Zak scores second win of 2023 in Spain
Zak O’Sullivan carried momentum from a strong showing in Monaco last week, securing his second win of the season in a lights-to-flag drive at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The 18-year-old from Cheltenham converted a Sprint Race pole position into 11 valuable championship points, after fending off multiple challenges from fellow Williams Racing Academy driver Luke Browning.
As the lights went out for the start of Saturday’s sprint, Zak managed a clean getaway from the grid and successfully covered the inside line into turn 1. Despite a brief challenge on the outside, Zak held on and set about increasing his gap over the 30-car field to break out of DRS range.
This increasing gap was short-lived. Just before the end of lap 1, race control deployed the Safety Car to slow the field as a car was recovered from the gravel in turn 9.
Lap 5 saw the green flag fly once again and Zak set about increasing the gap again, briefly reaching 8-tenths of a second, before DRS pulled the cars behind into contention by lap 10. Zak responded decisively, covering two considerable challenges for the lead at turn 1 – first on the outside, then inside.
Thanks to effective tyre management in the early phase of the race, these attacks were quickly repelled, and Zak set about breaking the ‘DRS train’ effect for good. By lap 15, Zak was over a second clear of his rivals. He crossed the line to take the race win 1.6s ahead of Browning, securing his second win of the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship season.
Speaking after the win, Zak said:
“That was a solid race. It was a bit tricky to begin with, trying to both manage my pace whilst covering off a few attacks from behind, but we managed to hold on. A pretty good result obviously. The car felt great. We’re starting quite far back in the Feature Race. I’m looking forward to it.”
Sunday’s Feature Race provided just as much action as Saturday’s Sprint, with another safety car period in the opening laps of the race to cover cars stuck in the gravel.
Thankfully, Zak avoided the carnage to gain 3 places, leapfrogging from 12th to 9th, before settling into a competitive rhythm for the remainder of the 40-minute-long race. Tyre management proved to be the name of the game once again, limiting overtaking opportunities.
Zak gained one final place in the closing stages to finish 8th overall, adding 4 valuable championship points to his weekend haul.
Speaking after the Feature Race on Sunday, Zak said:
“Not bad, we made a few positions there at the beginning. Just need to start higher up next time! It was quite difficult to overtake with the DRS train and how many long, fast corners there are here. Overall, a positive weekend and a good recovery considering the circumstances.
Austria should be a good one. Plenty of chances to overtake there, but hopefully we won’t need to.”