Another win for Lando Norris after thrilling weekend in BRDC F3 02.05.2016: Lando Norris put on another pacey display to finish with a win and two

Lando Norris put on another pacey display to finish with a win and two third places in the BRDC British F3 Championship.


The 16-year-old Carlin driver ended up on top after a closely-fought battle in the first race at Rockingham. 


And although he was disappointed with his start in the final race, he was delighted to take two further podiums after a thrilling weekend’s racing.


The ADD Motorsports-supported racer said: “We were really happy with our pace this weekend.


“After struggling a bit in testing, we turned it around to leave Rockingham pretty happy.


“I got my second win of the competition and was top point scorer across the weekend which is a great effort overall.”


Somerset driver Lando struggled for pace in testing, with the team knowing they had to find something extra in qualifying.


They did so in style, with the talented racer securing pole for the first race by four tenths of a second and bettering his best lap time during testing by some distance.


Lando found himself in second place to teammate Collard after a slow start to race one.


Opting to save his tyres, he waited patiently throughout the race for a way past. With a few laps to go he seized his chance, getting side-by-side with Collard who had defended well up until this point.


But Lando’s persistence eventually paid off, as he managed to expertly edge in front to take an exciting win – his second of the Championship.


The reverse grid of race two saw Lando start in eighth. But he had pulled into seventh by turn one after an excellent start on new tyres and was into sixth after a great restart following a safety car.


Using his new tyres to his advantage, the young driver manoeuvred well into fourth and then third, but despite closing in on second place, ran out of time to push on further.


After setting the best lap time across the first two races, Lando began race three in pole again.


But with other drivers around him now on new tryes, he lost ground straight away after a slow start.


He drove well to stay in third until the flag, ending race three as he had race two, with a third-place finish and podium.


Despite not entering the Championship at Brands Hatch, the weekend still sees Lando move to fifth in the standings.


He added: ”I was really pleased to get into third from eighth in the second race, our pace was really good.


“I didn’t get a great start in the third race and let my position go, but it would have been very tricky trying to defend on older tyres for the whole race, so there wasn’t much more I could have done.


“I’m still up there in the standings, despite missing three races at Brands Hatch. If you add on the points won by Colton, who replaced me at Brands Hatch, we’d be leading, so it shows how well we’ve been doing.”




Gareth Morgan - also photo