Estaban Ocon (Prema Powerteam), who started from pole for the second race in the Hungarian round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, had only one objective: to make a good start and get the monkey off his back in this particular area. The Frenchman got it right when the lights went out and took the lead from his team-mate Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam) and Lucas Auer (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport). “We analysed my start yesterday and then went through the procedure point by point,” explained the Lotus F1 Team Junior driver. “This time I made a good getaway.”

Esteban Ocon put on an impressive display dominating his rivals to score his fourth win of the season. “Yesterday, I noticed that when you’re behind a car here, there’s a lot of tyre degradation. So I went pedal to the metal at the start of the race to open up a gap over Antonio. Then all I had to do was control the race.”

Antonio Fuoco also drove a solid race despite being under constant pressure from Lucas Auer. “I made too many mistakes yesterday. I had to get my act together and that’s what I did with my top-three finish today.” Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) rounded out the top 5 in a race marked by a raft of penalties for not respecting the track limits.

The third and last race of the weekend was a carbon copy of the one run in the morning.  Esteban Ocon took the lead from Felix Rosenqvist. The latter was then hit with a penalty for not respecting the track limits. The Frenchman controlled the gap to Antonio Fuoco and Lucas Auer until rain put an end to the proceedings. The Lotus F1 Team Junior driver racked up his fifth victory of the season and became the first driver to win twice the same weekend.

“To be in front and win races is obviously my aim so I’m very satisfied with this weekend,” smiled the championship leader. “There are still things to improve but above all we have to keep up the good work and clinch more victories. We’re not yet at the halfway mark of the championship, so we’ve just got to concentrate on winning races.”  

Esteban Ocon now has an 82-point lead over Tom Blomqvist so he can look forward to the next round at Spa-Francorchamps in a relatively relaxed frame of mind. But remember that that things can change very quickly in the FIA F3 European Championship as Lucas Auer, third today and third overall, underlines: “I scored good points this weekend. It’s far from over and we’re going to go flat out to close the gap. There are still twenty-one races to run!”