PREMA entered the weekend in Zandvoort, eighty-six points clear of second place Trident in the FIA Formula 3 championship.
However, their weekend would be derailed in qualifying, as a red flag caused an early end to qualifying. Jak Crawford would be the only driver to complete his final lap before the session was curtailed, as he placed third.
This spelt disaster for his teammates Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman though, as Leclerc’s fastest hot lap was only good enough for twentieth on the grid and Bearman would be forced to start both of the weekends races from fourteenth.
In Saturday’s sprint race, Jak Crawford would make up one place to finish ninth, after starting tenth due to the reverse grid format. Leclerc made up an extremely impressive eight places, but this was only good enough for twelfth, meaning the Monegasque failed to pick up a point. Bearman also made it to the brink of the points, making up three places to finish eleventh, after experiencing a very difficult start to his race.
Sunday’s feature race saw an improvement on the disappointment of the sprint race, as PREMA bagged two points finishes. Oliver Bearman managed to fight his way up to tenth to grab the last point scoring position, and gain a point that could prove to be vital in PREMA’s defence of the Formula 3 constructors title, or so he thought, the Brit was awarded a drive-through penalty for not maintaining the proper gap behind the safety car at turns twelve to fourteen, demoting him to twenty-fifth in the final classification.
Jak Crawford also picked up some valuable points for the team, finishing sixth. The American fell down to ninth place after attempting an optimistic move around the outside after a safety car restart but managed to claw back six positions to gain eight key points for his team.
Arthur Leclerc once again made up multiple places in the race, making his way from twentieth to fourteenth. After teammate Bearman and Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan received post-race penalties, Leclerc was promoted to twelfth, but this was not enough and Leclerc left Zandvoort with zero points from the weekend.
After the checkered flag was waved on Sunday, Leclerc reflected on his feature race performance, “A really tricky race, without many opportunities to overtake. I also didn’t find the right spot at the beginning of the race. We did some good overtakes and came back to P14. Still not enough to score points and now we’re fully focused on Monza”
PREMA enter the final round of the season in Monza forty-seven points ahead of closest rivals Trident, meaning a healthy points total will see them regain the Formula 3 constructors championship for the first time since 2020, after losing out to Trident last season.
The team also still have two drivers still within range of the driver’s title. Oliver Bearman is within twenty points of current championship leader Victor Martins, while Arthur Leclerc sits two places below Bearman, trailing Martins by fifteen points.
