Australia's Christian Mansell added a fourth podium finish of his 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship season with a thrilling display across the latest two races at the Spielberg circuit in Austria this past weekend (29/30 June).
The rising star from Newcastle, New South Wales, came so close to his maiden FIA F3 win in recent race weekends at Monaco and Barcelona, and hoped to find his way onto the top step during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend to continue his rise up the points table.
During a busy period of three race weekends in succession, the second of those took Mansell to the Red Bull Ring, and the Aussie's pace during free practice indicated it could once again be a strong weekend for the ART Grand Prix team driver.
With backing from AJM Transport, Castrol, Vawdrey Trailers, Sargeant Transport and Ultimate Driving Tours, Mansell looked to put himself near the front of the grid with a good qualifying on Friday afternoon. A tightly-packed early stint left him inside the top 12, but he soon moved up to third place.
With one final run for all drivers, Mansell looked to further improve his position. Unfortunately, he did not get the advantage of a slipstream at circuit where it benefits, and would finish 11th despite being only 0.3s from pole position.
It did mean that he could start Saturday's Sprint Race from a front row slot thanks to the partially-reversed grid, and what followed was an intense battle for the top spot. A great getaway meant Mansell could squeeze inside Martinius Stenshorne into the first corner, after which he fought hard with his ART team-mate Nikola Tsolov for much of the contest.
Tsolov grabbed the lead, but Mansell re-took it on lap 15 briefly as the duo swapped places lap after lap. He would unfortunately lose out to both Tsolov and Stenshorne on lap 17 before the safety car emerged in the latter stages. It set up a final lap sprint to the finish, Mansell tailing the lead pair closely to the chequered flag for a fourth podium of the year.
The Rush Performance, Infinity Sports Management, IOR Petroleum, AMSL Diabetes Australia and NTI-backed star looked ahead to Sunday where he started from 11th, passing Stenshorne early on in what would be a relentless charge through the pack from the former British F4, GB3 and Euroformula Open race winner.
He swiftly rose three further places to eighth spot before a virtual safety car period, and then got the better of team-mate Tsolov and climbed to sixth with a daring pass around the outside of Arvin Lindblad at Turn 6. His charge continued, dispatching Alex Dunne shortly afterwards and then demoting Oliver Goethe at the third corner to chase after the podium runners.
A gap almost emerged as the duo ahead of him squabbled over second position, but it did not deter from a sensational drive as Mansell added a fourth place finish and yet more vital points to his tally in the Drivers' Championship.
Christian Mansell: "We can take a lot of positives from that weekend as a team and for myself as well. We had a lot of pace all weekend and we came close to getting the win that we really want to achieve.
"In qualifying, we were unlucky as we were left without a tow at a circuit where it really makes a big difference in these cars. We could have been inside the top three and challenged for pole I feel, but it still put us in the fight which was the main thing.
"A bittersweet first race really. A small mistake cost us the win just before the safety car; I reacted to the precautionary beep to let me know a VSC/SC was close, instead of the confirmation beeps that comes a few seconds after.
"Race two was a great example of our pace and we gave it everything. The car felt great, and with a few more laps we could have been second. We're in a good place right know, and I'm really looking forward to Silverstone where my first F3 podium came last year."
The results in Austria mean Mansell is now locked inside the top six in the Drivers' Championship, heading straight to Silverstone in support of the F1 British Grand Prix this weekend (6/7 July).
Image from Dutch Photo Agency.
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