Dutch Photo Agency
Charouz Racing System leaves Spa-Francorchamps with no points after some really unfortunate situations, all out of the team’s control, prevented the three drivers to get what would have been some well deserved good results. The weekend started in a positive way, especially for Francesco Pizzi. The Italian rookie was in fact able to make the most out of a wet to dry condition in Qualifying, getting the third fastest time in 2.11:988.
With the reverse grid, Pizzi started P9 in the Sprint Race, but after a good start got involved without any fault in some messy situations during the first lap and found himself stuck un the lower half of the pack, closing in P19. Even more unlucky was his race on Sunday: another good start got him in a very good position but at Les Combes a mistake of another driver forced him off the track and into the gravel, sliding down to P9.
At the end of the very same lap, when he was already trying to recover positions, an opponent completely lost the braking point at the Bus Stop chicane and crashed into his car. It was then impossibile to recover from the back with a damaged car and so he couldn’t finish higher than P21.
Teammates Christian Mansell and László Tóth also had an unfortunate weekend. The Australian was taken out by another car in the Sprint Race and struggled to manage the car and the tyres in the Feature Race, ending in P23. The Hungarian also had some problems in managing the performance, as well as the safety car moments and the red flag on Saturday, finishing the two races respectively in P22 and P25.
Next weekend we’ll be racing again at Zandvoort, Netherlands, before getting to the legendary Monza circuit the week after for the final chapter of the 2022 season.
Antonín Charouz, team owner
“Things still aren’t going our way. We managed to have a very good Quali with Francesco, but bad luck prevented us to get the most out of his third position on the grid of the Feature Race. Too bad, especially because it wasn’t our fault at all. László and Christian also had another unlucky weekend despite the pace they were capable of, so once again we’re not where we could have been. We still have two rounds until the end of the season and we’re fully focused in getting the most out of them, we’re not giving up and we want to finish the season in the best possible way”.
László Tóth
“The Sprint Race was quite mixed, with the safety car and the red flag. We had a good start but positioning wasn’t that great so I got stuck behind a few drivers. Then after the red flag we had some problem in managing the tyres and we started struggling. Sunday was another challenging day for us, with the safety car we couldn’t really move up to were we wanted to move but still the pace was quite decent so we’re looking forward to the next one”.
Christian Mansell
“To drive these cars around a circuit like Spa was a really cool experience. The car felt good on Friday morning and we had taken some strides forward, but the weather wasn’t on our side later on in qualifying. I got a mega start in the first race around the outside of a handful of cars, but unfortunately we got taken out on the second lap. The second race started really well too, the car felt good in the early laps but then it just started to go off towards the end. Anyway, a huge thank you once again to all the guys working with me at Charouz Racing System, their support has been second to none and it’s been great to spend my first steps in FIA F3 with them”.
Francesco Pizzi
“A very unlucky weekend for me, especially considering the great result we’ve been able to get in Qualifying. The start of the Sprint Race was good but I got a bit caught up in the mess of the first lap and lost a bit of positions. After that I was kinda stuck in the back of the field, we made some positions back but it wasn’t enough to get in the points. In the Feature Race I also had a good start but then I dropped to P9 at turn 5 after another driver forced me off the track in the gravel. Even worse, at the end of the first lap I was hit from behind and I was forced to restart from the back of the pack. Despite the pace wasn’t still too bad, it was really hard to gain positions with a very damaged car and it’s a shame given where we were starting the race. Now it’s full focus on Zandvoort”.
