Marcus Simmons' Pau F3 diary

Everyone in Formula 3 had been looking forward to the Pau Grand Prix - and it didn't disappoint. Not only is it a fantastic setting for a race, and a crazily-anachronistic circuit, but it was the first of the really big get-togethers of the British and Euro Series teams in F3's new spirit of entente cordiale.

There were 24 cars - 14 from the British championship and 10 from the Euro Series - on track. The Euro teams were using the British-spec Cooper tyres on their new Dallara F312s for the first time in competition, but you'd never have guessed it. Just as the mini-contingent of Brits who went to the Hockenheim Euro Series round proved competitive on the Hankooks used there, the Euros were straight on it with the Coopers.

The Euro Series' switch from Kumhos to Hankooks hugely favours this new spirit of cooperation in F3. While the Kumhos were nothing like the British Cooper/Avons, the Hankooks are much closer in nature, so it's a relatively small adaptation of set-up and driving style. The main difference seems to be that the Hankooks tend to have a longer peak operating window so, bearing that in mind, Euro Series/European Championship points leader Daniel Juncadella was hugely looking forward to using a fresh set of Coopers in qualifying, anticipating a window of only a couple of laps to set a good time.

It's fair to say that Juncadella, after his Pau-dium (groan...) at the track last year, was the pre-weekend favourite. That looked even more likely when he went fastest in opening free practice but, as temperatures continued to rise on Friday, drivers began to make mistakes.

During the afternoon session it was 34 degrees in the shade, and AUTOSPORT's man on the beat - after the chronic British spring and then an enormous night on the plonk with assorted F3 types - was feeling the heat. Thankfully there's tree cover on the inside of Parc Beaumont, arguably the finest place in the world to watch F3 cars. It's a long, long fifth-gear right-hander, with a lift or slight dab of the brakes where it tightens on the middle apex. Get it wrong and at best you'll lose stacks of time through the endless sequence of bends that follow, or at worst you'll arrive into view of the crash-hungry mob at the Foch chicane already in the barriers.

The temperature was so high that Carlin driver Jazeman Jaafar said he couldn't feel his legs by the end of the session, because of heat soaking through the tub, and Fortec's Alex Lynn begged his engineer to be allowed out of the pits after a mid-session stop - because he could feel his boots melting on the pedals.

There's nowhere finer to watch an F3 car than Pau © LAT

And the mistakes came... Gradually the driving became less and less fluid, drivers catching slides caused by not getting the apex right, or hitting a bump in the wrong way. Tom Blomqvist had already crashed in the morning. In the afternoon Harry Tincknell was first off at Foch, then Juncadella. Raffaele Marciello lost it on the exit of Beaumont - thump. The yellow lights flashed, and a distracted Lynn slid down the Armco as a result. His team-mate Hannes van Asseldonk went in on the opposite side. Carlos Sainz Jr was suddenly having to catch huge opposite-lock slides - no problem, but it had looked more natural earlier. Jaafar suddenly had plenty of rivals for most-spectacular driver.

And then it all changed. Saturday was overcast and cool. That meant a longer window on the tyres for a good qualifying time. The advantage that Juncadella and Jaafar had enjoyed in knowing the circuit from 2011 was almost wiped out as the Pau rookies, and those who had crashed on Friday, had a bigger opportunity to build confidence. As a result, Marciello's incredible weekend of two poles and two wins was set up here.

DANIEL JUNCADELLA'S RACING DYNASTY

Daniel Juncadella Perez-Sala is not the first person from his family to race at Pau, or even the second.

His uncle Luis Perez-Sala contested the Formula 3000 races there in 1986 and '87. Another uncle, Alex Soler-Roig, was an F2 competitor at the track in the late '60s.

Dani is the latest in a big racing dynasty that also includes yet another uncle, Jose Juncadella, who raced Porsche 908s, Ferrari 512s and Chevron sportscars, while his father Javier Juncadella (who Dani reckons was much quicker than uncle Jose!) was a top single-seater pedaller on the Spanish national scene. And then there's uncle Carlos Perez-Sala, who raced in Spanish Formula Renault in the early 1990s.

Juncadella's uncle is HRT team boss Luis Perez-Sala © LAT

With Luis Perez-Sala being team principal of the HRT Formula 1 team, it's obvious to speculate that young Dani could have a great opportunity if he wins this year's European F3 Championship and/or F3 Euro Series.

"I'm hoping for a link with a bigger team," he says. "And Luis may not want to do things this way because then it would be easy for people to criticise him - you have to be in F1 in your own right."

Although winning the FIA European title would give him a Ferrari F1 test, Juncadella reckons his best chance is with Mercedes, with which he already has a deal that could take him into the DTM. "I am hoping I can drive for them in the [Silverstone] rookie test," he says.

STAR IN A REASONABLY-PRICED DALLARA

When Anthony Davidson arrived in Pau for the 2001 Formula 3 race, he had endured an up-and-down start to his rookie British F3 Championship season. He'd finally taken his maiden win the previous weekend at Croft, but only after Takuma Sato and Derek Hayes had taken each other off while battling for the lead in front of him. Davidson had yet to win a race from the front...

That year, Pau was a standalone event, but attracted the Carlin Motorsport team of Sato and Davidson, along with leading German outfit Bertram Schafer Racing, to take on the favourites from the French F3 Championship.

"Taku had been there the year before so we expected him to be absolutely on it," says team boss Trevor Carlin. "In free practice they split the field into two, so we had Taku in group one and Ant in group two. We had a little bit of info from Jos Claes of Dallara on the way to go on set-up. It was almost bang on, but we just needed to make a small change to Taku's car during the session. That worked, and we put that change on Ant's car straight away before he went out. He was quick instantly.

"In the next session we made some more changes to Taku's car but went too far, so we didn't bother doing it to Ant's car. So he got the benefit in free practice, and when it came to qualifying he got right on it."

Davidson utterly dominated the 2001 Pau Grand Prix for Carlin © LAT

Even though this was not a French championship round, the race was run on the series' Michelin control tyres. "That was the biggest factor for Anthony," continues Carlin. "The Michelins had tons of grip and for him it was just like driving his kart, especially with the nature of the track and the bumps."

Davidson walked away with the race - an incredible Pau debut that set him up for a spectacular string of mid and late-season results and second place, behind Sato, in the British championship. "That weekend Ant just outdrove Taku," says Carlin. "At one stage he was about 12 seconds up the road. Adrian [Burgess, Davidson's engineer who now masterminds the Triple 8 V8 Supercar team] radioed him to just take it easy and be safe. He radioed back to say he was totally relaxed, not taking any risks at all.

"The next lap, going up the hill behind the paddock, he radioed to us and sang 'I'm ragging it, ragging it, ragging it' - at which point we all put our hands on our heads in despair!

"He was a cheeky little chappy at the best of times, but his little face at the end was pure joy."

The local Pau newspaper coined the nickname l'acrobat britannique. "I wish I'd kept that," concludes Carlin. "There was a photo of him on the front page with not one wheel on the track - two were on the pavement, two on the grass..."

DRIVER BY DRIVER
*Positions are rankings from the British championship classification

Jack Harvey (Carlin Dallara-VW): 3rd/5th

Harvey looked to be driving beautifully through free practice and qualifying but he just dropped a couple of places at the end of his qually group, which locked him into the pack on a circuit where it's almost impossible to overtake. Damaged front wing and a trackrod in the mid-race traffic jam in race one, so was happy to finish on the podium.

Fantin had a trying weekend in France © LAT

Pietro Fantin (Carlin Dallara-VW): 9th/6th

The Brazilian is getting the brunt of niggly problems at the moment. He lost nearly all the first free practice when a bearing broke in the gearbox, then lost some of the second after a brake disc broke. That meant a massive game of catch-up and two races where he was consigned to running in the midfield.

Harry Tincknell (Carlin Dallara-VW): 5th/DNF

A disappointing weekend for 'Tinks', who crashed early in the second free practice session so lost quite a lot of Friday running. Did well to recover from that to be within a tenth of going fourth in his qualifying group, and shadowed team-mate Sainz to take a respectable result in race one. Was leading Serralles and van Asseldonk in race two when he shunted at Pont Oscar.

Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin Dallara-VW): 1st/2nd

The flamboyant Malaysian was on it straight away in free practice, and was the driver everyone looked forward to watching as he came through each lap. Went fastest in second free practice, but had no answer to the pace of Marciello when it all clicked for the Italian. A major lock-up in race one rooted his front tyres, but he still took British honours, then did a brilliant defensive job on Juncadella on Sunday.

Carlos Sainz Jr (Carlin Dallara-VW): 4th/1st

This Pau first-timer was as unfazed as ever by the challenges thrown at him by the street circuit. Didn't make any major mistakes and was rewarded with a front-row grid position for race two, which he converted into a British F3 'class' win. Suffered in both races with lack of grip from rear tyres, but persisted to retain his British F3 points lead, thanks also to solid drive in race one. Take a look at his mega in-car footage above.

Pipo Derani (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): DNF/3rd

Like Juncadella and Jaafar, the Brazilian contested this race in 2011, so he was mortified to be ill during free practice, suffering low blood-sugar levels and feeling sick in the car. Pulled a great lap out of the bag right at the end of qualifying to top Fortec's runners, and converted this to a British F3 podium in race two. Stalled in the Lycee traffic jam in race one, needed a push-start to get going and was black-flagged as a result.

Serralles had a trying second race, after a decent showing in the first © LAT

Felix Serralles (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): 6th/11th

The Puerto Rican arrived in Pau second in the points, but this was a low-key weekend until midway through race two, when he turned in on team-mate van Asseldonk as the Dutchman tried to pass at Gare... Serralles reversed out and continued, but then snagged his left-front on Sandro Zeller and needed a pitstop to replace the punctured tyre. Solid first race, in which he shadowed Sainz and Tincknell.

Hannes van Asseldonk (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): 8th/DNF

Shunted at the Foch chicane in second practice and visibly lacked a little confidence there in qualifying. Got a reasonable finish in the first race, and on Sunday was in a fight with Tincknell and Serralles before he tried to pass his team-mate into Gare. The gap was closed, and van Asseldonk was again left to climb out of a mangled Dallara.

Alex Lynn (Fortec Dallara-Mercedes): 2nd/4th

Very satisfying weekend for F3 rookie Lynn, whose crash at Parc Beaumont in free practice and consequent rebuilding of confidence was perhaps the root cause of lacking the final tenth or two. Kept Jaafar in sight throughout Saturday's race (he also stalled at Lycee, but crucially got going under his own steam), and only lost out on a BF3 fastest lap to the Malaysian by 0.001s. More strong points on Sunday.

Nick McBride (T-Sport Dallara-Nissan): 10th/7th

The Australian was visibly losing time through an aversion to using the assorted kerbs, pavements and circuit furniture in the same fashion as some of the more confident runners. But he did a good, clean job throughout the weekend. Wasn't far behind Fantin in race one, and pulled off a satisfying pass on Ilyas into Lycee on the penultimate lap on Sunday.

Spike Goddard (T-Sport Dallara-Mugen): 12th/12th

Doctors tend not to recommend driving an F3 car around Pau to patients who've just had their appendix out, but that's exactly what Goddard did... Put serious pressure on Uhrhane on the way to National Class victory in race one. Hit a kerb and bent his steering in race two, and needed a pitstop for attention before taking second in class.

Ilyas took a pair of strong race finishes for Double R © LAT

Geoff Uhrhane (Double R Dallara-Mercedes): 11th/10th

A wet test day at Anglesey didn't exactly add much to his bank of limited F3 knowledge. Caused the first red flag of the weekend when he spun and got stuck at Gare - without hitting anything. Got straight back on track at the restart and made quiet progress from then on. Lost a lap in race two when he split a tyre valve in contact with Goddard, but then did a sound job to shadow the Ilyas/McBride battle.

Fahmi Ilyas (Double R Dallara-Mercedes): 7th/8th

Arrived jetlagged from Malaysia the day before free practice due to circumstances outside his control. Bearing that in mind, he put in probably the best weekend performance of his F3 career. Cheekily made up a few places in the Lycee traffic jam in race one, but lost out to McBride late in Sunday's race, after holing the nose of his Dallara on the run to the first corner.

Duvashen Padayachee (Double R Dallara-Mugen): DNS/9th

Another difficult circuit to get the hang of for the Formula BMW Pacific graduate. Had no major mishaps on the track and as a result managed to bag a National Class win on Sunday. That made up for Saturday, when he was wheeled off the grid before the green-flag lap with a broken differential.