Second win in a row for Max at Spa-Francorchamps
Published on 22 June 2014 by Stefan Meens
After winning the first race at Spa-Francorchamps for the fifth round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Max Verstappen clinched a second consecutive victory at the iconic Belgium track. After starting from second, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver took the lead in the first lap and never looked back. “It's amazing to win in front of my home crowd as I only live 45 minutes away. Spa-Francorchamps is an extraordinary circuit and it's amazing to race here!”
As the field is unleashed for race 2, championship leader Esteban Ocon has a good start and squeezes past Max at the first turn, the famous La Source hairpin. However, within a few hundred meters, the Dutchman takes back P2 and the two set about pursuing race leader Gustavo Menezes.
Max: “My start wasn’t perfect, I released the clutch too fast and in the first corner I locked up my wheels and went wide. However, it meant I had a good tow through Eau Rouge and was thus able to pass Ocon.”
As the field heads to Les Combes, Menezes does not get his braking right and is unable to make the corner. Max capitalizes on his team mate's hiccup and takes the lead. “We almost touched but I it all went well and I took P1”, reveals Max.
Meanwhile, Ocon has also overtaken Menezes and after the first lap Max leads the top three ahead of the Frenchman and American. Throughout the whole race, Ocon keeps the pressure on Max as the gap between the two youngsters does not extend beyond a second. Nevertheless, 16-year-old Dutchman stays calm, even though the safety car is deployed after Lucas Auer and Felix Serralles collide at Les Combes resulting in the latter to crash in the tyre barriers.
“It was fairly easy to keep the lead. Only after the restart it's gets a bit tricky as it's not easy to lead at a restart here at Spa but it all went well. In fact, the restart was good at both races.”
As the race draws to a close, Ocon launches one final attack but Max has none of it and successfully defends his lead. “Ocon was faster on the straight as he had last wing but I was still able to stay ahead of him at Les Combes.”
Despite the pressure from behind, Max takes his second win of the weekend and his third F3 win in his début year in single seaters. He is joined on the podium by championship leader Ocon and Van Amersfoort Racing team mate Menezes.
“I’m so happy with this race. It's difficult to create a gap here at Spa which means the races are exciting. So to win two races all ready here in Belgium is just amazing and I didn’t expect it.”
The results at Spa so far are a welcome return to form for Max. “The last two weekends didn’t go very well so we were determined to step up our game. We've had a good test at Monza which really helped us get sorted ahead of Spa. The whole team improved and we've all done great job as the car feels very good. Of course I also want to thank Volkswagen for giving me such a powerful engine.”
The full schedule for the FIA F3 European Championship round at Spa can be found here.
To follow Max you can make use of the official Euro F3 live timing and stream:
Live timing is available at: http://www.mstworld.com/timing/livetiming.htm?series=wtcc-support
Live stream (races only) available at: http://www.fiaf3europe.com/livestream.html
Furthermore, via Twitter and Facebook we will keep you updated throughout the weekend followed by a full report on Verstappen.nl at the end of the day’s action.
FIA Formula 3 European Championship Round 5 – Spa-Francorchamps – Day 2, Saturday June 21:
Results race 1
Results race 2
