same creature but the experience should help. “It will be different but it I think I understand it quite well. It’s a special track, the way you can use it and the corners are mostly combinations to it’s good to know the way that they run together and the way they go up and down a lot.”
“It’s a very interesting track and I am looking forward to it.”
Fraga knows he is ready
FIA F3 Championship position: 24th – 1 point – after 16 of 18 races
“In Monza we showed good pace again,” asserted the 21-year-old Brazilian Charouz driver. “Last year I raced at Mugello in Regional so at least it is a track that I know a little bit better. It is also quite a high speed track so it is good to have some experience there. I think the soft tyre worked well for us in Monza, we’ll see what we use in Mugello and how that works out.”
“It will be important to get a good set-up there, I think that the track is quite aggressive and could be hard on the tyres. I think that it will be best to run alone in Quali, less important to get a slipstream though there is the one long straight where it would help, interesting as the teams haven’t been there for F3.”
Doohan focused and determined
FIA F3 Championship position: 28th – 0 points – after 16 of 18 races
The 17-year-old Australian HWA driver has been to Mugello but only as a MotoGP spectator and after frequently showing pace through this F3 season is keen to get in the car. “I want to finish the job in Quali and get up there on the grid. From there I just want points and to be able to get on podium from the reverse grid. I know that to do that I need to get my eye in early as I’ve never driven there.”
Mugello weekend schedule – all times CEST
Friday 11th September
09:35 – Practice (45 minutes)
14:05 – Qualifying (30 minutes)
Saturday 12th September
10:25 – Race 1 (21 Laps or 40 Mins)
Sunday 13th September
10:30 – Race 2 (21 Laps or 40 Mins)
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