Maldonado’s victory came in the second of the three races and was largely credited to a magnificent start. The Venezuelan started from sixth but was quickest to react when the lights went out and was leading before the first corner. A safety car mid-race bunched up the pack, and Maldonado defended well against his Fortec teammate, Tristan Charpentier. Jamie Chadwick was involved in the fight for the win too as she piled the pressure on the leaders, but that was how the order stayed when the red flag was thrown with less than a minute left on the race clock.
If you think a Maldonado victory is amazing, it’s nothing compared to what happened in race one. 12 months on from his crash in F4, Billy Monger once again captured the warm spirit that appears in the wider motorsport family from time to time by finishing on the podium – determination and grit personified. Monger deserves huge respect and looks like he could be a real protagonist in British F3 this season if he can land a full-time seat and keep scoring solid points. He dropped two places on the final lap of race two and finished ninth, and improved in the final race with eighth place.
P3 Baby! Huge thanks to @CarlinRacing and a special mention for @Chilychilton for helping me make this possible! 🏁 #BillyWhizz pic.twitter.com/HAciAQ8WaL
— billywhizz (@BillyMonger) March 31, 2018
There were two other maiden victories in British F3 this weekend with Linus Lundqvist winning race one and Nicolai Kjaergaard on the top step for race three. It’s Kjaergaard who now leads the standings after an eventful opening weekend, with Lundqvist second, and Tom Gamble’s consistency securing third.
The opening weekend of British F3 certainly delivered, a dry weekend at Rockingham at the end of this month could easily see a few more winners emerge with some drivers clearly happier than others with the wet conditions this weekend.
