Raffaele Marciello
FIA F3 European Championship, Nurburgring
Although there were 75 points available in each round of the FIA F3 European Championship, every point seemed absolutely crucial in the title fight between Raffaele Marciello and Felix Rosenqvist. Arriving at the Nurburgring, Marciello was still holding on to the lead, despite huge pressure from Felix Rosenqvist. At that point, the Swede finished in the top two in six consecutive races, in which Marciello managed just three podiums.
As such, there was some serious pressure on the Ferrari junior to perform at Nurburgring. However, unfazed by the expectations, he managed a perfect weekend.
On Friday, the Italian comfortably took all three pole positions, with no driver coming even close to his benchmark laptimes. The first race then saw a flawless victory from the Ferrari Academy member, who was in a league of his own even when compared to second-placed Alexander Sims or title rival rival Felix Rosenqvist. The second race saw another superb execution from Marciello, helped out by Rosenqvist stalling on the grid.
The final race was probably the most challenging for the Italian as his teammate, Lucas Auer, showed similar pace and was consistently within three seconds of the lead. However, Marciello held on to first and celebrated his third victory at the Nurburgring, collecting the maximum amount of 75 points during the weekend and re-establishing a comfortable lead in the championship.
Marciello handled the Nurburgring weekend perfectly, but the last three weekends of the season were not so smooth for the Ferrari junior. Still, in the end, it was the Italian who deservedly took the European F3 crown.
David Gruz