Interview
Rene Rosin: ‘Still more to come’ from PREMA chargers after Lindblad’s Silverstone sweep
Even with the Italian outfit’s incredible FIA Formula 3 pedigree, PREMA Racing achieved something that nobody has accomplished before, as Arvid Lindblad secured a Silverstone sweep on his home turf.
Victory in the Sprint and Feature Races hauled the Red Bull Junior Team driver directly into title contention, trailing teammate Gabriele Minì in the Drivers' Championship by six points, 113 points to 119 in favour of the Italian. Team Principal Rene Rosin says that the rookie did a tremendous job on what was his maiden competitive race weekend around Silverstone.
“It was not an easy weekend. Starting from Qualifying, we had to maximise our performance so that we could do a better job and be fully committed at least consider that the track could dry quite fast.
“We didn’t expect that and that’s why it compromised our Qualifying pace a bit. Arvid did something incredible though. He had a good race starting from P2, immediately up to P1 and then from there, just went faster while the others were degrading on their tyres. So that’s a credit to him and the team for delivering a good car and very good pace.”
Going into the specifics of the race weekend that kept everyone guessing, Rosin says that even from the pitwall with the weather radars in front of them, nobody could quite tell what conditions were going to do.
As the cars rounded the final corners to take to the grid, Lindblad, Minì and Beganovic were brought in to fit the Hard Pirelli tyres, as the grid remained split on whether the rain warranted the Wet tyres.
He explained that it was a case of being on top of things as much as possible, along with providing the drivers with the information they needed to maximise the result on Sunday.
“It was a gamble all weekend. Sometimes things paid off, sometimes we were a bit on the back foot. We know when we started seeing level two and three rain coming up to the track. But then it didn’t hit the track, and it was clearing up and, in the end, we committed with the slicks, it would’ve been stupid to go back on it. Once you’ve committed to something, you’ve got to see it through.
“If we swapped the tyres at the end, we would’ve been passed by everybody so in the end, it was the right call. We also knew that Voisin had the 10-second time penalty, so we just said to our drivers let’s bring home the cars, bring home the points because it was good for both the Teams’ and the Drivers’ Championships.
“It was really crazy. Honestly, we were laughing a bit between us on the pitwall, the engineers and myself. At the end we had gone from a moment of total depression to complete euphoria that you’d never have otherwise.
“I was looking at every single engineer one moment saying ‘what have we done?! We’ve made the wrong call.’ Then two minutes later everything opened up and we’re saying ‘Come on! Let’s go.’
For Lindblad, his impressive weekend has put him directly into the title fight against teammate Minì with three rounds of the 2024 campaign to go.
For Rosin, the Red Bull junior has been making improvements across every weekend so far, adding tyre management specifically to his arsenal as he has gained more F3 experience.
“Considering he came from Formula 4, I was not expecting this. But he’s been working very well with the team. He’s listening to all of the suggestions and is really on top of everything that we are telling him.
READ MORE: FEATURE RACE: Lindblad completes Silverstone double in action-packed affair
“Compared to the first few race weekends where he was maybe struggling a bit with tyre degradation, he’s doing his job and a very good one too. It’s a pity in Spielberg when he had contact and he lost some positions, otherwise he would’ve been fighting with Dino and Gabriele for the top positions in the race. So he’s doing a very good job.”
Championship leader Minì continues to pick up podiums even if he is missing out on the top step. It has formed the foundations to his title bid so far, failing to score just three times across the year so far.
The PREMA team boss says that there is even more to come from the Championship leader, who Rosin believes has been driving within his full capabilities thus far and could make another step up in the closing rounds.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the full potential yet of Gabriele. I’m convinced there’s much more to come from him. He’s racing at the moment with the mindset of getting the best result possible, but on the other hand, I think he can do a better job.
“If you consider on the first run of every Qualifying, he’s always up there fighting for the top two positions, but then on the final run he hits traffic or there’s a mistake, so I think he can be much, much stronger than what he’s shown up to now.”
As PREMA continue to add to their own advantage in the Teams’ Standings, the prospect of an incredible sixth F3 crown awaits, though Rosin is taking nothing for granted.
As the 2024 campaign heads into the closing rounds, the PREMA Team Principal says the team cannot afford any slip ups, and should be looking to implement lessons from what has been a back-and-forth season so far.
“We need to treat every single race weekend as a standalone event. Try to maximise all of the performance we can and then see where we’re at in the end. We have three drivers fighting for the Championship and we are leading the Teams’ Championship. We will need to do a good as job as possible, not make any mistakes and repeat any errors of judgment from earlier this year.
“We need to be on track every time it counts and secure the best results possible.”