Jasin Ferati Newsletter No. 5 / 2021 (May 22nd)
In the clutches of Monaco
The legendary Monaco street circuit didn't bring Jasin Ferati any luck: the 17-year-old from Winterthur had no countable result on the third Formula 3 race weekend after set-up problems in practice and a crash in the crash barrier.
The provisionally last appearance of the European Formula Regional as part of a Formula 1 World Championship round was an extreme challenge for the young racing drivers. The 33 participants only had 50 minutes of training to familiarize themselves with the most unusual of all Grand Prix circuits. That is also the undoing of Jasin Ferati and the other Swiss. The Winterthur Monolite driver was only able to qualify for one of the two races in the all-important qualifying session and made an unpleasant acquaintance with the crash barriers early on.
"Monaco wasn't a successful race weekend, but it gave me the best days of my life so far," admitted Ferati. “Being a racing driver in the unique atmosphere of this sophisticated environment is something unique that I will never forget and would definitely like to experience again. I am well aware that better results are needed for this. Too much went wrong at the premiere. In the only practice session, I didn't trust the car and was therefore never able to really push. It was similar in qualifying. The start time of 7:55 a.m. took some getting used to, as did the set-up of the vehicle, which, due to a lack of experience, was set in the same way as my teammate Pietro Delli-Guanti. I didn't understand that at all. The pace wasn't good and I didn't get past 15th place in my group: three places too far down to qualify for both races. The disappointment was correspondingly great.”
A completely different emotional world surrounded the man from Winterthur after the race, which was unfortunately far too short for him. “It went much better with a completely different set-up. Thanks to a good start, I was able to gain two positions quickly and break away from the final group. I quickly got closer to the Ferrari protégé Dino Beganovic, who closed the midfield. With a lot of drivers right in front of me, I braked a few meters too late after the home straight and entered the Sainte-Devote curve a little too quickly and touched the guard rails with the rear wheel. The suspension was so badly damaged that I had to retire from the pits.”
Monaco didn't bring any luck to the other Swiss either: Barcelona winner Grégoire Saucy was involved in two accidents. Despite this, the Jurassic managed to defend his lead in the overall standings. But now, in addition to Mercedes pupil Paul Aron, he also feels the two sovereign Monaco race winners, Isaaac Hadjar and Zene Maloney, breathing down his neck. Like Ferati, Axel Gnos and Léna Bühler only qualified for one race, but thanks to a spectacular pile-up with five retirements they moved up to 19th and 20th place.
Monaco, race 1: 1. Isaac Hadjar (Fr) 32:56,410. 2.Zane Maloney (Barbados) 7,401. 3. Paul Aaron (Est) 10,400. 4. Hadrien David (Fr) 10.863. 5. Patrick Pasma (Fi) 12,385. – Also: 19. Axel Gnos (Sz) 47.375, 20. Léna Bühler (Sz) 47.675. 22. Grégoire Saucy (Sz) 52.890. – Unclassified: Jasin Ferati (Sz), suspension damage after touching the guardrail.
Race 2: 1. Maloney 34:04, 510. 2. Hajar 0.459. 3.David 0.989. 4. Alex Quinn (GB) 1,552. 5. Pasma 2,240. – Unclassified: Saucy. – Not qualified: Gnos, Ferati, Bühler.
was standing after 6 of 20 races (34 drivers): 1. Grégoire Saucy (Sz) 85 points. 2nd Aron 72 3rd Hadjar 70 4th Quinn 68 5th Maloney 62 6th David 54 7th David Vidales (Sp) 45 8th Gabriele Mini 38, first in the rookie classification. – Also: 21st Gnos 0. 29th Ferati 0. 30th Bühler 0. – Team classification (12): 1st R-ACE Grand Prix 159. 2nd ART Grand Prix 121. 3rd Prema Powerteam 118. 3rd Arden Motorsport 104 – Also: 9th Monolite Racing 0.
Next races: 29/30 May Le Castellet.