The crucial point for me was to build a lead on the restart so no-one could get a tow past me after Eau Rouge which I managed to do and then I pulled away from my team-mate Oliver Jarvis. It’s quite sad really that Carlin could have had a 1-2-3 in that race, and definitely a 1-2, but lost it because Oli’s fuel pump failed but for me it was a case of just controlling the race and taking care of the car to get the first win. When I crossed the line it was a big goose bump moment. We have been working for a win for a long time and we wanted it for a long time and I was delighted.
I’m only seven points behind Oli in the championship standings now and my aim is to get ahead of him and be the top rookie in the series. He is a great driver and going into the season I was the lesser-known name while his name was huge after winning the
McLaren Autosport award and now we are really close.
My aim is to beat him as his aim is to beat me. However, I think that as a team we have to look further than that and try to challenge the Raikkonen Roberston pair. Bruno is up for grabs, he is close to us and I think that we can get him, and we have to try and get closer to Mike. It would be fantastic if we could challenge him for the title towards the end of the year. There are still five rounds and ten races to go and so many things could still happen so I wouldn’t write the title off just yet.
It’s been a good year for me so far and I’m pleased with my decision to come to British F3 and especially with the decision to join Carlin. They have given me a great car all year and Neil Brown have done a good job with the engines and given us a competitive package. In my season so far I have finished on the podium six times in twelve races which is good but maybe my two retirements have cost me a little bit. Apart from that it is a very good season and I hope that we can build on the momentum in the coming races.
