Lando Norris came into the Nurburgring weekend of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with an eleven point advantage over Maximilian Günther, but two wins and a second place across the three races meant he left Germany seventy-three points clear.
The Carlin driver led from start to finish in dominating fashion in the wet opening race on Saturday, and then followed that up by shadowing Jake Hughes to the chequered flag in Sunday’s first race, before returning to winning ways in the final race of the weekend after a nice pass on Callum Ilott.
Norris, who is ready for Formula 1 according to McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team executive director Zak Brown, now has his own destiny in his hands as he aims to clinch a fifth title in three years.
“It’s been a fantastic weekend and brilliant in terms of the championship,” said Norris. “But my job, in many respects, now gets harder with the team and I needing to be even more focussed over the final six races.
“I made a pretty good start in Race 1, stayed in P1, and then just pulled away – the car was good which gave me confidence in the difficult conditions.
“I found it hard to get temperature in to the tyres during Saturday’s qualifying in the wet and cool conditions. I’d find a gap, catch the car ahead and would have to back off to find space only to lose [tyre] temps again and so a P3 and P2 was okay.
“I was pretty happy with the Race 2 result. I managed to grab second early on and was catching the leader in the closing stages but by not quite enough to take the win. I attacked after the [Safety Car] re-start in Race 3, snatched the lead then controlled the race more-or-less to the chequered flag.”
