British F3 at Spa

[SpeedRacer89]

van der zande slowed to let grubmuller through at the end-team orders? what happened to Christo who faded from 4th at the end? bottas went wide on a pass and ended up parked early. richelmi forgot to brake at the first chicane and ran up the back of rosenzweig on the first lap ending both of their races. art pitted near the end.

[strider]

Race report 1.

[strider]

Race report 2.

[JamesRamone]

Well done to Buzzaid. I said earlier that he was improving every weekend, had a feeling he might make the top step. Good work !

[strider]

That was by far the most interesting British F3 meeting of the season and I am only sorry that I missed it.

It feels strange to be sitting here on a Saturday morning, knowing that everything's done and dusted and most people will probably be back home in the UK.

Apart from Buzaid's win and some other good individual performances, the best thing to have come out of the weekend is that Ricciardo has extended his lead in the race for the title, despite Hitech's shenanigans.

They are described as a pantomime in Autosport this week and become more embarrassing by the weekend. There may be nothing specific in the Regulations to prevent what's going on, but one wonders if it's not actually bringing the sport into disrepute. It's certainly doing the team no favours.

[Alex K]

Dont undestand Hitech tactics, why da hell does he need that title for? Does it mean so much to them, that they have to tell vd Zande to cool his breaks?! For gods sake, this is F3, Walter will be in GP2 next year not because he won BF3 but because he has money to spend, many great drivers, winners of BF3 never made it to GP2 or its equivalent, for financial reason mostly. This guy has money and chance to win it in sporting way, never liked Carlin Motorsport, for they past choices, but Trevor is right. This is F3!! Only reason I can think of what is happening at Hitech Racing is that vd Zande got discount to fill that seat. They culdn't find driver during off season...

Can't agree with you strider. Hitech probably doesn't care about press, why should they?! If it's true vd Zande slowes his car to let Jr. to pass him by, this is even more commical. As above, I can think why he does that, and maybe next year, they'll give him chance to fly... but he was the guy who got blessed by Merc to drive for them in DTM!

[jab]

How is Adrien? No news on him since...

[ziig]

These tactics are absolutely disgusting.
Grubmuller should be embarrassed and ashamed; he has no talent.
Zande is a paid servant of Grubmuller, getting a free drive and has no self respect. He will be discarded at the end of the season.
Grubmuller wants to earn (?? buy!) a superlicence so he can then buy an F1 team/drive.

Buying an F3 team - 5,000,000
Doing illegal testing - 1,000,000
Hiring a wingman to manufacture results - 500,000

Embarrassing yourself in front of the motorsport community... Priceless!

Some things money can't buy, for everything else there's daddy.

[Last2LiftOff]

Have heard nothing Jab, haven't done an exhaustive search by any means.

The point spread, van der Zande to Grubmuller, at the time was minimal, easily within sight with (what?) 10 races left, seems a bit much letting him play through.

[gomick]

Has anyone mentioned any of the above to Grubmuller during interviews after a race?

[strider]

Originally Posted by gomick

Has anyone mentioned any of the above to Grubmuller during interviews after a race?

No, it's too sensitive a subject and one or two the moves could be explained away.

For instance, in race 1 at Donington, although van der Zande was on pole, his side of the track was slightly damp from a previous shower, whereas Grubmuller was on the dry racing line, so Grubmuller taking the lead at the start could be explained by that.

As for race 2 at Spa, this is what the official report says:

Renger van der Zande and Riki Christodoulou diced for third for much of the race, so closely in fact that both slithered off the track at the Bus Stop chicane on lap seven and then clashed again at the next corner, La Source, Christodoulou's car suffering enough damage to end its race. That left van der Zande sitting pretty for third - until the penultimate lap, that is, when he lost time and was passed for the final podium slot by his Hitech team-mate and championship title aspirant Walter Grubmuller.

I've seen no explanation for van der Zande losing time (it was 12/13 seconds) so make of that what you will. Maybe he had a genuine moment, but if so you'd expect it to be mentioned.

[Last2LiftOff]

They've both been around F3 for awhile now, shelf life must be nearing an end one would think. FWIW, I see van der Zande in for Mustonen at Oschersleben - saying only Atte's having health trouble, but no detail.

Momentarily off-topic there, sorry. Donington Park highlights (and Race 1 start): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcs1In4E8aE

Beat around the first corner from the outside! now there's something you don't see every day.

Hmm. (Although it's terribly easy to sit here and judge.)

[singleseater]

Originally Posted by Last2LiftOff

LOL Strider.


Edit: and sorry guys (and gal) another question on the sporting regs: are they permitted to change tires mid-race or, only under the direction of race control, all or none like?

Yes if its announced as a rain race the teams can do what ever they want. In the second race at spa when it started to rain heavily mid race I think major and a fortec car came in for a pit stop! If it had kept raining both cars would have done well but the gamble didn't pay off (it stopped raining).

[Last2LiftOff]

Yes, got that Singleseater, kind of you to reply. Welcome to ten-tenths.

[N.A-D.R]

Happy that Daniel finally had a good weekend after a few bad races for him. Now hopefully he can win the championship!