After an intense qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring, Noah Strømsted finished P3, claiming another spot in the top 3 ahead of the F3 Austrian GP Feature Race. With two similar results already under his belt, his F3 rookie season is looking bright. While the Dane is yet to get his first pole position, his continuous effort has him in the second row for Sunday.
The Trident driver is fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. The gap between him and third place is only 14 points. However, pressure from the drivers behind will put Strømsted in a position where consistency is key. On a track like the Red Bull Ring, any mistake can cause drivers to run off and lose momentum.
A difficult qualifying
The F3 Austrian GP is not the kindest with the tyres, and Noah Strømsted faced some issues at the beginning of his qualifying. During a post-qualifying press conference attended by the media, including Pit Debrief, the Dane showcased his perspective. He highlighted the out-of-the-ordinary decision that helped him. Moreover, Strømsted went on to explain the feel of his Trident on the Red Bull Ring.
“Yeah, quite tricky start. I didn’t manage to put in a good lap in the first set of tyres. I did two mistakes, so not a great run for me. Then I decided to go a bit different than everyone else. Instead of doing a cool-down lap and then going for a third push, I decided to box and put on a new set of tyres to do one push lap. That was more about getting the feeling in the car, the track with the soft tyres. And I think it worked quite well.
“Then we went with everyone in the end on our third set of tyres, and yeah. I left it for the last lap, which was pretty okay. The warm-up was not the best because I had to follow the guys around to get the toe. But yeah, in the end it’s a pretty good result.”
No risk, no rewards in Austria
On a track like the Red Bull Ring, where qualifying times are separated by thousandths of a second, a clean flying lap is essential. Strømsted explained the balance needed for this weekend at the F3 Austrian GP. Talking about the small margin that kept him from P2, he emphasised the thin line between pushing and the gravel.
“Yeah, I think today, on this track in general, it’s very close. So you have to do a clean lap without mistakes for sure. But also, you need to push, and I mean, here we have the gravel as the limit. So, if you push too hard, then you lose quite a lot of time. Like what I did in my first set of tyres. And yeah, I mean, it’s a balance.”
Future predictions
Following his pattern this season, Noah Strømsted would have a good chance of landing himself on the podium. When this habit was brought up, the Dane seemed hesitant. Bringing up the DRS zones and potential chaos, Strømsted remained reticent to pronounce himself a top 3 contender just yet.
“Yeah, I mean, this track is a bit different with three DRS zones, and normally the racing here is quite chaotic. So we’ll see what we can do, but I think it’s going to be a tough one.”
In response to a question from Pit Debrief, Noah Strømsted went over the difference in his approaches for both the Sprint and the Feature Race. The Trident driver believes tomorrow’s Sprint might bring out a little more mayhem. Yet, he remained positive that the fast pace could help him overtake. Meanwhile, for the Feature, Strømsted felt like the F3 Austrian GP would be easier when there would not be that many positions to make up for.
“I think tomorrow will be a bit more chaos. I mean, it’s the first time for everyone driving here with these new tyres and new cars. So yeah, we’ll have to see how it goes throughout the race. And I’ll try to make some positions. This track, if you’re faster, it should be possible to overtake. But it might be a bit of DRS trains in the middle. And then, in the end, when people’s tyres start to go off, there will become opportunities.
“Then on Sunday, we know what to expect from the tyres and from the car, so it’s a bit easier to manage everything. And especially also from the front, you don’t have a lot of battling going on.”
