Max’s full potential wasn’t realised in the final rounds of the British F3 Championship, a good set up around the tight Rockingham venue proving difficult for the team to find and a 15th place in the first race was the best Max could salvage from a frustrating weekend.

There was plenty of testing at Rockingham prior to the series finale, but mechanical problems on the practice days had already put the team on the back foot when they arrived for the last two races of the year. Max knew that it would be a difficult place to recover lost ground and changeable conditions during Friday’s practice didn’t help.

Respectably quick in the wetter conditions, Max was unable to repeat his competitiveness in the dry, with excessive handling characteristics making it difficult for the team to improve the car’s balance.

By the time of qualifying on Saturday the team were no closer to a solution and a session which started wet and then dried out brought even more complications. A late pitstop for slicks didn’t give enough time to get heat into the tyres and 21st place was the disappointing result.

In the second qualifying session things improved, a better set up and consistent conditions helped lift Max to 17th, but he knew there was still more to come from the car.

More changes were made for the first race and initially it looked promising. Max made a great start, gaining a few places on the run down to the first hairpin and over the opening few laps he passed a couple more cars to settle into 16th place.He then began a race long battle with Sergio Perez which saw a few side by side moments during Max’s attempts to pass. However, the handling problems were still evident and Max couldn’t convert the opportunities. A retirement from further up the field elevated him to 15th at the finish, but still stuck behind Perez.

The second race didn’t bring any joy for the frustrated team either. More of the same setup wise, made the car a handful to drive and an uncharacteristic spin early on dropped Max to the back of the field. He drove as hard as he could to recover, but 22nd place at the end of the race was a bitter blow as Max had hoped for so much better in these final races of his debut season in F3;

“I’m so frustrated after that. The car was just not right this weekend and I know everyone in the team has tried as hard as they can to sort it, but for whatever reason it never came together. I know what I feel the car should be doing, or what I want it to do and this weekend it has never been right for me. It is a real shame to end my first F3 season like that, but I’m still positive and I know I’m capable of better results than that. I will just have to prove it next season.”

So the first year of F3, his first year of single seater racing has given 16 year old Max a tremendous amount of experience and produced some excellent performances, even if it didn’t end on a high and he will reflect on it in a later report. For now though his thoughts will be on preparing for next season with a test programme for the F3 through the winter and on the 20th October another fantastic opportunity to partner his brother Tom in the Le Mans Prototype sportscar in the final round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca. So perhaps the season can end on a high anyway with Max helping Tom to repeat the victory he had there two years ago.