Best season result by an Indian ever
Sochi, Russia : Indian racing sensation, Jehan Daruvala created history at the Russian Grand Prix weekend, by concluding the FIA F3 Championship in third. This is the best championship position ever, by an Indian in an official F1 feeder series.
It was heartbreak however for Jehan, in the last race of the season, when the Indian’s car was unable to start on the formation lap. Jehan who was due to start fourth on the grid, but instead had to start from the pitlane, after his car was pushed off the track.
Thereafter Jehan drove arguably, the best race of the season. He steadily worked his way up, overtaking a car a lap on an average. The highly competitive nature of the FIA F3 championship ensures that even racers at the back, are capable of posting quick laptimes. Yet, Jehan was able to consistently put in laptimes similar to the leaders while overtaking. Unfortunately he pushed too hard and went off track at one point, due to which he was penalised 5 seconds, inspite of giving back the position he gained.
Midway through the race, Jehan was 20th on track. The higher he climbed the tougher it was for the Indian to overtake. Once Jehan reached twelfth, his tyres were well past their best, due to his pushing right through the race. Jehan had to manage this additional situation and still overtook three cars in the last two laps to eventually finish ninth on track. Estonian racer – Juri Vips won the race, but Jehan was classified as fifteenth due to the 5 second penalty.
Unfortunately for Jehan, his Prema Racing teammate, Marcus Armstrong from New Zealand finished second. Additionally, he also had the fastest lap, which allowed him to leapfrog Jehan’s 13 point margin, to get ahead by a single point.
The Indian star has been consistently quick throughout the season in arguably the most competitive F1 feeder series. Jehan kicked off his season overcoming clutch issues in race 1 and winning race 2, at the Spanish Grand Prix weekend. The former second runner up in the World Karting Championship proved his speed once again by winning the first race of the 2nd round at the French Grand Prix weekend. He completed a hat-trick of podiums in the very next race.
Jehan eventually capped off the best season ever, by an Indian in an official F1 feeder series, with a total of 7 podiums in addition to two fastest laps and a pole position. Third place overall is a monumental achievement for an Indian. He has qualified in the top four in every round, except for Hungary where he was caught in traffic. The resulting non points scoring races in that round in addition to a DNF at the British Grand Prix weekend, proved to be very costly in terms of points to Jehan. Russian Robert Shwartzman was crowned the 2019 FIA F3 Champion.
“What happened at the start is heart breaking. But I had to focus on the race. I just put my head down and drove an aggressive race. Starting 29th and from the pit lane and finishing 9th on track was good fun. Prema has given me a fantastic car all year. Its just unfortunate that in the last few races I have had a bit of bad luck with DRS issues, a brake issue yesterday and the pit lane start today. These are things beyond anyone’s control. I am happy to have finished 3rd in the championship but disappointed at the same time with the technical issues I had in the last 2 weekends, but that is racing.” said a disappointed Jehan.
