Christian Mansell experienced an exhilarating weekend in his second and final FIA Formula 3 outing with Charouz Racing System this season as his two race contract came to an end after the Spa-Francorchamps feature race.
The Australian started the weekend strongly in Spa, the circuit that played host to his win in the GB3 championship last season, as he placed eighteenth in free practice, the highest position of all three Charouz cars, less than a second slower fourth place Josep Maria Martí.
However, in a qualifying session plagued by changing conditions, Mansell could only place twenty fifth in qualifying. Despite a disappointing session, the seventeen year old would start the race with joint championship leaders entering the weekend, Victor Martins and Isack Hadjar, ahead of him, such was the nature of the qualifying session in Spa.
With the grid being met with dry conditions on Saturday for the sprint race, Mansell got off to an excellent start, launching off the line to make up several places, and end the first lap in an impressive eighteenth place.
Nevertheless, the Australian would run out of luck, as through Les Combes, Rafael Villagomez understeered into the side of Mansell’s car, putting him into the barrier and out of the race, inside the opening two laps.
As Sunday rolled around and the lights went out signalling the start of the feature race in Spa-Francorchamps, Mansell quickly lost a place in the chaos of the opening lap. However as the race wore on the Charouz driver would begin to make up places, reaching as high as twenty first. Eventually, a weekend of hardship and bad luck culminated in a twenty fourth place finish for Mansell, making up one place from his starting grid slot.
After the feature race, Christian Mansell spoke about the experience, “Driving these cars around a circuit like this – it’s a really cool experience. I’ve got a bit of knowledge racing here under my belt now through Euroformula and GB3, so it was more about getting the car set up and learning more about it after Hungary.
“The car felt good on Friday morning in practice and we had taken some strides forward, but the weather wasn’t on our side later on in qualifying. That was a tricky session which started wet and began to dry out at the end, so it was maybe a bit unrepresentative to us and a lot of others.
“I got a mega start in the first race around the outside of a handful of cars, but unfortunately we got taken out of that one on lap two. Nothing we could do, other than look forward to the second race, and again it started really well for us. The car felt good in the early laps, but then it just started to go off towards the end which meant we were battling against it.
“A huge thank you once again to all the guys working with me at the Charouz Racing System team. Their support has been second to none and it’s been great to spend my first steps in FIA F3 with them for these two race weekends.”
