After a long wait when it was unclear if racing would go ahead, the 2020 Formula 3 championship finally kicked of in Austria at the Red Bull Ring on the 3-5 July.
Alex qualified 8th in a session that had it it’s challenges but a grid eight position in the thirty car field for race one was considered a positive start.
Race one saw Alex get off to a great start. By the end of the first lap he was in position 4 and on the tail of David Beckmann who he passed soon after on the outside of corner four.
For the majority of the race Alex was surrounded by Prema team cars who were first, second and fourth. The four four runners set a cracking pace that distanced the rest of the field. Despite the degradation of Alex’s rear tyres he set the fastest lap of the race on lap 19 (out of 24). Positions remained unchanged until the end of the race and Alex scored his first podium finish in Formula 3.
The grid for race two is established from the reverse of the top ten finishers of race one and therefore Alex was again on grid eight. At the end of lap one he had lost a position but soon recovered to 8th and was settling into a rhythm when his car suffered an electronics failure and shut down, forcing Alex to retire.
While disappointing to have to retire and lose important points in race two the weekend was overall very positive and demonstrated that there is good pace and Alex will take it to the big teams of Formula 3!
