ADD Motorsports driver John Bryant-Meisner was delighted to register his first point in the opening round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

The Swedish racer had a difficult opening race at Silverstone, but was much happier with his car and own performances in the next two.

He finished 10th in the second race and was unlucky to miss out on another point in the final outing.

Now the 19-year-old is determined to build on his solid start with Fortec Motorsports – and cement his place among the top F3 drivers.

He said: “It feels good to get a point so early. It’s all really fresh with us at the moment, we haven’t had as much time on the track as other teams, but we’re still posting good times which is really encouraging.

“I was disappointed not to do better in a couple of races and felt I could have finished higher in qualifying.

“But it’s the first round, so it’s nice to get off to a good start and we can push on from there.”

In the first qualifier John felt something was not quite right with the tyres. He finished 19th, well below what he was hoping for.

But he improved to then qualify 11th and 12th after a change of tyres did the job.

He continued: “The tyres were really weird, they gripped straight away and went really early. It was unusual, but can happen. Things were a lot better when we changed them.

“But I took the last corner slightly wide in the second qualifier and it cost me – I would have finished sixth or seventh.”

John’s first race saw him finish 18th. He was 14th and chasing the drivers in front but got caught up with a group vying for position and found himself overtaken by four other drivers behind.

It wasn’t the start he had hoped for, but he soon turned things round.

He started in 11th in Race 2 and overtook the driver in front straight away.

However, he couldn’t catch anyone in front of him again, so ensured he remained mistake-free to finish 10th and secure his first point in the Championship.

The final race on Sunday morning had a lot more to it. John got up to eighth on the first lap but on cold tyres found his grip not all there, losing some vital time and finding himself down to 11th.

But he soon managed to catch up with a few drivers in front of him and had an exciting race-long battle with Felix Serralles and Dennis van der Laar before overtaking van der Laar on the outside on the final lap to finish 11th.

John was a whisker away from being awarded a 10th place finish later on after Max Verstappen was almost penalised for a pass.

The Swedish racer, who joined Fortec Motorsports at the back end of last season, was happy with his start to the season, but believes he has seen enough to know he can be in the mix in future races.

He added: “It was really good to get back to racing after so long. Now I’m looking forward to the next race.

“We have to get Top 5 in qualifying, it’s almost as though the whole weekend depends on it. If I can get in there, I will be in there come the race.

“I think we’ll go forward, it looks good and my team are really smart.

“My aim is to get more points and find some consistency, but we are confident we can do it.”

The next round takes place at the beginning of next month at Hockenheim.