Jehan Daruvala

Barcelona

of Prema Racing created history, winning the inaugural round of the all-new FIA Formula 3 Championship inon Sunday. The Indian National Anthem was played at the Spanish F1 Grand Prix event, as the F3 races are one of the support events to F1, along with the FIA F2 races.The only Indian on the grid started from second and was able to grab the lead into the rundown to the first corner. With an accident involving four cars at the back of the grid, the safety car was deployed on lap one. At the restart, Niko Kari of Trident was able to benefit from Jehan’s slipstream during the restart, and Jehan had to defend hard to keep the lead. Over the next two laps, Jehan quickly opened up a gap of over1.5 seconds so as to prevent Kari from deploying DRS.The safety car was deployed a second time, negating the advantage of a two-second gap which Jehan had built up. During the restart, Jehan was much better prepared and was able to open up a gap of over 1.5 seconds in less than two laps. He thereafter controlled the race well and also bagged the fastest lap of the race. Later, Jehan cruised to take the chequered flag 2.121 seconds ahead of Estonian racer Juri Vips of Hitech GP, who by then had managed to move up to second.“During the race I was, let's say, in control, except for the first restart when I didn't surprise the guy behind, enough, so I had to defend. After that, I was just managing the pace. I have to thank everyone at Prema Racing for giving me a fantastic car. I did not overdrive it, although if I needed more I could have pushed in the final couple of laps,” said the former multiple International Karting champion.The all new FIA F3 Championship was created by merging the erstwhile GP3 Championship and FIA F3 European Championship, resulting in an ultra-competitive 30-car grid. The championship will be the perfect training ground for the world’s best upcoming talents, to race at F1 events and the opportunity to prove themselves to all the F1 teams.Jehan’s next race will be along with the French Grand Prix from June 21-23.