Cheltenham-based Zak O’Sullivan stormed from sixth to first to claim his first FIA Formula 3 Championship Feature Race victory at the Red Bull Ring, Sunday 2nd July.
The Williams Academy driver had his best round of the year so far, leaving Austria fourth in the series standings with a haul of 32 points across two races.
Saturday saw a very wet Sprint Race in Spielberg, and following a penalty in qualifying, Zak would start 10th on the grid. After a decisive start to gain four positions by the end of lap one, O’Sullivan settled into a rhythm as the races’ focus shifted tyre management.
By Lap 11, Zak began to pressure the cars ahead when the safety car was deployed in response to an incident. Despite this break in momentum, Zak capitalised on the restart to gain two more places by the chequered flag – a decisive, confident drive from the 18-year-old.
Following his 4th place finish, Zak said;
“Some good points after a strong race, picking cars off and even one on the last lap! The visibility was very poor in the wet, but we kept it clean and scored some strong points.
Starting 6th in the feature so hoping we can make some progress and challenge at the front”
Sunday’s Feature Race saw an equally impressive charge from Zak as he started from sixth; this time in the dry weather, and was immediately up to fifth as they exited Turn 1. A safety car at the end of the first lap would see Zak restart strong and hold position and pressure from the cars behind.
With tyre degradation affecting the drivers ahead, Zak put on a masterclass of conservation while defending the threat from behind, taking advantage of others’ misfortune to take fourth.
Zak took third on Lap 11 with an aggressive move, followed by two further passes on the race leaders on Laps 13 and 14 to take the overall race lead.
With the gap behind never reaching more than a second, Zak maintained his composure and held off the challenge until the flag, taking his third win of the season, and maiden FIA F3 Feature Race victory.
Following the win, Zak said:
“A fantastic result having started P6. Biding our time and managing the tyres proved key and we managed to get into the lead and control the gap behind until the flag.
Very excited to be heading home to Silverstone next where we took a surprise pole and podium last year, keen to keep this momentum going.”
With Silverstone hosting the next round, Zak will be back on home soil. If not trackside, Zak’s sessions will be live on Sky Sports F1 with Qualifying Friday at 14:10, the Sprint Race, Saturday at 09:20 and the Feature Race, Sunday at 08:20.