General Formula 3

Roberto Merhi picks up provisional pole and 2 penalties in opening Macau qualifier

3 Mins read
Merhi - Prema Powerteam - Photo Credit: F3Euroseries.com

Roberto Merhi was the emphatic pace-setter during the first qualifying session at the prestigious Guia circuit on Thursday, but 2 post-session penalties ensured his efforts were quickly undone, meaning the Spaniard will suffer a 10-place grid drop for Saturday’s qualifying race.

Early morning rain had yet to evaporate from the busy Macau streets before the skies opened again as the session got underway, prolonging a tricky day for the 30-strong field.

Handling the conditions with aplomb, Merhi demonstrated the qualifying form that helped him dominate this year’s F3Euroseries championship. The Prema Powerteam driver’s quickest time overall was a whole 1.6 seconds ahead of practice pace-setter Marco Wittmann.

Merhi’s day however, quickly began to unravel. After setting his pole-winning time, Merhi tried to make the most of Richie Stanway’s slipstream towards the heavy braking zone of Lisboa corner. Blinded by the spray, the Spaniard promptly missed his mark and careered into the rear of Felix Rosenqvist, eliminating them both.

Felipe Nasr lead the British F3 entrants with the 3rd fastest time, albeit 1.7 seconds behind Merhi. Daniel Juncadella was 4th quickest, whilst Alexander Sims was the leading British driver with the TOM’S outfit.

However, as the spray settled after the turbulent session, the first of many penalties were distributed. Merhi was 1 of 7 drivers penalised for crossing the pitlane exit line during the session, resulting in a 3-place grid drop for Saturday’s race. Fellow culprits were Laurens Vanthoor, Carlos Munoz, Carlos Sainz Jr., Marko Asmer and Felix Rosenqvist, while Hironobu Yasuda was handed a 6-place drop after committing the offence twice.

The news got worse for some soon afterwards, as Merhi’s incident with Rosenqvist saw a further 7-place drop added to his prior indiscretion. Rosenqvist was also punished again, for overtaking under yellow flags and for his incident in morning practice at the Melco hairpin. As a result the Swede drops to the last row of the grid, accompanied by Carlin’s Kevin Magnussen, who was also relegated after the Dane collided with Rosenqvist’s stricken car whilst the F3 Masters winner was still climbing out.

Talking to Autosport about his crash with Rosenqvist, Merhi said: “I was going for a slipstream with [Richie] Stanaway, but I was really far away and he went tothe right at the end of the straight.

“Rosenqvist was ahead of us and slow, and when I went to the left of Stanaway I find Rosenqvist in front. I hit the brakes and then my mechanic came on the radio and said ‘yellow flag, brake!’ I locked the tyres and hit Felix really hard.

“It was a shame. He is a really good guy and we are really good friends, so it is not nice when you crash with someone else, but especially with him. But I think it was not possible for me to do anything else, because you could not see anything as there was a lot of spray.”

With Wittmann steering clear of trouble, the German technically claims pole position for Saturday’s race with Felipe Nasr joining him on the front row. Another qualifying session awaits them tomorrow however, and with weather conditions likely to improve, their places at the top are far from assured.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi           Prema Dallara-Merc         2m28.860s
 2.  Marco Wittmann          Signature Dallara-VW       2m30.535s  + 1.675s
 3.  Felipe Nasr             Carlin Dallara-VW          2m30.639s  + 1.779s
 4.  Daniel Juncadella       Prema Dallara-Merc         2m30.867s  + 2.007s
 5.  Alexander Sims          TOM'S Dallara-Toyota       2m31.306s  + 2.446s
 6.  Yuhi Sekiguchi          Mucke Dallara-Merc         2m31.634s  + 2.774s
 7.  Hannes van Asseldonk    Hitech Dallara-VW          2m31.891s  + 3.031s
 8.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Hitech Dallara-VW          2m31.901s  + 3.041s
 9.  William Buller          Fortec Dallara-Merc        2m32.295s  + 3.435s
10.  Felix Rosenqvist        Mucke Dallara-Merc         2m32.457s  + 3.597s
11.  Lucas Foresti           Fortec Dallara-Merc        2m32.551s  + 3.691s
12.  Kimiya Sato             Motopark Dallara-VW        2m32.891s  + 4.031s
13.  Richie Stanaway         Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW  2m32.996s  + 4.136s
14.  Kevin Magnussen         Carlin Dallara-VW          2m33.281s  + 4.421s
15.  Daniel Abt              Signature Dallara-VW       2m33.428s  + 4.568s
16.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW          2m33.588s  + 4.728s
17.  Marko Asmer             Double R Dallara-Merc      2m33.866s  + 5.006s
18.  Laurens Vanthoor        Signature Dallara-VW       2m33.881s  + 5.021s
19.  Jimmy Eriksson          Motopark Dallara-VW        2m34.034s  + 5.174s
20.  Adderly Fong            Sino Vision Dallara-Merc   2m34.273s  + 5.413s
21.  Carlos Munoz            Signature Dallara-VW       2m34.278s  + 5.418s
22.  Carlos Huertas          Carlin Dallara-VW          2m34.675s  + 5.815s
23.  Hideki Yamauchi         Toda Dallara-ondaH         2m34.725s  + 5.865s
24.  Carlos Sainz Jr         Signature Dallara-VW       2m34.744s  + 5.884s
25.  Hywel Lloyd             Sino Vision Dallara-Merc   2m34.750s  + 5.890s
26.  Mitch Evans             Double R Dallara-Merc      2m35.133s  + 6.273s
27.  Valtteri Bottas         Double R Dallara-Merc      2m35.877s  + 7.017s
28.  Pietro Fantin           Hitech Dallara-VW          2m36.057s  + 7.197s
29.  Richard Bradley         TOM'S Dallara-Toyota       2m36.823s  + 7.963s
30.  Hironobu Yasuda         Three Bond Dallara-Nissan  2m42.441s  + 13.581s
Full times http://bit.ly/vXtuhA

Macau Grand Prix timetable

Fri 18 Nov – 1100 (0300 GMT) Practice / 1435 (0635 GMT) Qualifying
Sat 19 Nov – 1400 (0600 GMT) Qualification Race
Sun 20 Nov – 1530 (0730 GMT) Macau Grand Prix

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Mark Foley is a new addition to The Checkered Flag team for 2011. An F1 fan at heart, he also has a keen eye on the action-packed open wheel junior formulae across the globe, where the fledgling stars of the future duke it out on the long and winding road to Formula 1.
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