Peroni’s loving life on podium
ALEX Peroni enjoyed his maiden podium finish so much at the FIA Formula 3 championship in Austria last weekend the Tasmanian motor racer wants a repeat performance in Round 2 this weekend.
Peroni, 20, of Hobart, finished third in the opening race of the F3 season last Saturday, followed by a DNF in Race 2 on Sunday. The high of the trophy presentation outweighs the disappointment of the broken battery that caused his Team Campos car to lose all power and limp sadly to the side of the track.
Peroni hopes to hit the podium in Round 2, also at Austria’s Formula One track, Red Bull Ring.
“It was a bit weird, the weirdest podium of my life,” Peroni said. “It was about the result and being third was good and to come from eighth was pretty cool.
“It was nice to know we did it on merit — we did all the overtakes, we had good pace and deserved to be third, or maybe even a bit higher. It’s a good start to the year but we have some aero-improvements to do and I think we can go even higher this weekend.”
Peroni’s last race was in Italy in September, which ended in a frightening airborne crash that put him in hospital and ended his season. His next look at his Campos open-wheeler was at a test day in Bahrain in March, followed by the coronavirus shutdown.
Peroni only had practice and qualifying in Austria to reacquaint himself with his two-litre, six-speed, 565kg and 180kW car.
“I’ve been driving my mum’s car [Ford Fiesta] so being back in an F3 felt amazing,” he said.