Driver Database News

British F3 champions Carlin join F3 teams from across the world this week, as the British squad make preparations ahead of the 56th Macau Grand Prix this weekend. Racing with Carlin in the most prestigious and challenging F3 race in the world, will be current British F3 champion Daniel Ricciardo, Max Chilton, Brendon Hartley and Henry Arundel.

The four drivers follow in the footsteps of F1 racers Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastian Vettel, Sebastien Buemi, Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg who have all competed with Carlin in the Chinese enclave in recent years.

After an eventful race in Macau in 2008, Hartley took a podium finish for Carlin, despite having started from 20th position after an incident in the Qualification race. Chilton also benefits from knowledge of the Guia circuit, having raced here last year. This year’s Macau Grand Prix will be a new experience for reigning British F3 champion Ricciardo and also his first taste of a street circuit, while Arundel also make his Macau debut this year.

2008 third place man Brendon Hartley said, “I’m happy to be back in Macau after a podium last year. We had really good pace then, so I’m expecting that to continue this year. There’s always a bit of luck involved in getting a good result in Macau, its easy to get caught up in other people’s accidents, but then you have to create your own luck as well. I started at the back of the grid last year and finished on the podium but I think if you want to have a chance of winning, you need to qualify well here.”

British racer Max Chilton makes his second visit to Macau after a successful debut last year. “Macau is a fantastic circuit; it’s just so tight there isn’t any room for error. It’s great to come back here already knowing what to expect and knowing the circuit. I’m feeling confident after a strong finish to the British F3 season and I feel as though I’ve developed a lot as a driver since I was here last year. I’m aiming to finish my F3 career on a high with a strong result here this weekend.”

Having had his first look at the Guia circuit, British F3 champion Daniel Ricciardo commented, “The circuit looks incredible. It looks really challenging so I think it will be important to build up to it. Everyone says you need as much track time as possible to get the most out of the circuit and have the confidence to push to the limit. It’s tempting to just go all out and see what I can do, but I’ll have to just take it easy and build up to the ultimate pace. I can tell already that I’m going to love the circuit. ”

Also making his first trip to Macau, Henry Arundel added, “The circuit looks really fun but also a big challenge. We’ve seen in the past that anything can happen here, but I think the important thing will be to improve with every session. It looks like it could be the best circuit I’ve ever driven and certainly the most challenging. I can’t wait for the first session to get underway so I can see what it’s really like.”

The first practice session for the F3 drivers will take place at 10.30 local time on Thursday, followed by first qualifying at 14.00. Second practice and second qualifying will take place on Friday, with the qualification race on Saturday culminating in the 56th Macau Grand Prix on Sunday.

Carlin racer Brendon Hartley took a dominant victory at Brands Hatch today, to take his first win in the F3 Euro Series. Racing at Carlin’s home track, Hartley and team mate Jake Rosenzweig both enjoyed a competitive weekend, with Hartley driving a faultless race around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit to take victory for the British squad.

Having finished eighth in yesterday’s F3 Euro Series race, Hartley lined up on pole for today’s reverse grid race. The Red Bull racer kept his cool at the start with a perfect getaway and kept second placed man Sam Bird a safe distance behind. Team mate Rosenzweig meanwhile continued what was a strong weekend for him and moved up to eighth place from tenth on the grid. An accident on lap 19 brought out the safety car and closed up the field, but Hartley made the perfect restart to pull away from Bird. Rosenzweig meanwhile had been hit from behind which pushed him off track at Druids.

A second safety car period on lap 30 once again bunched up the field, but once again Hartley kept his cool to control the pace from now second placed man Alexander Sims. From then on Hartley did well to control the race to take the chequered flag and his first F3 Euro Series victory.

Speaking about his victory, Hartley said, “I’m so pleased to have won here, it’s been too long since my last really good result. I didn’t need to push; I just had to concentrate on controlling the race. I’m very happy, I’m really pleased for Carlin; they have worked very hard to get this result. I know this was a reverse grid race, but everyone in the top ten of this championship is good enough to win, so I’m happy to get this result.”

Team principal Trevor Carlin added, “Brendon drove an absolutely flawless race from the lights going out to the flag coming down; it was one of the best drives I’ve ever seen at Brands Hatch. He made the best start and coped very well with the pressure of two safety car restarts. The team have worked very hard to get this result and today everything came together for us, so I’d like to thank the whole team for their hard work.”

“I’ve been really impressed with Jake this weekend; he took his best ever qualifying result on Friday, to qualify seventh just ahead of Brendon and made up two places in the race today. Unfortunately he lost out following contact with another car, but we’re still delighted with his performance this weekend.”

The Carlin F3 Euro Series squad will be back on track in Barcelona from 18 – 20 September.

Jake Rosenzweig took his first podium finish in the F3 Euro Series today, following a brilliant weekend for the young American at the Zandvoort Circuit Park in the Netherlands. Following a strong seventh place in race one on Saturday, Rosenzweig lined up second for race two today and drove a stunning race to take third place in only his fourth event in the series. Team mate Brendon Hartley saw his weekend compromised early on by a accident in qualifying, which saw him qualify 20th for race one, but fought back with a 10th place in race one, and eighth in race two despite suffering from a mechanical problem.

Heading on track for qualifying on Friday afternoon, both Carlin drivers had high hopes following promising pace in free qualifying. Any hopes of a strong weekend for Red Bull racer Brendon Hartley were soon dashed however, as the New Zealander clashed with Sam Bird who was warming his tyres, leaving Hartley with severe damage and consequently a 20th placed grid slot. Team mate Rosenzweig was on the pace though, taking by far his best qualifying result of the season in 12th place in his Volkswagen powered Dallara.

At the start of race one on Saturday, both drivers made a good start with Rosenzweig and Hartley moving up to ninth and 16th respectively. A determined Hartley was on the move, quickly passing Matteo Chinosi for 14th place, while Rosenzweig moving up to eighth following a drive through penalty for Roberto Merhi. Despite racing in only his fourth F3 event, Rosenzweig stayed calm under pressure, keeping the experienced Bird behind him and moved up to seventh when Christopher Zanella was penalised for a jump start. Rosenzweig held onto seventh to take home two points, while Hartley confirmed his impressive race pace to finish 10th, having made up 10 places from his starting position.

With the top eight from race one reversed for race two of the weekend, Rosenzweig lined up second for race two today. The young racer coped well with the pressure, making a good start to challenge Bird in the run down to the first corner, although lost out to Henkie Waldschmidt on the first lap. Still running in third place, Rosenzweig was passed by a flying Jules Bianchi, who went on to take his second victory of the weekend.

With Waldschmidt handed a drive through penalty for a jump start, Rosenzweig’s fourth place became third, which the American fought hard to maintain, despite constant pressure from the experienced Christian Vietoris behind. Team mate Hartley meanwhile was suffering with a mechanical problem, but demonstrated great resolve to keep hold of ninth place.

Speaking about his first F3 podium, Rosenzweig said, “I’m so pleased to have taken away two good results and of course to have finished on the podium for the first time in F3. I made a good start today and was running close to Sam [Bird], but had to back off to avoid contact. There was no way I could keep Bianchi behind me; he was just too quick, but I managed to defend from Vietoris who had a look round the outside once but couldn’t pass me. We had really great pace today, so thanks to the team for a good job. It’s a great result for us this weekend; so hopefully we can aim for more podiums in the remainder of the season.”

Team Principal Trevor Carlin added, “Jake has done brilliantly this weekend, he’s taken two solid points finishes and of course his first podium in F3 Euro Series, despite not being very well. He dealt very well with pressure from much more experienced drivers and most importantly his race pace showed than he more than deserved his place on the podium. Congratulations to the engineers as well, who have worked so hard to make improvements since our disappointing pace at the Zandvoort Masters just last month. Brendon’s bad luck seems to have continued in Zandvoort this weekend, but we more than believe he is capable of fighting for wins. Hopefully we can build on our results this weekend and see both drivers regularly finishing among the front runners in the future.”