Formula 3 – Bearman's strong finish puts him in the fight for title

After winning Race 1, Oliver Bearman finished third in today's Feature Race in Belgium. Lclerc made up nine places, just missing out on a points finish.

Oliver Bearman could have expected a tough event given he had never raced at Spa-Francorchamps before. Instead, come the end of the weekend, the English Ferrari Driver Academy driver left Spa after his best showing of the year, taking his first Formula 3 win in yesterday's Sprint Race, followed up with an excellent third place in today's Feature Race. These results now put him second in the standings, just one point off the leader Isaack Hadjar.

One point off the lead.  It was dry for the Feature Race, with Bearman starting eighth. In the opening laps, he moved up to sixth before the Safety Car was called out twice. On lap 10 the race was on again, Bearman pushing Jonny Edgar hard and passing him three laps from the finish. In the final battles, Oliver managed to secure third place, with a last minute move on Olivier Goethe going into Les Combes. "Another nice race and another podium," commented Bearman. "It's the third time in a row I've finished in this position in the Feature Race and I think we got the most we could have done out of this weekend. After qualifying I was a bit disappointed, because I had not performed as well as I could have done, but then I was able to get a great comeback in the races. Now I'm looking forward  to Zandvoort and luckily, there's not long to wait.

Arthur. Arthur had a tougher time of it, having to make up places after an unfortunate qualifying, which meant he had to start from 20th. Arthur comfortably moved up through the midfield, getting up to 11th, just two tenths of a second outside the points zone. Clearly, qualifying had a negative effect on his weekend, but his race pace means he can be optimistic about the next two rounds in Zandvoort and Monza. Arthur is currently fourth in the championship, but it's very close, as he is just five points behind the leader. "My points tally was compromised by qualifying," commented Leclerc. "Finding myself 20th affected the whole weekend. The Sprint Race was great, but today we spent a lot of laps behind the Safety Car and there really wasn't enough racing for me to move further up the  order. But I'm still well placed in the standings and I'm already thinking about Zandvooort."

On to Zandvoort. From Spa-Francorchamps, Formula 3 now makes the trip to Zandvoort where the cars will already be on track on Friday for the penultimate round of the season. The top five drivers are all crammed into the space of just 10 points so it looks like being a thrilling end to a championship, with both FDA standard bearers clearly in great shape.