Photo: Prema
Paul Aron described his maiden Formula 3 victory in the hectic wet sprint race at the Red Bull Ring as ‘redemption’ after losing his first pole position on Friday.
The Prema driver was also investigated post-race for failing to follow the podium procedure, receiving a reprimand for driving onto the main straight at the end of the cool down lap instead of entering the pit-lane.
Aron commented on his mistake in the cool-down room afterwards, saying his confusion was a consequence of the procedure in Monaco – scene of his last top-three finish, where drivers parked their cars on the main straight.
On Friday, he had lost what would have been his maiden pole in the championship, as he had his fastest lap deleted for track limits.
“Emotions are through the roof,” the Mercedes F1 junior told the media after the race. “Obviously it’s still a sprint race. It’s not a feature race win, but it does feel a lot more than that just because of what happened yesterday.
“Prema gave me an amazing car and I was fully on it. We did the pole position and we were quickest throughout the whole qualifying session. But sadly, my lap was deleted, which is fair.
“I mean, track limits are there for a reason, but it obviously hurts. And it feels like today is a bit of a redemption, starting from the back of the grid and fighting through the pack with amazing pace. I really enjoyed the race and finally we got the win.”
Aron started eighth on the reversed grid and soon moved up to third with a strong opening lap. Full confidence in his package allowed him to push throughout the race and achieve the first win – something he told Formula Scout in Barcelona was only “small details” away.
“Formula 3 championship is a lot about consistency and confidence. The gaps in qualifying are super small and also in the races, and to get those last few hundreds and tenths, you need to be in harmony with the car and you need to have the confidence to go for it. Otherwise, mistakes happen and that’s when you end up making mistakes and ruining the weekend.
“Ever since Barcelona, I felt pretty good with the car. Already in Barcelona, we were quick, but just, you know, had those last little details to get done. And now during that time, I was able to graduate school. So that was one thing out of the way. And coming here full of confidence, a free man to say, the team did an amazing job.
“We just upped the level of confidence. I was able to push that little bit more in qualifying to find the pace and now in the race, they did an amazing job again with the car and as the confidence was already there, we could just keep on pushing and bring home the win.”