The first round of the FIA Formula 3 series took place on the 11/12 May in Barcelona at the circuit de Catalunya.
Alex had a fantastic first qualifying session finishing 9th in the 30 car strong field. A great way to start his debut event!
In race 1 he got too much wheel spin off the start and dropped back to 12th where he was battling with Pedro Piquet. Unfortunately Piquet spun and Alex had to take evasive action to avoid an accident which dropped him back some more positions. Despite the setback he had good speed and made some further passes but ultimately couldn’t make it back into the points. A possible penalty for passing while under virtual safety car regime was dropped after closer inspection by the stewards.
Race 2 saw Alex start from 12th on the grid and cross the line 9th at the end of the first lap when the first safety car was deployed. On the restart Alex had the car behind attempt a very ambitious pass into the first corner which forced him off the track to avoid contact. While re-entering the track he made contact with another competitor which triggered a rather harsh stop/go penalty which took Alex out of contention. Interestingly however in those last few laps Alex’s pace was as quick, if not better, than the leading Prema Team car. Alex takes that positive news away with him in the build up to the Paul Ricard event in France in late June
