ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell achieved his first Formula 3 pole position in Barcelona, following on from his second podium of the season in Monaco. Feeder Series spoke to Mansell after the qualifying session to find out what had caused his improvement across sessions.

By Tori Turner

After narrowly missing out on pole position in Monaco, Christian Mansell delivered on track to top the timing sheets during Friday’s qualifying with a time of 1:28.463 – almost four hundredths ahead of Prema Racing’s Arvid Lindblad. Mansell was able to avoid issues which limited other drivers’ laps across the session, such as traffic and track limits, to put out a perfect lap.

His qualifying performance allows him to lead the drivers off the starting line for an important milestone in the championship. On Sunday morning, F3 will start its 100th race after its rebranding in 2019.

In a post-qualifying press conference, Mansell expressed just how much this pole position meant to him.

“It just feels amazing. I was so over the moon to get the radio message and look up at the massive leaderboard on the main straight. It was pretty easy to see. Genuinely, as I was crossing the line my eyes were straight to the screen and as soon as I saw it was such an amazing feeling, rewarding feeling.”

He also credited both his team and teammates. “We, as in ART and Laurens and Nikola, we’ve all put in so much work and to finally get a result that shows just how much effort we’re putting into this is such an awesome feeling.”

Mansell also believes that something has clicked in regard to his recent change in qualifying. Before Monaco, his highest starting position this season had been eighth on the grid. Despite this, he has only started outside of the top ten once this season.  

“It’s just been a matter of extraction. Personally, within myself, I’m more of a race car driver rather than a qualifying driver,” he said. “Quali has never been a strong point. Up until now, I have had four pole positions in my whole career. As far as race wins and podiums go, there are more than I can count.”

Mansell’s result today has been long awaited, especially after his second-place finish in Monaco’s feature race. He had previously scored another podium in the season-opener in Bahrain. 

“Monaco was such a spectacular weekend for everyone in ART. It was such a massive confidence boost for myself, knowing that the team had such a capable car that weekend,” Mansell told Feeder Series. 

Both of his teammates also saw varying degrees of success across the weekend, with Nikola Tsolov and Laurens van Hoepen finishing first and third respectively in the sprint.

“Going back to Monaco in your second year, it’s just very different. The walls become much wider, you feel more at one with the car, even though this is a different car from last year, when I was driving in a Campos. But at the end of the day, Monaco is such a confidence track that just having that experience was so key,” he added.

Mansell also attributed part of his performance in Barcelona to his finishes around the streets of Monte Carlo, expressing how he’s “feeling good coming off the back of a really nice Monaco.” He’s focusing on the positives, especially after a difficult start to the season despite now finding his pace in his car. 

“At the end of the day, racing will be racing. You’ll probably have good days, and you probably have even more worse ones. I will ride the wave of today,” he told Feeder Series.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s sprint race, Mansell has kept a realistic outlook on the possible outcomes. 

“Tomorrow is such a completely different story because at the end of the day, F3 is basically up to luck and skill. And to be honest, some of them outweigh some in different circumstances,” he said. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency