Bouncing back from a challenging season opener in Bahrain, Zak O’Sullivan scored an impressive haul of 20 championship points in a successful weekend in Albert Park, Melbourne in Round 2 of the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season.
The Williams Racing Academy driver showed strong pace from practice, setting the fastest time on Friday in F3’s first ever visit to the Australian circuit. After qualifying fifth, Zak charged from eighth on the grid for Saturday’s reverse-grid Sprint Race, making quick work of the cars ahead to challenge for a podium position.
Despite several safety car periods interrupting race proceedings, the #3 Prema machine took the chequered flag placed second. Zak was promoted to a well-deserved P1 after the winner was disqualified for a technical infringement – his first F3 race victory.
Speaking before the result update, Zak said:
“P2 from P8. Positive result! I managed to capitalise on some incidents around me, just kept it clean and focused on closing the gap to the leaders. I’m looking forward to the feature race tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how it goes with faster cars around us.”
As Zak predicted, Sunday’s feature race was a much more difficult race with drivers starting in their qualifying positions. The dreaded ‘DRS train’ effect was in full force – Melbourne’s long back straight keeping the pack close, but not close enough to challenge each other in the run down to the final sector.
“P5 in the end; finished where we started. Our pace was quite good, but it was just a little bit harder to overtake than it was yesterday. I think with more cars at a similar level of pace in the top group, it was harder to make progress. Still, a very positive weekend coming out with a win and a P5. Good points and a step up from Bahrain.”
With 2 of 10 rounds complete, Zak is placed P8 in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 championship standings, 38 points behind overall leader Borteloto, with 304 points still available to score.
Countdown to Imola
With a six-week break ahead of the next round at Imola, Zak’s preparation continues on 12-14 April as he heads to Barcelona for an official test, before a further two days in the car testing at Imola on 18-19 April. Fans can follow Zak’s progress at Imola for Round 3, 20-21 May weekend on Sky Sports F1 (UK).
Be sure to follow Zak on social for the latest updates – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
Zak is a member of the Williams Racing Driver Academy, a BRDC SuperStar and is supported by Sytner Group, Concierge Medical, Winkworth UK, Kokoro Performance driver coaching services and Kokoro Media.