What was said in the PREMA camp on Sunday night?

The on-track tangling of team mates in motorsport is like an unspoken rule. It is a no-no!

While team managers may openly encourage racing with no team orders, that soon changes when damages have to be paid for and championship points are lost!

In Race 2 of the FIA Formula 3 Championship last weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, we saw Campos Racing team mates Alex Peroni and Sebastian Fernandez lock wheels together on the 20th lap with both retiring. Little damage (to the cars), but no points.

Meanwhile up front we witnessed an enthralling battle for the lead between PREMA team mates Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman (both having competed here in NZ in the Toyota Racing Series).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ4TVwit3zQ
Last lap crash PREMA Rob Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong in Formula 3 at Austria

This was to end in tears as well, with contact between the two. After Armstrong successfully passed Shwartzman for the lead on the final lap, the Russian made contact with the Armstrong puncturing his right rear tyre.

Shwartzman crossed the line first only to be penalised, dropping him to third, while Armstrong finished in 19th.

While we don’t (and won’t) know what was said in the PREMA motor home that evening, both drivers have publicly answered questions about the incident.

Armstrong’s reaction shows a level of maturity that has to be applauded.

He said the following to Autosport.com:

“Firstly I don’t think I should have been in that situation, I should have won the race five laps before that.

“I clearly had more speed than Robert and I’m angry at myself that I didn’t exploit that earlier in the race, [with] seven to five laps to go.”

Wow, that’s refreshing from a driver, particularly after what we have witnessed in F1 (Vettel in Canada, Leclerc in Austria). Here Armstrong takes a good hard look at himself, questioning why he got himself into that position in the first place. Quite different to Shwartzman.

“In my opinion it was a racing incident,” Shwartzman told Autosport,com.

Well, the stewards saw differently and issued a penalty!

“We were fighting for the win and it happened so quick. I feel sorry for Marcus for the DNF and for my penalty. I think the penalty is deserved because he didn’t finish.

“I don’t feel myself that I did something completely wrong. I was just trying to defend and unfortunately I had no time to stop in time. We made contact. It’s sad, we lost some points, it was tight racing.”

Quite a different attitude to his driver-coach former F1 driver Vitaly Petrov who said the following:

“It’s difficult to give him any advice but in future if you are fighting for championship points, it is better to finish second, not third, and keep a few points more.”

This is why Armstrong has the hallmarks of a top driver. There were no excuses, no blaming, just introspection and annoyance at himself for getting himself in that position rather than taking action five laps before and cementing the race lead.

Benjamin Carrell is a freelance motorsport writer and currently edits talkmotorsport.co.nz. He writes for a number of Kiwi drivers and motorsport clubs. That's when he's not working in his horticultural day-job or training for the next road or mtb cycle race!

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz

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