After another fine performance around a wet Spa-Francorchamps, Noel León was able to capture third place at the end of the sprint race – securing him and the team’s fourth podium of the season. Thanks to his brilliant racecraft – and a couple of fine overtakes – the Mexican was able to finish on the podium for the third time in the last five races, just behind Gabriele Minì and sprint winner Dino Beganovic. Feeder Series and other selected media spoke to León about his improvements in the second half of the season.

By Daniele Spadi

Starting from seventh on the grid, the 19-year-old was able to get up to sixth before an early safety car was called out to retrieve Max Esterson’s stricken Jenzer after the American touched the barriers coming out of Radillon. León then steadily gained ground as green flag racing resumed, first overtaking championship contender Luke Browning and then closing the gap on Trident’s Santiago Ramos.

The Mexican was then able to overtake his fellow countryman on Lap 9, before claiming the final podium place thanks to a last-lap move on Tim Tramnitz. Despite the wet conditions that complicated proceedings, León was arguably the quickest driver in the entire field, finding grip where others struggled and ultimately scoring a well-deserved podium.

A steady climb

This result does not come as a surprise to those who have followed the entire 2024 Formula 3 season so far. Despite a rough start to his rookie campaign – with no points in the first two race weekends – the reigning Euroformula Open champion has been steadily improving from Imola onwards, quickly learning the car and performing better and better. “[Since] Silverstone, I started to show the potential of the car, but from before it was there,” León told Feeder Series. “We learned from the first two rounds. Obviously we knew that it was going to be difficult, with the tyre management and everything.”

León also talked about the struggles of adapting to a new series – and with F3 having very limited testing days ahead of the season, being at the front of the field as a rookie isn’t the easiest of tasks. “It is my first year in F3, and in the past category that I was racing there was no tyre management; that’s the main point that I’ve been improving. And also the car, it’s been positive every weekend, I’m super happy with the job [by] Van Amersfoort Racing. We have another race tomorrow and we need to fight for them.”

Additional reporting by Tori Turner

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency