Ed Jones has vowed to come out fighting for the next round of the Formula 3 European Championship at the Hungaroring in Hungary, from May 30-June 1.
The 19-year-old was hoping to take forward his form from Hockenheim, where he celebrated two podium finishes, to the Pau street circuit in France last weekend, but things went horribly wrong from the first qualifying session.
For the F3 rookie, last Friday’s practice session presented the first opportunity to get to grips with the tricky street circuit, and Jones made quick progress, setting a combined time of seventh fastest.
However, things were to dramatically change during qualifying later in the day. Given the short nature of the circuit, the qualifying session was split into two groups to allow drivers some space to set their lap times.
Jones, who was already on the pace, had set an assured first flying lap but his luck changed for the worse after clipping a kerb a little too hard, sending him head-on into the side barriers.
The Dubai-based driver walked away unhurt, though a little shaken. But his car needed substantial work overnight by Carlin mechanics to enable him to take up his ninth place grid slot for Saturday morning’s race.
Speaking of the accident, Jones told Sport360°: “We had gathered the speed up really well over free practice and I was feeling a lot more confident as we went into qualifying, and that showed because we were looking pretty strong.
“However, I clipped a kerb and I’m not sure if that gave me a puncture but either way I hit the wall hard and caused a lot of damage. I was OK, but it does knock the confidence when you’re racing so close to the barriers.”
On Saturday, Jones enjoyed an incident-free Race 1, coming home in eighth to pick up valuable championship points.
However, his luck took a further turn for the worse on Sunday morning when, while running inside the top-10, he hit the barriers once again – walking away unhurt but damaging his car in the process.
Race 3, though, was a huge a letdown for Jones; despite having made a very strong start off the line, all his hard work was undone when a stricken car on track forced him to take evasive action.
As a result, he was left with nowhere else to go as the rest of the field streamed past him – ending his weekend in 17th overall.
But Jones is not giving up just yet, with 24 of the 33-race campaign still left. He said: “It was a really tough weekend which all seemed to stem from the qualifying accident.
“I think we definitely had the pace to have been higher up the grid and enjoy a weekend like Hockenheim, but these things happen in motorsport. “We’ll come out fighting for the next round and I’m sure we’ll be strong and be fighting much closer to front.”
Standings (After 9 races)
1 – Esteban Ocon (FRA) – 164
2 – Tom Blomqvist (BG) – 107
3 – Lucas Auer (NED) – 95
4 – Max Verstappen (BEL) – 68
5 – Antonio Fuoco (ITA) – 67
6 – Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA) – 61
7 – Jordan King (GB) – 60
8 – Jake Dennis (GB) – 54
9 – Felix Rosenqvist (SWE) – 49
10 – Ed Jones (GB) – 47
