PREMA Racing secured a podium finish today in the opening race of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Monza. After starting from P7, the British racer quickly started to make his way towards the front even though a lengthy safety car forced him to wait. In the final few laps, Bearman went to the attack, passing multiple cars and finding himself in close pursuit of the leader. While he ran out of time for an attack, he still achieved extremely valuable points that paired with the demise of some of his contenders, propelled him back into the championship fight albeit with a large gap. Today's one was the Ferrari Driver Academy member's seventh podium of 2022.
Jak Crawford started from P5 and was caught in the middle of a tight fight which became even more competitive with the DRS use. The American Red Bull Junior driver eventually crossed the finish line in P7, still totalling valuable points for the team championship.
Arthur Leclerc ended up in P8. The Monegasque was involved in early contact and dropped back in the opening stages, but fought back and eventually ended up in the same spot where he had started from. Leclerc is still in championship contention as well with a theoretical chance as he is waiting to line-up for race 2 in P5 right in front of Bearman.
#4 - Arthur Leclerc
"Not the race I expected, I had a really hard first lap with contact with Martins that I couldn't do anything about. I was in my line and just felt the contact losing quite a lot of positions. The car felt a bit different afterward for three or four laps. Then we came back to pace. In the end, the pace was good and we came back from P14 to P8."
#5 - Jak Crawford
"It was a really disappointing race today. We had a fast car but it wasn't very raceable, I had trouble following and staying close to the guys ahead which made it difficult to fight and battle. In the end, we lost some positions, but we'll try to fix it for tomorrow and go for it."
#6 - Ollie Bearman
"A really good race with P2. I had good pace and managed to slowly step up through the field. I made a nice double overtake in the end to get me into P2. I was pushing a lot to take the win but I couldn't quite manage it. I didn't know it was the last lap because the radio signal is not perfect between Lesmo and Ascari and I missed that communication. I was kind of saving it for the last lap which eventually didn't come. I'm happy to stay P2 in the end. Good points for the championship, let's see how it goes tomorrow."