OUICK LAPS THE FASTEST NEWS ROUND-UP
Jenson Button suffered his first SUPER GT retirement in last weekend’s Thailand round after his part in a collision which ultimately wiped out five of the other Hondas in the field. He described the collision that leaves him 24 points adrift in the championship as a racing incident… Gary Paffett tested the Mercedes Formula E car for the first time last week as the team continued preparations for its 2019/20 championship entry with a second test at Varano. Paffett, along with his current HWA FE team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne, drove in the two-day session. Mercedes described it as the “first test after the shakedown”, which took place in early April where the squad completed over 500km… ART Grand Prix drivers Christian Lundgaard and David Beckmann were disqualified from FIA Formula 3 qualifying in Austria after their physios were deemed to be working on their cars. Lundgaard and Beckmann’s physios were both seen holding cooling devices towards the cars, which the stewards deemed was against regulations, as the physios were not part of the 11-member team allowed to work on each car as per regulations. The first race was won by Red Bull junior Juri Vips while Briton Jake Hughes won race two after on-the-road winner Robert Shwartzman was penalised for a clash with Prema teammate Marcus Armstrong. Nobuharu Matsushita and Sergio Sette Camara – Honda and Mclaren juniors, respectively – were the F2 winners.