Pune: Jehan Daruvala, the first Indian to win in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship once again set a new benchmark, with pole position, fastest lap and race victory in Race 1 at the legendary Formula 1 circuit of Spa - Francorchamps in Belgium.
The Mumbai lad unfortunately lost ground when the lights went off to start the race as his car bogged down and by the first corner Jehan had fallen to third. As the leaders accelerated out of the iconic Eau Rouge corner, Jehan took advantage of the slipstream and muscled his way into second. Soon, an incident behind the leaders brought out the safety car for 2 laps.
The race resumed with Alex Palou retaining his lead ahead of Jehan, who in turn faced no threat. Once again, out of Eau Rouge and onto the long Kemmel Straight, Jehan went around the outside of Palou to grab the race lead. Jehan thereafter had to ensure that he immediately put in a bit of a gap, to avoid being overtaken.
The former CIK FIA Asia Pacific Karting Champion, continued his dominance over the rest of the field, pulling out over 2 tenths of a lap over everyone else. The Spaniard too did not face any challenges as the two leaders were in a class of their own, pulling away throughout.
The Sahara Force India Academy racer eventually won the race with a comfortable margin of 3.2 seconds ahead of Palou and a massive 11.9 seconds ahead of Estonian racer, Ralf Aron in third. The victory was also Jehan’s fourth podium of 2018 in the FIA F3 series, which is arguably one of the toughest stepping stones to reach Formula 1.
