Red Bull Junior Team driver Callum Ilott was enthusiastic following his maiden FIA European Formula 3 Championship podium finish at the Nurburgring last weekend.
The Carlin driver had admitted pre-race that the Nurburgring was among his favourite tracks to drive on his Playstation, and revealed that he still enjoyed driving it for real, even if he was slightly disappointed not to have been in a position to challenge Prema Powerteam’s Nick Cassidy for second place during Saturday’s opening race due to the high downforce nature of the German circuit.
“I’ve enjoyed the weekend, as I said before we came here it has been my favourite track since I was a kid lapping it on Playstation and I really enjoyed driving it for real,” said Ilott.
“It is a shame that it is so hard to overtake in F3 at the moment but that is the same for everyone and it was another very good weekend for learning and gaining experience.
“I enjoyed the race and was very happy with the pace. We pulled out a huge lead over fourth, about thirty seconds and I tried to keep the pressure on as much as possible but never quite got the chance to have a go at second.
“It is a very high downforce track and when you get close to another car you start to lose that downforce and it makes it very hard to pass, that’s the problem. You tend to only be as fast as the car in front of you. You get the chance to overtake at the start and after a safety car but apart from that it is very difficult.
“That was the problem in Races 2 and 3, hard to pass and you just seem to get stuck behind people. The only thing to do is try and keep the pressure on and hope they make a mistake.”
