Marcus Simmons's Spa F3 diary

Spa-Francorchamps is a tiring place to work. It's vast, it's hilly, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But with temperatures nudging the mid-30s through Thursday and Friday morning, it was rather energy-sapping.

To see anything worthwhile you have to walk a long way at Spa. The media centre offers hardly any view of the track (thanks, Herr Tilke), Eau Rouge is a bit of a nonentity for Formula 3 cars these days - easy-flat, although there are various degrees of kerb usage at the top of Raidillon. Instead, you have to go to Les Combes or Rivage (if you've got a bike), Pouhon or Fagnes if you haven't.

Even Pouhon has become slightly emasculated, acres of Tarmac run-off meaning you can work down to the limit rather than gradually build up to it, taking away one of the vital skills of being a racing driver. But there are some interesting takes on getting around.

The Spa weekend gives us the best field of the F3 season to date, with 29 cars from the British and FIA European championships doing battle. Jack Harvey, despite losing most of first free practice to an injector problem, is instantly impressive at Pouhon, right-side wheels well over the kerb before turn-in, and the car three-quarters over the outer kerb halfway round the curve. Felix Serralles and Hannes van Asseldonk are really attacking it, their Dallaras wriggling around after the first apex, Serralles hanging on and enjoying the ride but van Asseldonk looking a touch lairy as the moment goes on for longer.

Pascal Wehrlein, a Spa rookie, looks to be giving the pre-turn-in kerb a wide berth, and as a result is giving his car too much to do to stay within track limits halfway round - stereotypically German in trying to play by the rules. Raffaele Marciello, who's been here before, shows a stereotypically Italian disregard for them, just using the run-off as if he's an IndyCar driver taking the high groove on an oval. No-one does anything about it (and he is far from the only offender), so that's that rule out of the window this weekend then...

BRAVERY - IT'S PART OF RACING

Saturday's F3 race offered us a great chance to appreciate the skill and bravery that is part and parcel of being a racing driver.

The final race of the weekend was wet (Friday's second was canned due to a torrential thunderstorm that, amusingly, struck just before the wealthy jetset from the Lamborghini Super Trofeo were about to mount the podium. The F3 cars did a formation lap to the grid, and Devonian Harry Tincknell said it was "like driving through the ford in Sidmouth!").

At the start on Saturday the rain wasn't too heavy - indeed, Daniel Juncadella said he came within an ace of going for slicks - but it was wet enough for a large degree of caution to be required. And after about five laps the rain started getting pretty heavy.

How refreshing it was, then, that the race was started properly from the grid instead of the limp-wristed safety-car copout so beloved of certain other European junior single-seater championships. Whatever advice British F3 race director Bernard Cottrell may have had from other officials in race control, he should be commended for making the right choice. After all, we want up-and-coming racers to be trained to be swashbuckling red-meat eaters, not mollycoddled namby-pambies.

There was a safety car later in the race - for just one lap, after Sven Muller crashed at Raidillon and broke his arm - but the shunt was cleared commendably quickly and we were able to enjoy almost 40 minutes of great judgement from Sainz, Blomqvist and co. Muller's crash reminded us that racing can be dangerous, but if you don't like that you can always go and off play badminton instead.

STAR IN A REASONABLY PRICED DALLARA

Jenson Button was the star rookie of the British Formula 3 Championship in 1999, but if Carlin Motorsport boss Trevor Carlin had got his way he could have been the star rookie of the '98 season instead...

Button, then 18 years old and the golden boy of British karting, was set for a season in Formula Ford when he attracted the interest of David and Steve Robertson, who were friends of Carlin since Steve raced for the Bowman Racing team, run by Carlin's uncles Steve and Vic Hollman, in British F3 in the early 1990s.

"Jenson had done a couple of Formula Ford tests," remembers Carlin. "He was being managed by Paul Lambert, the Sally Ferries guy who had a few young drivers at the time, and was also being looked after by David Button [unrelated], who drove Formula Ford for us at PRS [the forerunner of Bowman Racing] in the early 1980s.

"The Robertsons were looking to get involved with a young driver and Paul Lemmens, a Belgian karting guy, said Jenson was their man. Lambert had already agreed a deal for Jenson with Haywood Racing in Formula Ford, but the Robertsons knew we had an F3 car and they wanted to see how good he was in that. So we dusted it down, fixed it up and turned up at Pembrey."

It has to be remembered that, at this point, Carlin was a small team with very little track record, having only run in British F3 with Henry Stanton in 1997. "John Button came with Jenson and I'm sure he thought the whole thing was a wind-up," continues Carlin. "They arrived with Jenson driving in this bright Fiat Coupe - we thought he was a right Jack-the-lad. He fitted Henry's seat so we just said 'off you go'.

"He was just spot-on. There was no-one else there so you could hear exactly what he was doing. He had legendary heel-and-toeing - his blips were perfect. The following day Portman Racing turned up with Warren Hughes in their new car and Jenson, in a year-old Dallara, matched his time.

"We had no drivers for 1998 so we asked if there was any way Jenson could do F3 with us. But I think the Robertsons didn't want to spend too much money, and 80k in Formula Ford was a lot cheaper than 300k in F3..."

For 1999, the Robertsons didn't really need to stump up any more. Button was taken on by Marlboro and Renault UK and plonked in a Promatecme car. In the first round, at Donington Park, Carlin new boy Narain Karthikeyan was quickest in first qualifying, before Button knocked him off pole in the second session.

"We were disappointed we didn't get to run him, but we weren't really in the game at that stage," says Carlin. "After Narain had outqualified him in that first session at Donington, the Robertsons gleaned loads of information off us and Jenson put it on pole! I still see Jenson and he's pleased how well we've done. When he drove our car, we were just a tiny little trying-to-make-it-in-the-world race team."

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS DRIVER BY DRIVER

Jack Harvey (Carlin Dallara-VW): 3rd/4th

Effectively lost the first free practice session, but bounced back and was a potential pole contender. Had just set his quickest first sector, but behind him van Asseldonk was in the slipstream; they came together at Les Combes and Harvey was out of the session. Proved he can race well by outdoing Jaafar for fourth in race one - from 10th on the grid. In race two he again chased Jaafar but this time lost out to European championship racer Michael Lewis for fifth overall in the closing laps.

Pietro Fantin (Carlin Dallara-VW): 9th/11th

After a great Norisring, a gloomy Fantin said this was "maybe the worst weekend of my career". To be fair he went reasonably well in qualifying, taking seventh on the grid for race one, although he felt that he would have gone faster had he focused more on getting the best from his tyres than on finding a tow. Poor starts hampered his chances in both races, and he lost several places on the last lap of race two when he spun at Pouhon while trying to pass McBride. He'd already damaged his front end hitting temporary team-mate Richard Bradley up the rear - under the safety car.

Harry Tincknell (Carlin Dallara-VW): 7th/6th

A middling weekend by his standards, although he was chuffed to be three-tenths faster than his team-mates through the left-hander before Pouhon, this the corner where he shunted and broke his hand in a test last November. Stalled at the start of race one but clambered his way up the order. Then in race two he 'accidentally' fought past Lynn - it was so wet he couldn't see the Fortec car until it braked at Les Combes, and Tincknell had to sail past to avoid a crash. Just held off Bernstorff at the finish, then proclaimed "at least my bones are all in one piece".

Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin Dallara-VW): 4th/3rd

Was in contention from first free practice, but had to be satisfied with third-row starts for both races. Fought up to fourth overall in race one, but his tyres fell off the cliff and, after some heavy defending, he lost out to Harvey on the final lap. In the second race he again ran ahead of Harvey and this time stayed there as his English team-mate and title rival faded in the final laps. Still well in the hunt for the title.

Carlos Sainz Jr (Carlin Dallara-VW): 2nd/1st

Properly back on form after a miserable June, Sainz qualified on the front row for both races. He got away well to lead the first, but could not stop Serralles sweeping ahead on lap three, or Juncadella emulating him two laps later. Still, second in the BF3 classification was a good result. Was utterly supreme in the wet, repaying the compliment on Serralles by passing him on lap three. Loved the conditions so much that he was really annoyed when the safety car came out - until he saw it was for Muller's crash rather than the ever-worsening puddles.

Pipo Derani (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): 6th/5th

It's a sign of the Brazilian's progress that he wasn't upset about the cancellation of the reversed-grid race, for which he would have started third, and first of the BF3 contenders. He made good progress in race one to finish on the back of the Harvey-Jaafar-Lynn-Lewis battle, setting a better lap time than runner-up Juncadella. In race two he defended strongly from Lynn before settling down to another good finish.

Felix Serralles (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): 1st/2nd

A transponder failure meant he recorded no official practice times on Thursday morning, so his pace later in the day took a few people aback! Was superbly committed on his way to a double pole. Then, with a little more downforce on for the race, he still had enough oomph to get ahead of Sainz for the lead on lap three. Looked a little bit vulnerable in the lead in the wet second race and couldn't keep Sainz behind. Then a quick spin at Pouhon encouraged him to play it safe as he became the new championship leader.

Hannes van Asseldonk (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): 12th/10th

Another incident-packed weekend for the speedy Dutchman, who had been expected to be up there on a circuit he knows very well. A clash with Harvey in qualifying damaged the floor. Made a great getaway in race one and was up there in the fight for the lead at La Source, but was forced off-line at Eau Rouge and down the order, then destroyed the tyres with a spin at Pouhon. Another incident in the second race damaged his rear wing. One to forget.

Alex Lynn (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): 5th/7th

Looked really good in qualifying, where he took second-row berths for both races, but the pace just seemed to evaporate in the races - in dry and wet. Fell to the back of the Jaafar-Harvey-Lewis fight in race one but was pleased to swipe a place back from the American on the last lap when he was edged wide by Jaafar - and nearly caught the Malaysian at the end. Derani defence in race two prevented Lynn from making headway when his car was at its best, then as the rain came he could not resist those behind.

Nick McBride (T-Sport Dallara-Nissan): 10th/8th

Was right up there in free practice, going better than ever, but in qualifying he got traffic on his first set of tyres, losing his composure as he went onto his second. Stalled at start of race one and felt his gearing was too long to take advantage of the Nissan's poke on the straights. Had a better run in the second race and didn't lose too much time when he spun at Pouhon on the final lap in unison with Fantin.

Spike Goddard (T-Sport Dallara-Mugen): 15th/14th

As the National Class expanded to four cars for the first time this season, Goddard had his first weekend without a win, although he did grab one pole. Was part of a highly-entertaining three-way fight for the runner-up spot in race one, finishing just ahead of new team-mate Calbimonte. In the wet he could not quite get the better of the Bolivian but at least took another podium finish.

Pedro Pablo Calbimonte (T-Sport Dallara-Mugen): 16th/13th

Just one test at Anglesey before heading off to Spa - a circuit he had never seen - for his F3 debut. No wonder he was braking for Eau Rouge early in free practice! Impressed the team with his enthusiasm and, although he propped up the qualifying timesheets, the wet showed what he could do on Saturday morning as he raced to second place of the four National Class runners.

Geoff Uhrhane (Double R Dallara-Mercedes): 8th/DNF

Looked like he could go quite well this weekend, but a right-front tyre failure (not a puncture) scuppered his chances of a good qualifying position. Should take some satisfaction from holding his own in a battle with Carlin runners Tincknell and Fantin in race one - and indeed beat the Brazilian. Unfortunately the Australian hit the barriers at Raidillon in the wet second race - and it's always going to be game over when you do that.

Fahmi Ilyas (Double R Dallara-Mercedes): 11th/12th

Another Double R driver with a what-might-have-been story, the Malaysian had damaged left-front steering in qualifying, putting him on the back of the midfield group. Was another to stall at the start of race one, and struggled a bit in the wet of race two. It was almost a slicks call for this one as the rain only set in just before the start and, like Uhrhane, Ilyas struggled with a lack of downforce.

Duvashen Padayachee (Double R Dallara-Mugen): 13th/15th

Apart from Calbimonte, the Aussie was the only BF3 runner never to have raced at Spa, so went to Belgium a few days earlier to drive round the hallowed Ardennes Tarmac in a Lotus Exige with Double R driver coach Rupert Svendsen-Cook. Thanks to the spate of stalled cars and the La Source traffic jam he found himself in a big A-class group in race one, and found himself dragged along in the train as he moved ever-further clear of his National Class rivals. Easily his best drive of the year, even if he had a brief scare when he went off at Les Combes while battling the A boys.

Adderly Fong (CF Dallara-Mugen): 14th/9th

The Chinese racer should have dominated the National Class, but a shunt at the left-hander before Pouhon in second free practice set his weekend back a little. Just couldn't wriggle out of the battle with the T-Sport boys in the first race, although managed to beat them in the end. In the wet on Saturday he was much better, and has to be satisfied with beating van Asseldonk, Fantin and Ilyas - even if they had stories of their own to tell.

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