F3: a gritty drive but no points for Fittipaldi

Enzo Fittipaldi’s first ever race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium proved useful for the Brazilian, but the Miami-born 19 year old leaves the Ardennes with a few regrets.

Race-1. The Ferrari Driver Academy student’s weekend got off to a difficult start in qualifying. The session was red flagged twice and was also rain affected. The HWA Racelab driver had to settle for 15th on the grid, even if his free practice form suggested a top ten place was on the cards. In the early stages, Fittipaldi picked up a puncture which dropped him to the back and without any Safety Car periods other than Virtual ones, as the race director feared that bunching up the field could lead to accidents and so, there was no way for him to catch up. He finished 26th in a race won by Lirim Zendeli (Trident).

Race-2. Fittipaldi was in fighting mood on Sunday, producing a perfect start which saw him make up seven places right away. When Pierre-Louis Chovet went off, once again a Virtual Safety Car was indicated so that the gaps remained unchanged between the top twelve and the rest of the group. Fittipaldi then fought his way up to 13th and then inherited 12th when Australia’s Alex Peroni (Campos Racing) went out. Enzo had made the most progress of any driver in the field finishing 14 places higher than he started, but that still left him outside the points. Logan Sargeant won for Prema to retake the lead of the championship ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri. Enzo is still 18th on 7 points. 

Monza next. Now comes Monza next weekend, a track that Fittipaldi knows very well, after racing a lot in Italy.