British F3 news

Bird satisfied with first weekend in British F3

Sam Bird enjoyed his first round of British Formula 3 at Oulton Park finishing fourth in the first race and sixth in the second. Bird qualified in sixth and seventh places for the two races on Saturday.

Looking back at his weekend Bird wasn't too happy with his qualifying performance. He said: "I am not thrilled with my qualifying," he said on Sunday "In pre-season testing I have been right up at the sharp end of the times, mixing it with the more experienced drivers. There are so many drivers in the series, and there were a lot of red flags and a lot of traffic in qualifying - of course it was the same for everyone, but I was unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to put in a really good lap. But if I can get a couple of good starts, I should be able to make up a place or two."

In his first race Bird finished fourth. "I'm quite pleased with that," he said afterwards. "My first race start in F3, my first race and I was able to make up a couple of places. It's difficult to overtake at Oulton, so I had to try and make up as much as possible at the start. I've got a race under my belt now and am really looking forward to the next one."

Between the races, the rain came in heavily, but then the track started to dry out just before the start of Race 2, giving the engineers some headaches in set-up and tyre selection. In the event, the teams went out on dry tyres and the rain did stay at bay during the race. However, three red flags ensued, meaning three restarts, and a reduced race down to 10 laps! "It was quite frustrating" said Sam, "as in the 2nd restart I had managed to make up two places and get into 5th place, but another red flag meant we had to regroup in original qualifying positions."

However, Sam was able to get another good start and jump to sixth place where he remained for the rest of the race. " I'm pleased with the weekend, we come away with a good solid points haul and I hope to improve on that at Donington Park in a couple of weeks' time."

more news

• 26 Nov.
  • Trouble free start for Teamcraft Motorsport
• 25 Nov.
  • Boyd puts high-flying crash behind him
• 22 Nov.
  • Mortara wins Macau Grand Prix
• 18 Nov.
  • Vergne joins Carlin for 2010
  • Prize-winning Wilson drives McLaren
• 09 Nov.
  • Ricciardo to test with Red Bull
• 02 Nov.
  • Rosenzweig tests for Fortec
• 26 Oct.
  • Van der Zande nominated for Autosport award
• 14 Oct.
  • Calado joins Carlin for 2010
• 25 Sep.
  • Chilton joins Addax for Asia Series
• 20 Sep.
  • Chilton wins season finale
  • Photos: Sunday at Brands Hatch
  • Ricciardo takes dominant win at Brands Hatch
• 19 Sep.
  • Photos: Saturday at Brands Hatch
  • Ricciardo on pole for second race as well
  • Ricciardo on pole-position at Brands Hatch
• 15 Sep.
  • Van der Zande returns to F3 Euroseries
• 13 Sep.
  • Ricciardo crowned Champion in Portugal
  • Photos: Sunday at Portimao
  • Bianchi winst race 1, Ricciardo takes class win
• 12 Sep.
  • Photos: Saturday at Portimao
  • Chilton scores Race 2 pole
  • Van der Zande takes Race 1 pole
• 11 Sep.
  • Ricciardo finishes Friday on top
  • Van der Zande tops first Algarve session
• 04 Sep.
  • Ricciardo not switching game plan
• 31 Aug.
  • Maurage and Ma to join West-Tec
• 28 Aug.
  • P1 factory destroyed by large fire
• 25 Aug.
  • Ricciardo tipped for Red Bull F1 test
• 16 Aug.
  • Photos: Sunday at Silverstone
  • Van der Zande wins at Silverstone
  • Ricciardo wins Silverstone Race 1
• 15 Aug.
  • Photos: Saturday at Silverstone
  • Nakajima on Race 2 pole by a thousandth
  • Ricciardo takes Silverstone pole position
• 14 Aug.
  • Ricciardo tops testing at Silverstone
• 10 Aug.
  • Indonesia's Hermanto joins Litespeed F3
• 04 Aug.
  • Faccin joins Team West-Tec at Silverstone
• 29 Jul.
  • Arundel positive on Belgian Grand Prix weekend
• 26 Jul.
  • Carlin team enjoys strong outing at Spa

Homepage