Apr
28
Jack Harvey: Learning the ropes in British F3
It’s hard to believe that we’ve already completed two race weekends in British F3! It only seems like yesterday that we were doing our pre-season testing but then that’s motorsport – everything happens at a quick pace!
Being a rookie amongst a lot of experienced drivers in this year’s British F3 series I’m very realistic about my expectations for the season. At the end of the day all I want to do is race hard and win as many races as I can but it’s a steep learning curve coming into British F3 from Formula BMW so it’s going to take a bit of time for the wins to come.
The first race weekend in Monza was really tough. It’s a great circuit which I raced on in Formula BMW last year but it’s so different racing there in my British F3 Carlin car and there is a big step up between the two series. Unfortunately I was hit by another car in race one before I even reached the first corner so that was my race over! This meant I had to start race two from the back of the grid and work my way through the rest of the field. I eventually got to P10 and collected my first Championship point which, given where I had started the race, I was really happy with. The final race at Monza was also tough as I made a mistake at the start and stalled on the grid so had another race of fighting my way through from the back. At least I got lots of overtaking in during the weekend!
I’ve just got back from a race weekend at Oulton Park in the UK. All drivers will agree that it’s a tough track as there isn’t much space for overtaking so qualifying is really important. I didn’t have the best of qualifying sessions and started race one in P13 and finished just out of the points in P11. Race two saw me start in P11 and I got a really good start so ran P10 for the rest of the race until the chequered flag, which meant I picked up another Championship point.
The final race at Oulton Park was disappointing at first as I had engine trouble which meant I had to come into the garage to get the car fixed. My Carlin mechanics did a great job and managed to get me out for the last 19 laps of the race but I was two laps down. Being in my rookie year, track time is vital so we basically ran a test programme for the final part of the race. I was really happy with my lap times which were as quick as the leaders so it was good to know we’ve got the pace.
Away from the race track it’s just been announced that I am going to be an ambassador for the Hot Wheels cars from Mattel. Along with three other drivers from the BRDC, I’m going to be mentoring a team in the Hot Wheels virtual racing championship (www.teamhotwheels.co.uk) which looks like great fun!
I’ve now got a few weeks before the next race weekend at Snetterton so I’ll be spending most of my time training. With all this great weather we’re having I’ll be getting out on my bike to do some endurance training, as well as hitting the gym most days, to keep my fitness levels up in between race weekends. Snetterton is another track that is quite new to me so we’ll be aiming for a decent qualifying session and to then pick up some more Championship points from the three races. I will let you know how we get on!
Follow Jack on Twitter @jack_harvey42