Despite having high expectations for his second consecutive GB3 Championship campaign, Max Esterson has finished inside the top five just once across the first five rounds of the 2023 season. Now dwindling down at 13th in the championship standings past the halfway point in the year, Feeder Series spoke to the American at Silverstone to understand his difficult return to GB3.

By George Brabner

Esterson is a proven GB3 race-winner, having climbed to the top step of the podium with Douglas Motorsport at Donington Park in his rookie campaign. He made his way onto the podium two more times last season, once just one race prior to his maiden victory and then again two rounds later at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Yet, in 2023, he sits 27 points behind his rookie teammate Jarrod Waberski in the championship standings.

Unable to hit expectations

Despite a switch to the well-established Fortec Motorsport team, the results simply haven’t materialised for Esterson so far this season.

“Moving up to a better team and having more experience, I think we were off to a good start in testing,” Esterson told Feeder Series. “We were quite strong and expected to be up front, and all you have to do is finish fifth every race and not crash and you have a good shot at the championship. And I think we definitely could have been up front, but it just hasn’t happened.”

“Testing here [at Silverstone] last time for the last event here in May was great. We were consistently up front, same at Snet, we were up front every session, and same at Spa. So, I don’t know, we haven’t had a good race, really, the whole time,” he said.

On the wrong side of luck

Looking at the results table, it’s easy to infer that Esterson has simply fallen short of the mark regarding pace so far this year. However, when you break his season down round by round, there is a multitude of factors that have led to this position.

“In Spa, we had a bad red flag timing in qualifying, which kind of ruined things, and the mechanical [issue] in the race was completely random, and I guess that was the worst,” Esterson said, referring to a mechanical failure that caused him to retire from fourth position.  

“Didn’t get one lap of quali [at Snetterton] because something in the loom was shorting, and we couldn’t get any gears. So, yeah, really random issues kind of make themselves.”

“It’s been a disaster, really. I mean, if anything can break, it has broken. I don’t know what we’ve done wrong as a team, really. Not much, I don’t think. It’s just been one of the worst… I’ve ever seen, honestly.” 

Whilst the list of adversities that he and Fortec Motorsport have faced so far this year could go on, intra-team relationships are still healthy.

“I mean, we work great together. I think I have a really good relationship with Russ, my engineer, and he’s really on top of things. So, we get along great. For how badly the season’s gone, we’re having a good time!”

“The team’s done a lot to try and help, but, yeah, bad luck is what hasn’t ended yet,” he explained.

Technical issues hampering Fortec

Throttle sensor and gear selector issues are just two of the technical failures that have hurt either Esterson or his teammate Waberski so far this season.

However, at Silverstone, one of the more power-dependent circuits on the GB3 calendar, Fortec found Esterson’s spec Mountune engine to be lacking in performance – something that drastically affected his pace in qualifying. Starting 18th for race one and 17th for race two, he was on the back foot out of the blocks.

“This weekend we were supposed to have our good engine back fresh [that we returned after Snetterton], and the series just can’t get it done in five weeks, which is ridiculous. And so we put in a new engine, put it in on Thursday, it lasts Thursday, it has to be taken out and it’s broken.

“Put in another new one on Friday, take it out Friday night, it’s broken. And then put in some random one [Saturday] morning, and we were quite slow in qualifying. The engine, I don’t think, is very strong. We had some other issues, but, yeah, it’s frustrating to just be in engine roulette, basically,” Esterson explained.

Adding to the team’s woes, Waberski retired from race one with gear selector issues on Saturday afternoon – a failure that the South African told Feeder Series was similar to what had forced him to retire from race three at Silverstone earlier this year. On top of added tub issues at Snettorton and Spa-Francorchamps, Waberski explains how he views the issues on his side of the Fortec garage.

“You just have to assess what’s in your control and see how you can improve. I think that’s the best way of keeping a level head and not going, you know, over the top and giving up.”

A glimmer of hope

Whilst held back by the aforementioned engine troubles in qualifying, Esterson made it back into the top ten twice in the following contests. With the performance issues of Saturday morning seemingly behind him, Esterson would make up eight positions in both race one and race two.

“I think just the drive then [in race one] was good. I mean, it’s hard to pass in the series anyway, even at Silverstone. I passed eight cars. So, yeah, I think we’re strong. I’m racing well, driving pretty well. So, I think it just all needs to come together for us. Just need a bit of luck going along the way.”

Somewhat poetically, things didn’t fall his way on Sunday afternoon, as race three – from which he was due to start sixth – was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.

On the brighter side, round five was Esterson’s first time back in the Tatuus MSV-022 GB3 car after a four-race stint in FIA F3 with Rodin Carlin, where he acted as a stand-in at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.

“It’s pretty tricky because you have no track time. Silverstone was a bit easier for me because I’ve been here for ten days this year already – I was P10 in the first practice. I had an extra set of tyres, but it was still quite good. 

“It’s hard at a place like Hungary. I’ve never seen the place. You show up and you have two laps of practice before the tyres are melted. So, two laps of practice before qualifying and then qualifying is damp. So, you’re not really set up for success! But, yeah, it was pretty quick,” Esterson explained.

“Anything other than P30 was a bonus to me, honestly.”

Gaining in different environments

Of paramount importance for any young driver is variety, whether that be in the cars they drive or the paddocks that they are a part of. For Esterson, experience in Formula One support series, FIA F3 and the Formula 3-regional level GB3 Championship, fell on consecutive weekends.

“[FIA F3] was okay, to be honest, kind of ignoring most of the nonsense. Thursdays are a bit odd: you show up and do a track walk and take a bunch of photos, and then have a driver’s briefing at six. The whole thing’s a long weekend for driving three push laps the whole time! It’s a lot of show, but I guess that’s part of it.

“And, yeah, I mean, the level is super high there. It’s so cutthroat. I mean, it will crush your dreams if you’re not strong enough about being mentally prepared. You’ve got to know that all the guys up front there have done so much testing and driving that they’re just on it,” Esterson explained.

“At the end of the day, it’s still just a car, like four wheels. So, you know, fundamentally, I’m the driver that I am. But, yeah, you have to change your braking a little bit just because there’s more downforce, and [the FIA F3 car is] just heavier [than the GB3 car],” he said. 

“The hardest bit, really, is that you can’t do laps in a row. You have to do a push and a cool and a push, and that’s pretty much it. 

“So, in this [GB3] car, we can do ten laps in a row. So, you’re learning each lap and you instantly can do it the next lap. Whereas, mentally, it’s hard to push and stop and push in that car. That’s the biggest difference.”

Header photo credit: Artie C Photo