F3 EUROSERIES CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND FOUR

After Pau and Spa-Francorchamps, the F3 Euroseries championship had a date with the third weekend of the season in a row, through the famous streets of Monaco. The ASM team perfectly negotiated the impressive challenge this eventsrepresented and honoured their championship leader status by winning the 7th and 8th races of the year in front of the best audience.

The qualifying session was extremely important as it determined grid positions for Friday’s and Saturday’s races. Both drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil, took control of the most important row on the grid of the season, as overtaking through these tight twisty streets is far from easy.

Lewis had a perfect start from pole for race one, and soon gained a two second advantage on teammate. Adrian was unable to challenge the British driver, despite a strong comeback near the end of the race, recording an exceptional time of 1’’28’017, half a second ahead of the previous day’s pole position! Thanks to impeccable performances from both drivers in the first race, the ASM team notched upits fourth double win of the season!

The second race, which took place on Saturday after the F1 qualifying session, was a different story for the ASM drivers, despite an excellent start from Lewis that was well protected by Adrian. After building a two second gap to his teammate once again, Lewis had an incident at the swimming pool corner that saw his Dallara Mercedes hug the barrier slightly before returning to the circuit without losing any positions.

Not as bad as it could have been, but Lewis spent the following lap checking how bad the car had been damaged – and become quite uncomfortable as Adrian continued his charge close behind. Lewis flew to victory feeling the pressure from his teammate, who lost control of his car while braking at Sainte Dévote, 10 laps from the finish.

At the end of the event, Lewis Hamilton continued to hold the championship lead with 69 points – 24 points ahead of his first runner up, James Rossiter on 45. Adrian Sutil is now third with 43 points while ASM is in the lead of the constructors championship with 108 points.

Lewis Hamilton:

It’s been fantastic, really, a great emotional weekend! I made a big mistake in race 2 and was close to crashing, but Lady Luck was on board with me and I didn’t damage the car too much and I could eventually win. In Monaco it is like a dream came true. My dream has always been to race in Monaco in F1 or a competitive single-seater and I had the opportunity this year. I secured pole position and two wins and it is just fantastic and down to the team effort. I would like to thank them!

Adrian Sutil:

This was a very nice weekend, especially here in Monaco on this fantastic track. The first race was very good. I took a good start, I clocked good lap times, and I was very happy to finish 2nd behind Lewis. The car was good in race 2 and I was pushing hard to try and overtake Lewis, but I made a mistake. I braked a bit too late and crashed the car at Sainte Devote and the race was over for me. Nevertheless, the team did a great job once more this weekend and I’m looking forward to the next meeting.

Frederic Vasseur (CEO):

We were close to do the perfect weekend but it was nevertheless very good. Lewis did great with the pole and two wins and it was great to have the two cars on the front row at each race and to see them secure a 1-2 in race 1. The only bad thing of the weekend was Adrian’s accident while he was chasing after Lewis and having an excellent race. Our drivers showed their speed and talent and domination. Lewis and ASM are increasing the gap at the drivers and teams rankings, which confirms our very good start of the season and can only be encouraging for the next meeting.