Testing row hits Euro F3
Discontent hit the Formula 3 European Championship paddock at Zandvoort last weekend over an alleged breach of the spirit of the series’ testing regulations.
Formula 2 team Prema Racing, the sister company to F3/formula 4 squad Prema Powerteam, booked the Dutch circuit on June 13-14, when Prema F2 driver Sean Gelael drove a Dallara-mercedes F3 car run by the test team of Double R Racing.
The car ran on Michelin tyres rather than the F3 Hankooks, Prema saying that this was to replicate as close as possible the high-degradation F2 Pirelli rubber.
Rival teams alleged that the test gave Prema an advantage on a circuit that has been resurfaced since last year’s Euro F3 round. Prema drivers qualified and finished 1-2-3-4 in the opening race last weekend, and finished 1-2-3 in the second race.
After the Zandvoort weekend, Prema drivers are 1-2-3 in the championship.
Prema did not break any regulations in the test, and was upfront with the FIA, Prema boss Rene Rosin even meeting with the governing body’s Charlie Whiting at the Hungaroring F3 round to get clearance. Rosin, who has no engineering involvement with his team, was the only Prema staff member present at the test. Yet the FIA was uneasy about it, and sent F3 technical delegate Florian Bartsch to erase any data. “In the spirit of both championships and with full cooperation and agreement by the team, an FIA technical delegate was present at the test to ensure that no data gathered by the F2 team was stored or transferred to the F3 team,” an FIA spokesperson told Autosport.
It is understood that the FIA wishes to close this loophole, but such an act can only take place after approval from the World Motor Sport Council.
The Prema test came 13 months after Carlin, which carried Lando Norris to the 2017 title, was implicated in a complaint to the FIA by a rival team regarding a test that also used Double R’s F3 cars.
The complaint alleged that Carlin drivers Devlin Defrancesco and Ameya Vaidyanathan, who were then competing for the team in Euroformula Open, had been seen testing two FIA F3-spec Double R Dallaras at the Red Bull Ring in May 2017, four months prior to the Euro F3 round at the circuit, and that they were accompanied by Carlin engineers. The test did not breach any regulations and no action was taken against Carlin.