Freddie Slater closed the gap to FIA Formula 3 (F3) championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu to just one point after recovering from a difficult start to finish third in the Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race.
The TRIDENT driver started from pole position but suffered an anti-stall at the start, allowing Tuukka Taponen and Hiyu Yamakoshi to move ahead before the opening corner.
Slater recovered to third at the end of the opening lap before beginning his fight back.
After the first Safety Car restart, he attempted to pass Taponen at La Source before finally moving ahead of the MP Motorsport driver on Lap 7. One lap later, Slater reclaimed the lead with a move on Yamakoshi at Les Combes.
A drop in pace for the TRIDENT driver
However, Ernesto Rivera soon emerged as the biggest threat.
The Campos Racing driver charged through the field from fourth on the grid before passing Slater for the lead on Lap 12. Rivera then pulled clear, leaving Slater to settle for third behind the eventual winner and Yamakoshi.
Speaking in the FIA Formula 3 post-Feature Race press conference, Slater admitted that the result was not what he had hoped for after starting from pole.
“Yeah, of course, a little bit disappointed because the pace just wasn’t strong enough to win at that point. Starting on pole, I had the anti-stall, which is something I didn’t really understand because nothing changed from yesterday’s start, so we need to analyse that.
“Then we need to analyse the pace because we just struggled a little bit in the race runs. I think also missing out on yesterday again the Sprint Race give a lot of valuable data for the team to analyse the car and make the car better for the Sunday race and I think missing out on yesterday, which we saw in Red Bull Ring definitely doesn’t help.
“So a little bit annoying what happened yesterday, but that’s out of my control, so you just have to try and maximise what you can in the Feature Race. At the end of the day, we just didn’t have the pace.”
DRS and slipstream shaping the F3 Feature Race
The race itself was shaped by the strength of the slipstream and DRS around Spa-Francorchamps.
After recovering from his poor start, Slater was able to fight his way back to the front in the F3 Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race, but the same factors made it difficult for him to control the race once he took the lead.
“It seems like these cars are quite like draggy. So the tow and the DRS is super powerful, so you actually have to have quite a big gap to stay in the lead in the straights, especially at a track like Spa.
“So it wasn’t easy, of course. But I think we still did a good job.”
Closing the gap in the F3 Championship fight
Slater’s third-place finish was his fifth podium in the opening six rounds of the season and moved him to within a single point of Ugochukwu in the Drivers’ Championship.
However, the TRIDENT driver remains focused on the victory that continues to elude him.
“Yeah, we keep putting ourselves in really good positions for it to happen, but it hasn’t happened yet. There’s been a few things out of our control.
“Today it was probably more in our control, so we need to analyse why we didn’t have the pace and why we couldn’t keep at the front, look after the tyres and then we’ll come back stronger in Budapest.”
Looking ahead to Budapest
The result also continued a strong run of qualifying performances for Slater, who has now secured back-to-back pole positions at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.
However, the Briton has been unable to convert either into a Feature Race victory.
After finishing third at Spa, he will now turn his attention to the Hungaroring and another opportunity to finally claim his maiden FIA Formula 3 win.
“Budapest is one of the special tracks. It’s normally very hot there this time of year as well. Very tricky, very dusty at points and it’s going to be an enjoyable weekend.
“Hopefully we can do what we did in qualifying and practise this time at Spa and Silverstone and then build on it for the races.”
