Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: PREMA

  • Leclerc stays with PREMA, F3

    Leclerc stays with PREMA, F3

    Arthur Leclerc has took the 2nd out of 3 Prema seats for the 2022 season, making the Italian team to be the only team who have signed two drivers so far.

    This will be his second season in Formula 3, but third season with the team as he first joined them in 2020 in the Formula Regional European Championship where he finished runner up with six wins, and 15 podiums.

    With that in the bag, the Monégasque earned a promotion into F3, where in his rookie season he won twice, as well as pole position and P2 in Budapest. Overall he finished 10th in the standings.

    Leclerc’s single seater journey began back in 2018 where he entered the French F4 where he finished 5th overall, the next year he finished second in the ADAC F4.

    “I am extremely happy to continue the work we started with PREMA Racing in the 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship,” said Leclerc. “I think we did a good job last year, and 2022 will be a good opportunity to put together everything we have learned so far. I cannot wait for the season to start.”

    PREMA Team Principal Rene Rosin added: “It is great to continue our collaboration with Arthur. I am sure that he will carry on the progress we saw in 2021 when he showed he had the potential to be a frontrunner.

    “Last year’s experience with the challenging three-race weekends will definitely help him navigate the events with a great focus, which will surely benefit the whole team.“

    My Opinion-

    I didn’t think he would move up to Formula 2 this year, based on last years result, but its a good signing for himself and Prema. Hopefully we will see him be more consistent this year like in other series’ and then he can make that step up to F2 soon.

  • Ollie Bearman F3 2022

    It has been announced that Oliver Bearman will be racing in Formula 3 for PREMA Racing, who he joined for the successful post-season test in Valencia.

    The 16 year old Brit became the first driver to win both Italian and ADAC Formula 4 Championships in the same season, which saw him earn a spot in the Ferrari Driver Academy.

    2021 was Bearmans second year of single seaters, he grabbed 15 podiums, 11 wins and eight poles in Italian F4 as well as 11 podiums, six wins and five poles in ADAC F4.

    “I’m really looking forward to stepping up to FIA F3 with PREMA, as my first official year being part of the Ferrari Driver Academy,” said Bearman. “We worked really well together in the post-season test at Valencia, and their results in previous years across everything which they do, speaks for itself. I can’t wait to get started in Bahrain!”

    PREMA Team Principal Rene Rosin added: “We are looking forward to working with Oliver in 2022. The results he achieved this year speak for themselves, and we have obviously been observing him as rivals. The step for him will be huge and particularly challenging, with a lot to learn, but we will do everything we can to help him maximize his potential and be competitive right from the start. It will be extremely interesting to see the season develop, and what we will be able to accomplish together.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is great! Ollie is a very talented driver especially at 16 years old, and because of his achievements so far he deserves to get this seat in F3. It will be interesting to see how he does next year he is most definitely one to watch!

  • F2 Jeddah- Day 1

    Our first day of having Formula 2 cars back on track today and I don’t think we was disappointed. All 22 cars took to the new track in Saudi Arabia with 4 of the drivers moving up from Formula 3.

    Free Practice-

    We had a bit of a delay to the start of our Friday due to temporary operational delays but once we got started it was Armstrong who led the grid out onto the 46 degree track!

    Twenty of the drivers went back into the pits after the installations but both MP drivers Novalak and Doohan went round the circuit for another lap to get to terms with the car/grip of the track.

    One of the four debutants didn’t have the best afternoon, Logan Sargeant lost control of his HWA in Sector 3 where he collided with the wall which caused a Red Flag.

    PREMA are just on fire this season but it being their other driver Robert Shwartzman who topped free practice with a 1:42.623 ahead of Ralph Boschung and Carlin’s Dan Ticktum.

    The full top 10 were: P1: Shwartzman, P2: Boschung, P3: Ticktum, P4: Drugovich, P5: Armstrong, P6: Vips, P7: Zhou, P8: Doohan, P9: Lundgaard, P10: Piastri.

    Jack Doohan of Australia and MP Motorsport drives during practice ahead of Round 7:Jeddah of the Formula 2 Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on...
    JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – DECEMBER 03: Jack Doohan of Australia and MP Motorsport (11) drives during practice ahead of Round 7:Jeddah of the Formula 2 Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 03, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

    Qualifying:

    WOW, the amount of close calls I saw during the Qualifying session I had to hold my breath, this track is something else…

    Moving on to the result of qualifying, Oscar Piastri lapped a 1:40.878 so he claims his FOURTH pole in a row he is now the only second driver to do this! His team-mate Shwartzman will be starting next to him on Sundays Feature Race.

    It looked like Shwartzman had pole position during the majority of qualifying as no-one was improving their times until Pourchaire came all along and took it off him, but the Russian came fighting back and got pole position again.

    Zhou had been struggling quite a bit during this session, it may be because of temperature and getting the heat into tyres? The first half of the session he was down in 9th but once he pitted and came out with fresh tyres he managed to get 3rd on his first run.

    The top 10 for Sundays Feature Race are as follows: P1: Piastri, P2: Shwartzman, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Lundgaard, P5: Drugovich, P6: Zhou, P7: Boschung, P8: Vips, P9: Armstrong, P10: Lawson.

    So for tomorrows first Sprint Race we have Liam Lawson on pole position with Marcus Armstrong in second and Lawson’s team-mate Juri Vips in third!