Fernando Barrichello finished third in the third race of the Hungaroring Euroformula Open round, earning with it his first top-three finish in the series.

By Juan Arroyo

Barrichello was passed by Brad Benavides off the line and went side by side with Michael Shin in last place. Out front, Jakob Bergmeister and Levente Révész made contact on the run to Turn 2, causing a puncture for the former and a broken front wing for the latter. 

Their collision and the subsequent pit stops elevated Barrichello to third, which he held until the chequered flag. BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi took his second win of the weekend ahead of Benavides.

Barrichello remains sixth in the standings after this weekend, the lowest of the championship’s full-time drivers. As the lone newcomer in the field, he has taken victory in the rookie category 12 races in a row and stood on the podium after each of those.

“It was a good race. I didn’t manage a really good start, but then I was able to get a couple of overtakes and not crash into the guys that were crashing in front of us. And then we had decent pace,” Barrichello told Feeder Series following the race.

“I don’t think we had really good pace in the beginning, but we were really consistent. And towards the end it was getting a bit better, but overall it was an okay race. It’s something to build on,” he said.

Barrichello finished more than 19 seconds behind Simonazzi and around 5.5 seconds behind Benavides after 17 laps. The 18-year-old, the only rookie of the field, said he had found the transition from the Tatuus F4-T421 in Spanish F4 to Euroformula Open’s Dallara 320 car challenging.

“To be fully honest, it’s been quite hard,” he said. “Coming from the Spanish F4, which is in theory a very slow car compared to [the Dallara 320] and no aerodynamics whatsoever. And this car is probably one of the most downforce cars that we have

“The driving is completely different, so I really have to change the processor in my mind to do the things that this car requires. I think it’s been linear progress. I have to build on it, but I have really good people behind me and I’m learning more and more every race.”

Barrichello acknowledged his experience deficit relative to his teammates and said he was using this season as a learning period before a potential step up to a different series – though no plans are confirmed as of yet.

“No one’s here for the first time. Everyone knows every track,” he said. “From a driver’s perspective, I don’t try to think about that. I think it’s fair game. Everyone’s here because we’re supposed to be here, so I try not to think about that too much and just try to learn. And if I learn more than the guys, then I’ll be quicker than them.”

“The future has its ways of walking on its own. … I know if I could, I would go up next year, like to FIA F3. I would love to do that, and I think this car is probably the best to give me experience to do that.”

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Euroformula Open