Photo: Prema
Prema’s Formula 3 drivers believe generating tyre temperature was key to their strong sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps, offsetting the challenge posed by the damp track surface.
Dino Beganovic won by 1.131 seconds over team-mate Gabriele Mini, who passed Beganovic off the line but after a safety car period fell back behind on the lap four restart.
Arvid Lindblad charged from 27th to 12th on-the-road, but was classified 15th once track limits penalties were applied. Having been six points behind Mini in the title fight two rounds prior, he is now 16 points off the top and has not scored for four races.
“I had a really poor start off the line, I got a lot of wheelspin and then after I was not able to challenge even into turn five because I just lost a lot of time in Eau Rouge,” Beganovic explained post-race.
“I was not able to get the momentum. But after the safety car, I prepared the tyres quite well and was able to execute then and get the momentum up to T5 which was key for the race.”
A last-minute set-up tweak also helped his pursuit of victory.
“A lot is up to the driver just to keep the tyres in the good window and to get the temperature in the right place for a race like this where it’s coming down a lot in the straights where it’s wet. So we made a [set-up] change on the grid, which was in the right direction definitely. And it helped me to keep the gap quite well in, for example, Eau Rouge and giving me more confidence.”
“Today more than set-up wise, it’s more about the temperature,” Mini reckoned. “It’s up to the driver to really try to build as much energy and as much temperature as they can in the tyres. It was my goal and the goal of pretty much most of the grid.
“The safety car did not help me for sure, because everybody was really close after that, and the slipstream was quite big. Dino overtook me at the restart, and I tried to stay with him. Some moments I was a bit closer in a straight line, and I could stay with him. Some other [moments] it was a bit tricky at Eau Rouge to follow, and the guys behind would get close. It was a lot about Eau Rouge today.”
Lindblad, who gained 11 places on lap one, agreed with his team-mates: “It was just about the one who could create the most temperature on the formation laps and then take the most risk in the beginning.
“Sometimes it queues up a bit on the inside, but normally [La Source] seems like a corner where going outside doesn’t really work because everyone kind of ends up shuffling quite wide on the exit. So going tight works.
“The last couple of laps I didn’t have much more left. It’s impressive still [how it] degraded the tyre when it’s not even fully dry.”
Arvid Lindblad interview by Roger Gascoigne