Ed Jones will sit out the next three rounds of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship as he continues to recovery from an injury sustained at the last round in Pau, France.
Jones, who won the European F3 Open Championship in 2013, and also finished third in the national class of the British F3 in the same season, only stepped up to the senior F3 series this year.
The 19-year-old, born and brought up in the UAE, opened his rookie season at Silverstone by finishing inside the points in two of the three races and followed that up with two podium places at Hockenheim, Germany.
However, things did not go too well in Pau, with the exception of Race 1 where Jones finished eighth.
Jones did set some fast times during practice in Pau, ending with a combined seventh fastest time.
However, things were to dramatically change for Jones during qualifying after he had set an assured first flying lap, at which point his luck changed for the worse after clipping a kerb a little too hard, sending him head-on into the side barriers.
Jones’ luck took a further turn for the worse when, while running inside the top 10 in Race 2, he hit the barriers once again.
The severity of the injury he suffered as a result of the two crashes surfaced only after the Briton returned to Dubai.
Jones has confirmed that he has suffered fractured vertebrae and has been advised by doctors not to race anytime soon.
“Ed Jones will unfortunately miss the next three rounds of the F3 FIA European Championship due to injury,” his father Russell Jones said in a statement.
“It was discovered post the race qualifying incident at Pau that he unfortunately suffered a fractured vertebrae and has been advised not to race. He is expected to return for the Moscow round (scheduled for July 11-13)."
Jones says he is extremely disappointed that he will miss these rounds, adding: “I am very positive for the future, I feel very confident about the results I can produce and look forward to resuming the championship in Moscow.”
