Tom Blomqvist had a great weekend in the final round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship as he secured second place in the Championship.
Blomqvist was the stand out driver on Friday qualifying third for race one - only seven hundredths of a second behind pole sitter and rival for second place in the championship Max Verstappen. After qualifying he put coming third down to making a mistake on his best lap but did feel his pace was good going into qualifying for race two and three.
Tom backed this belief up by putting in a stunning performance in qualifying for race two and three, taking pole in both races. In the qualifying for race two Blomqvist was dominant, finishing three tenths ahead of second place and teammate Antonio Giovinazzi. Tom was so dominant he was the fastest in all three sectors!
Blomqvist was hoping to bring his form on Friday into the races. However, race one turned into a procession and was very uneventful for Tom as the top three cruised away from the rest of the field and didn’t get a chance to fight for any positions. Max Verstappen looked in control as he won the race comfortably, with Blomqvist finishing third behind Lucas Auer.
After the race Tom said, ”It was a pretty uneventful race; I got off the line well, held third position and then on about the second lap I think I made quite a big mistake - I struggled a little more this morning - and my aim really was to maximise the best possible position. On those tyres I think third is the best we could have done, the guys in front were a little quicker than me. But I think we’ll be ok for the next two races, with slightly better tyres starting from pole.”
Going in to race two, Blomqvist knew he had a great chance to go second in the championship, as Verstappen had a bad qualifying session and sat ninth on the grid. After a great start, Tom began to build a strong lead before the safety car came out on lap six, which bunched up the pack and put race one runner-up Lucas Auer right behind Blomqvist. However, Tom made a perfect restart to maintain position and eased away from the rest of the field as he drove a faultless race to take a dominant victory ahead of Giovinazzi.
Following the brilliant win, Blomqvist said, “It was a bit nerve wracking at the start; I felt like I had a little bit of a clutch issue at the start, so I was a bit worried about that and it was affecting me a bit for the first couple of laps exiting the hairpin. Then it settled down and I was able to pull out a bit of a gap. After the safety car came out I knew I had to nail the restart and then it was about controlling the gap. It’s a great result for the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team.”
The win moved Blomqvist into second in the standings, two points ahead of Verstappen, with only one race left. With Blomqvist starting on pole, he was the favourite to finish runner up in the championship ahead of Verstappen who moves to Formula One next season.
Blomqvist was under pressure from the start from second place Lucas Auer and soon got overtaken. As the race approached the closing stages Tom had to try and fend off Jordan King and on the penultimate lap he lunged Blomqvist into Spitzkehre, and the Anglo-Swede steered wide to avoid any contact before finishing in third, ensuring he finished on the podium in all three races this weekend.
Following the race, Blomqvist commented, “It wasn't an ideal race; it didn't go quite to plan, I didn't win. But another podium for the team and second in the championship so a big thanks to everyone in the team and Jagonya Ayam, both here and in Indonesia, for their fantastic support.”
The podium finish secured the runner up place in the championship for Blomqvist, with the weekend capping off what has been a great season for the 20-year-old with 15 podiums including six wins.
In association with MBP
