Marcus Simmons's Monza F3 diary
The 2013 Formula 3 European Championship kicked off at Monza last weekend and AUTOSPORT's Marcus Simmons was there to follow all the action of a very healthy field
Balmy spring sunshine, a pleasant 15-degree ambient temperature, the smell of the trees and grass in the royal park of the Autodromo di Monza...
Last Friday was a perfect day to kick off competitive activity for the first day of the new era of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. OK, we all expected the rain to roll in by Saturday evening and soak us on Sunday - and it did - but at least we got one cracking race in the dry on Saturday morning to whet the appetite for a great 2013.
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Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.
Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.
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