Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Leonardo Fornaroli says improved tyre management was key to his rise from seventh to third in FIA Formula 3’s reversed-grid sprint race at Bahrain.
The Trident driver made up two places in the first two laps, then hounded Arvid Lindblad before both passed Max Esterson on lap nine of 19.
While Lindblad was able to quickly make further progress up the order, Fornaroli then spent the rest of the race chasing Laurens van Hoepen but did rise another spot when both he and van Hoepen passed a struggling Nikola Tsolov.
“Very happy with our performance today. Starting P7 and we finish on the podium in our first race of the year,” said Fornaroli.
“I think we made a big step on tyre management compared to last year. So very, very happy about my race. Car was mega to drive. So I want to thank Trident for giving me that car today.”
The championship sophomore explained the strategy that helped him maximise the package Trident had provided him with.
“I was pushing in the very first laps of the race, to try to stay with the guys in front. But then after like four or five laps, I started to manage everything. Staying in the DRS of Arvid, and we were overtaking all the drivers step-by-step. And then when I did the last part of the race, I knew I had a bit more tyres than everyone else, so I was trying to push more, but without exaggerating.”
“On the last lap I was in the DRS of Laurens, but I was very scared to destroy all the good things I did in my race. And to myself I’m saying ‘yeah, I should send it’. But it’s the first race of the year, we collect very important points for the championship, it was only one point more so it doesn’t change in the life. So we will take it.”
He added: “I was trying to manage everything as good as possible. In front of me there were like some crazy fights with lots of locking up and wheelspin, so I was just trying to stay behind and wait the others to degrade the tyres before me. And I think we did a very good race, very smart race, trying to do the overtakes as easy as possible with the DRS because I had better tyres. So for this, I’m very happy.”
Fornaroli is targeting another podium in Saturday’s feature race, which he starts from sixth on the grid.
“This third place gives me a lot of confidence because I understand that I made a big step compared to last year. The race tomorrow will be completely different because we have all the experienced drivers in front. I think we will just try to manage everything as possible, trying to take as many points as possible without doing any stupid mistakes.”