Last weekend William had his first outing at the legendary Monaco Grand Prix track driving again for Carlin in the second round of GP3 and the first visit to the principality for the series and William. “One of the things that attracted me to GP3 was the chance to race at Monaco this year, hopefully it will be a circuit I run on a lot in the future so the sooner I could learn it the better. I prepared well for it watching lots of on board footage and spending some time in the simulator then walking the track several times once we arrived on Tuesday before the race weekend” commented William.
Free practice on Thursday evening went well and with a high qualifying position so important here William went into Qualifying in his group on Friday morning and drove very well to secure 5th in group this became 10th once pole had been set in the second group and unfortunately with a carry-over penalty from Barcelona of five places this meant he would start P15 – far from ideal.
First race William made one if his characteristic great start and was running in P12 at the end of the first lap, but unfortunately with the nature of Monaco GP track this would be his only overtaking of the race, stuck behind cars he had out qualified but un-able to pass them. Also in the first race as in GP2 it was interesting to note how cautious all the drivers where, very few risks taken and a very high finish number, a very mature showing from the young drivers.
Race two on Saturday evening was quite a head turner of an event – especially for William. Another demon start and he was into P9 into the first corner, on the outside of his teammate Alex the two youngster gave each other plenty of space only for a third car to dive up the inside with no space and hit Alex into William.
The cars touched wheel to wheel and this launched William into a flip leaving him upside down against the barriers, the Monaco Marshall where superb as ever and soon had William out of the car and he walked away on his own feet no damage to him, the car was not as healthy.
“Overall it has been a pretty tough weekend, the positives I have learnt some more about the GP3 car and got to know the Monaco GP circuit which I absolutely love it is incredibly challenging and the concentration needed to drive here is un real. The negatives we have given the Carlin boy’s a lot of work to do but they will sort it no problem and we have not scored any points here. But now we must just move on an focus on the coming races in both GP3 and F3 and get on with it. But I can’t wait to get back here again and drive round here it is an amazing place. “ Commented William.
