He should have won his first FIA Formula 3 race last year, but it was not until this weekend Alex Smolyar lifted the winners trophy for the first time. The ART GP driver explains how his race win came about.

“Of course, I am very happy with the first victory, but I am already focused on the next race,” shared Alexander Smolyar . – Yesterday I said that it is very important to overtake at the start, on the first lap, but in reality it did not work out right away – Edgar had a good start. I also had a good start, I didn’t win back the position, but I didn’t lose it either.

“Our car is well tuned for driving in dirty air, and it was very easy for me to hold on to Johnny. And when I started to catch up with him to the first turn, I realised that this might be my last chance. On tracks such as Barcelona, ​​you never know when the rubber will “die”, but for someone, perhaps, on the contrary, the pace will increase. And I understood that I had to use this chance now. Therefore, I slowed down as late as possible. I knew that both Edgar and I had something to lose, but I was sure that this maneuver would work out.

“And then the car was very good until the middle of the distance, everything worked out, but in the last eight laps the rear tires began to disappear, the car became very difficult to drive. I tried not to aggravate the situation, but when you have no rubber, there are many things you cannot do. I tried as best I could, and I’m not sure that Novalak would have overtaken me, he himself said this after the race. And from the side it was clear: when he started approaching me in the area of ​​dirty air, he stopped catching up with me so much. Therefore, I believe that I would have been able to keep the first position. In any case, my team and I will need to discuss this point, because my teammates also lost rubber, and fix it before the second race. “