Matias Zagazeta closes out his second FIA Formula 3 season with a career-best qualifying performance at Monza. Racing with DAMS Lucas Oil, the 21-year-old showed strong pace, putting himself in contention for points in the season finale. He will line up seventh for the Sprint Race and sixth for the Feature Race.
It has been a tough season for Zagazeta, with qualifying results of 11th, 28th, 26th, 24th, and 25th before Monza. Though, with a clean session and a well-timed run, he broke through to secure his best grid slot yet.
“I’m quite happy to finally get my best quali of the year,” said Zagazeta. “It’s a shame it has come quite late, but we have been working hard with the team, so it’s nice to see that we have been making progress and improvements.”
He continued: “From my side, the lap was really good, just made a small mistake, which was a shame because I think with a bit more of a tow, there was a bit more to extract but honestly it was really close.”
Turning Qualifying into points
With the Sprint and Feature races ahead at Monza, Zagazeta underlined the need to convert qualifying performance into points. Zagazeta sits 27th in the Drivers’ Standings, while Dams Lucas Oil is 10th in the Team’s Standings.
“I am quite happy with my result but it’s only one part of the weekend done, we still have two more races. So we need to get some good points to try and climb up one position in the Team’s Standings and for myself to try and climb up the Drivers’ Standings as well.”
Group B timing pays off
The format of F3 qualifying in Monza, where drivers were split into two groups, played a role in his success. Group A drivers chose to head out later in the session, only managing one push lap. Whereas Zagazeta’s Group B made the most of the full 10 minutes.
“I was hoping nobody was going to do the same as Group A,” recalled Zagazeta. “I think everyone learned and everyone went quite early. It was pretty good, it was just one section everyone was going quite slow.”
Despite the traffic challenges, he explained that the session went according to plan. “But then it was pretty straightforward, it was quite a clean session, we got more laps than the other group which was pretty good.”
“Overall I am quite happy with how the car felt, and with my performance too. It’s the maximum we could have extracted today, so need to focus for both races, but grateful Qualifying was a bit more relaxed.”
Chasing a podium finish
Looking ahead, Zagazeta is targeting a Monza podium to conclude a difficult but progressive season on a high. His only podium in F3 came at Silverstone 2024, where he finished third in the Sprint Race with Jenzer Motorsport. A repeat result at Monza would mark his first with DAMS Lucas Oil.
“It would be fantastic,” said Zagazeta. “It would be fantastic for myself and the team. It doesn’t change a lot on things but it’s going to be a great result for myself and big confidence boost for the team.”
Zagazeta highlighted that the team has better race pace than qualifying speed, and he now feels confident in both. “Usually the whole year it has been the opposite. We have been struggling with quali pace and race pace has been quite strong. So now we have found the quali pace and I am confident our pace is also quite strong.”
With points and standing positions still at stake, Zagazeta knows execution will be key. “So it’s going to be about being clever, and picking your moments, knowing when to attack, when to defend, and when to overtake. So I need to be very clever with my racing and hopefully finish on the podium in one of the two races.”
