Podium double makes Hockenheim event one to remember for Jones

Anthony Fernandes 14:28 05/05/2014
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  • Impressive form: Ed Jones (r) celebrates on the podium with Race 2 winner Esteban Ocon (C) and runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi.

    Dubai-based British national Ed Jones rounded off his Formula 3 European Championship Round 2 weekend at Hockenheim in Germany with another sterling performance, picking up his second podium finish in as many days.

    Saturday saw Jones get on the podium for the very first time on his F3 Europe debut, finishing second and then qualifying fifth and seventh for Races 2 and 3 respectively.

    However, before Race 2 had even started everyone on the grid effectively gained two places as first Tom Blomqvist was penalised 10 places for an unscheduled engine change the previous day and then pole sitter Max Verstappen pulled out.

    Early on, Esteban Ocon took the lead from Antonio Giovinazzi and Jones, while Félix Serrallés overtook Felix Rosenqvist for fourth on the opening lap, with Nicholas Latifi also passing the Swede.

    Ocon and Giovinazzi pulled clear from the rest of the field while Jones had to defend his position from Lucas Auer and Blomqvist, the two already having overtaken Serrallés. This battle was put on hold duing lap 20 after Michele Beretta came off the track and the safety car had to be deployed.

    As the cars bunched up on track it looked as though Jones had it all to do again, and fourth-placed Auer attacked Jones on the final two laps, but the Dubai-based driver skilfully defended his position and kept the Austrian at bay.

    Just ahead of Jones, Frenchman Ocon fought off Giovinazzi for first place, the latter having to settle for second.

    Ocon said: “I had a good start, I managed to take first place and keep Antonio behind me. When the safety car came out just before the end, I initially thought that the race wouldn’t be restarted, but that wasn’t the case. My restart was quite good, too, and after the problems I had in yesterday’s race, I am very happy with this victory.”

    Race 3 saw Verstappen return to the grid with a vengeance, the 16-year-old Dutchman leading from lights to flag from Lotus F1 junior driver Ocon and Ferrari Academy driver Antonio Fuoco. 

    Verstappen made the most of pole position and after just the first few metres of the race, the Dutchman had pulled well clear from the rest of the field.

    While Verstappen was busy putting the distance between himself and the rest of the pack, John Bryant-Meisner, Blomqvist and Serrallés were involved in a collision midfield, which brought out the safety car for a brief while. 

    Following the restart, Verstappen remained in the lead from Ocon and Fuoco, who inherited third place after Swede Felix Rosenqvist retired, while Jones struggled with pace and a drive through penalty which saw him finish 15th.

    Verstappen said: “It is great and I am extremely happy. After I didn’t make it to the finish in the first race and couldn’t start in the second race due to a technical problem, I wanted to score points no matter what. My start was good and after that I kept a consistent margin of around one second. 

    “Then, I tried to save my tyres a little bit and not to overdrive my car. Many thanks to my team that managed to repair my car in time after the problems we faced in the second race.”

    Ocon now leads the championship with 103 points from six races ahead of the third round which will be held from May 9-11 in Pau, France.

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