Louis Sharp looks to bounce back in Bahrain

Rising star Louis Sharp arrives in Bahrain for round two of this year’s FIA Formula 3 Championship (11-13 April) in confident mood having been among the pace-setters at the recent official in-season test at the Sakhir circuit. Indeed, Sharp further underlined his potential by topping the timesheets on the second morning and was among the fastest of the 30 young F1 hopefuls throughout the three-day prelude to this weekend’s races in the Middle East.

“We had a really good test,” confirmed the highly promising 17-year-old New Zealander who has graduated in style after winning back-to-back British F4 and GB3 Championship titles. “It was my first time in Bahrain but I was really happy with my driving and the balance we got in the car – hopefully that will transfer to this weekend and we can bag some good points in both races.”

After a challenging start to his maiden F3 season in Melbourne, Sharp is now aiming to bounce back in Bahrain. A series of red flag interruptions prevented the talented teenager from setting a fully competitive lap time during crucial qualifying on his debut in Australia and then, having made meteoric progress through the pack, he was spun out of the opening race by an errant rival who was subsequently penalised. A visor issue in the wet second race again prevented Louis from maximising his proven prowess in the rain.

“The pace we had was a lot better than the results show,” he admitted. “One hundred per cent I should have qualified in the top five – so, without the multiple red flags, it would have been a much different weekend. While it didn’t look good on paper, I learned lots of lessons and the potential and was definitely there – that’s the main takeaway from Melbourne. Now we need to make sure I take advantage of that speed when in matters.”

With just fractions of a second separating the entire grid in qualifying, Louis and his Rodin Motorsport team know the importance of maximising any advantage he may have in a fiercely competitive field packed with so many of the world’s top young talents – all hoping to climb the motorsport ladder to Formula 1 in the future.

“As we saw in Melbourne anything can happen in F3,” he reflected. “I’m confident, though, with the speed we have that I’ll be up there. I really need a decent qualifying, be in the top ten for both races and it should be a good weekend from there.

“We have some ground to make up after Australia,” continued Sharp. “The aim in Bahrain is to have two consistent finishes in the points – maybe top five in both races to get my season started. Obviously, I’ll be aiming for wins but it’s a must for me to be in the points on both Saturday and Sunday.”

All the drivers have a further 45 minutes of practice on Friday morning (10:55-11:40) before the vital 30-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon (16:00-16:30). Saturday’s opening F3 Sprint Race (19 laps or 40 minutes plus one lap) commences at 13:15 with Sunday’s longer Feature race (22 laps or 45 minutes plus one lap) scheduled for 12:55 in the final build up to the Bahrain Grand Prix.