Although Ocon (Prema Powerteam) was on pole for both Sunday’s races he failed to convert them into victory. Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) won race 2 and Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) number 3.

It has to be said that the return of Formula 3 to Pau was a huge success as 31 000 spectators turned up to enjoy the on-track show. On Sunday morning the drivers in the FIA F3 European Championship woke up to rain. Esteban Ocon on pole made the best start and shot to the front from Felix Rosenqvist and Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing), the three drivers covered by a handkerchief.

As the halfway mark approached all hell broke loose on the slippery track. Max Verstappen was the first to go off in the Foch corner and two laps later Felix Rosenqvist attacked Esteban Ocon. The manoeuvre resulted in the Swede tagging his French rival and Felix’s race came to an abrupt halt in the guardrail in Pont Oscar. This gifted second place to Tom Blomqvist, who was fourth on the grid, and he began to eat into Esteban Ocon’s lead. The deployment of the safety car in the closing stages of the race reduced the gaps to zero. On the restart Tom made a perfect getaway while Ocon was struggling with an ill-handling car due to damaged suspension. Blomqvist got past the Frenchman and took the flag in first place from Ocon and Jake Dennis (Carlin), who clinched his maiden podium finish.

“As we hadn’t run on a wet track it was pretty tricky,” said Blomqvist after the finish of race 2. “Over the radio I was told that Esteban had a problem with his car so I went for broke. It was an important victory as I had to cope with a ten-place grid penalty for three races. To catch Esteban I’ll have to continue racking up good results for the rest of the season.”

The final race of the weekend was given the honorary title of the Pau Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon, who was again on pole, lost first place to Felix Rosenqvist, who made a perfect start when the lights went out. He then had to fend off the Frenchman’s attacks for 29 laps. Despite the unceasing pressure, the Swede didn’t make any mistakes and scored his first win of the season from Ocon and Blomqvist.

“This victory is a big relief especially after such a difficult start to the season, rather like this weekend in fact,” explained the winner of the 2014 Pau Grand Prix. “I made a few mistakes during this race, in particular by triggering the pit limiter in the Lycée hairpin! But in the end I won, so it’s a big relief. It’s been a great event and as Formula 3 is the blue riband formula here so it’s a real achievement to win on this circuit. There’s still a long way to go, and I hope that this victory marks the start of my fight back up the championship classification.”

Although Esteban Ocon was second he has every reason to be satisfied with his weekend as he has increased his lead in the championship: he leaves Pau with 57 points in hand over Tom Blomqvist followed by Lucas Auer (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Max Verstappen and Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam). “I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t win the Pau Grand Prix. I made an okay start but Felix made a super one,” admitted the Lotus F1 Team Junior driver. “Nonetheless it’s been a very positive meeting with three pole positions, a win and two second places; and above all I really enjoyed myself throughout the weekend. The ambience is fantastic and this circuit is a really exciting one. There’s still a long way to go in the championship and now it’s time to focus on the Hungaroring round.”

The FIA F3 European Championship will pitch its tent in Hungary at the end of May for the fourth round of the year.Q: (Tony Dodgins – Motorsport News) Nico, just before the first stops, on the radio we heard the team say ‘primes planned for the next stint’ and you said ‘the options are fine.’ Did that mean you wanted another set of options for the second stint or were you happy with the way it went?

NR: There was a misunderstanding from my side because we were going to go prime second stint – there were two variables. There was one where we go prime second stint if we have graining in the first stint or I go prime second stint to try and beat Lewis, if I feel that pace-wise I can be quicker and have a shot at it. I thought they were going prime because they thought I had graining but I didn’t have graining so that’s why I was confused but then I understood: it was to offset my strategy so that I would have a chance to fight Lewis at the end so it was fine – and just what I wanted.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Lewis, at the end of the 2012 season when you announced that you would switch to Mercedes, there were some really harsh criticisms against you, stating that you are destroying your career without the guidance of your Dad. Now that you’re winning and leading the championship and have the very best car of the whole pack, is it important for you that you could really prove that you can make good decisions on your own?

LH: Yeah, for sure, it was obviously a great call and there was never a moment that I ever doubted it but of course never could have imagined that we would be having this kind of success. I’m not one to rub it in people’s faces. I knew that I was in a good place, I knew that I was making the right decision for me and now it should be becoming more evident to people... I’m sure the people that wrote those things had an opinion at the beginning and I’m sure it’s changed now.

Q: (Adrian Rodriguez – Agencia EFE) To Nico and Lewis: you guys seem to get along pretty well right now but the problem is that just one of you can win if it keeps going this way. Do you guys believe that your relationship is going to be the same by the end of the year?

LH: We’ve been racing together for a long time so I don’t see why not.

Q: Does that help, Nico, that you’ve been racing together for a long time?

NR: Definitely yes, because we’ve been through this before. It’s not a first time and even back then we had discussions, debate but always... life goes on, discuss it and life goes on so that helps, yeah.

Q: (Anthony Rowlinson – F1 Racing) Lewis, you’ve said quite a few times this year about how perfect this car is, how well suited it feels. Could you explain just a little bit about how you’ve guided the development of it so that it suits your style?

LH: It’s a lengthy process. Obviously last year... when you request something to be changed, it takes some time because obviously you don’t want to take away their focus from the most important things which is getting downforce. I think it’s just taken some time. I think Michael required a little bit of a... he had a different driving style to me. He required different things, different seating position, different set-up and as I’ve come along, I’ve really tried to... and I guess Nico probably and Michael both kind of gelled and went in one direction with the balance and then as I’ve come along, mine is slightly different and I guess we’ve then created a hybrid: Nico’s come halfway, I’ve come halfway so we now require the same things from the car, but last year it was maybe a little bit different and so over the time just really, for the engineers to get to know what I require from a car and I think really working on being comfortable with the engineers as well, new engineers, it takes a while to build those relationships and that’s probably been a key strength to this year.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) Nico, you are second in the championship now. Will you change your approach for the weekend, make strategies with more risks; even during the race, do you think you will change what you have been doing until now?

NR: There’s not much to change. The race was really lost in qualifying and at the start. Those were the two opportunities I had. Qualifying was very very close, I even had a bit of a problem which we found in hindsight, where I was a little bit down on power on the straight, but the difference was not enough to get pole, but still it was actually even closer than it looked. And then just had a poor start, so those were the two shots that I had at it and it didn’t work out. And then in the race, I nearly got another opportunity at the very end but again, just not enough. One more lap and I could have given it a go, I think, but I would have done everything the same again at the start of the weekend. Of course, I also missed FP1 which doesn’t help either. Many small thing which add up and there are only very small gaps so next time.

Felix Rosenqvist clinches victory in the Pau Grand PrixAlthough Ocon (Prema Powerteam) was on pole for both Sunday’s races he failed to convert them into victory. Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) won race 2 and Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) number 3.SUN 11.05.14, 7:07PMIt has to be said that the return of Formula 3 to Pau was a huge success as 31 000 spectators turned up to enjoy the on-track show. On Sunday morning the drivers in the FIA F3 European Championship woke up to rain. Esteban Ocon on pole made the best start and shot to the front from Felix Rosenqvist and Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing), the three drivers covered by a handkerchief.

As the halfway mark approached all hell broke loose on the slippery track. Max Verstappen was the first to go off in the Foch corner and two laps later Felix Rosenqvist attacked Esteban Ocon. The manoeuvre resulted in the Swede tagging his French rival and Felix’s race came to an abrupt halt in the guardrail in Pont Oscar. This gifted second place to Tom Blomqvist, who was fourth on the grid, and he began to eat into Esteban Ocon’s lead. The deployment of the safety car in the closing stages of the race reduced the gaps to zero. On the restart Tom made a perfect getaway while Ocon was struggling with an ill-handling car due to damaged suspension. Blomqvist got past the Frenchman and took the flag in first place from Ocon and Jake Dennis (Carlin), who clinched his maiden podium finish.

“As we hadn’t run on a wet track it was pretty tricky,” said Blomqvist after the finish of race 2. “Over the radio I was told that Esteban had a problem with his car so I went for broke. It was an important victory as I had to cope with a ten-place grid penalty for three races. To catch Esteban I’ll have to continue racking up good results for the rest of the season.”

The final race of the weekend was given the honorary title of the Pau Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon, who was again on pole, lost first place to Felix Rosenqvist, who made a perfect start when the lights went out. He then had to fend off the Frenchman’s attacks for 29 laps. Despite the unceasing pressure, the Swede didn’t make any mistakes and scored his first win of the season from Ocon and Blomqvist.

“This victory is a big relief especially after such a difficult start to the season, rather like this weekend in fact,” explained the winner of the 2014 Pau Grand Prix. “I made a few mistakes during this race, in particular by triggering the pit limiter in the Lycée hairpin! But in the end I won, so it’s a big relief. It’s been a great event and as Formula 3 is the blue riband formula here so it’s a real achievement to win on this circuit. There’s still a long way to go, and I hope that this victory marks the start of my fight back up the championship classification.”

Although Esteban Ocon was second he has every reason to be satisfied with his weekend as he has increased his lead in the championship: he leaves Pau with 57 points in hand over Tom Blomqvist followed by Lucas Auer (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Max Verstappen and Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam). “I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t win the Pau Grand Prix. I made an okay start but Felix made a super one,” admitted the Lotus F1 Team Junior driver. “Nonetheless it’s been a very positive meeting with three pole positions, a win and two second places; and above all I really enjoyed myself throughout the weekend. The ambience is fantastic and this circuit is a really exciting one. There’s still a long way to go in the championship and now it’s time to focus on the Hungaroring round.”

The FIA F3 European Championship will pitch its tent in Hungary at the end of May for the fourth round of the year.