Alex Lynn scored his 14th FIA Formula 3 European Championship podium finish of the season in the final round at Hockenheim, hours after wrapping up third place in the final points rankings.
The 20-year-old took a best finish of second on the German Grand Prix circuit in his Mercedes-powered Prema Powerteam Dallara, but it was his fourth place earlier in the day that finally confirmed him as third in the overall rankings – and best European F3 rookie.
The groundwork was laid with a strong qualifying session, in which Lynn earned fourth and third grid positions for the opening two races.
“I was disappointed not to do better,” he said. “I’d got myself into a nice little position, getting a tow from Felix Rosenqvist [second in the championship], who in turn was towing Raffaele Marciello [the championship leader]. But then Raffaele backed off just when I was on for a really good lap, and after that I’d missed the peak performance of the tyres.
“If I’d completed those laps at the speed I could have gone, I reckon I would have been second on the grid for both races.”
From fourth on the grid for race one, Alex set fastest lap in the early stages as he hunted down fellow Briton Harry Tincknell for third. On the seventh lap he was close enough for an attack into the hairpin, but the two cars collided, interlocked wheels and ran wide. While Sven Muller darted past both men into third place, Lynn rejoined fourth.
“It was a shame,” he said. “I felt really fast. I wanted to get past Harry as soon as I could to hunt Raffaele, because I thought with him just needing points for the championship, if I got a bit racey with him he’d maybe have conceded the place.
“Unfortunately I had a coming-together with Harry while mid-manoeuvre. It was a bit disappointing to miss out on the podium bearing in mind my pace was fast, but those points were good enough to secure third in the championship.”
With the pressure off, Alex made a storming start in race two to pass Marciello for second and give chase to Rosenqvist.
“That was my fastest start of the season, which was cool,” he said. “I was really close to Felix, but then I got a warning for exceeding track limits at Turn 1. Straight after that I ran wide again at Turn 1, so I backed right off, put my hand up and lost a second, which I was never able to recover.
“Up to that point of the race, anything was possible in terms of challenging for the win, but in the end I was nowhere near close enough to force him into a mistake.”
The final championship race of the season was a really tough one for Lynn, who made a mistake on his first flying lap in the qualifying session, ripping the floor of the car off and damaging the underside of the front wing. As a result, he lined up 19th.
To make things even harder, heavy rain in the race meant visibility was terrible, but Alex worked his way methodically through the order to finish eighth. “I’m not going to say it was a fantastic drive,” he said. “The main achievement was not going off. I was reasonably fast but I couldn’t see at all. If it had been dry I could have made better progress.”
After 30 races, the FIA F3 European Championship campaign has finished, but that’s not the end of the season: the Macau Grand Prix, where Lynn qualified on pole position as a rookie in 2012, is coming up on 17th November.
“The Hockenheim weekend wasn’t bad,” said Alex, who is a member of the MSA’s Team UK and the British Racing Drivers Club’s SuperStars programme. “And congratulations to my team-mate Raffaele Marciello for wrapping up the championship. For me, it could have been better if I’d got luckier in first qualifying and not made a mistake in the second.
“I raced well and my speed was really good, so I’m going into Macau on a high note. It’s the biggest race of the year and we’ve got some good preparation coming up.”
