
Louis Sharp: proving the impossible is possible at the Hungaroring
They say overtaking is nearly impossible at the tight and twisty Hungaroring… but no one told Louis Sharp, who may have just rewritten the FIA Formula 3 record books.
In a powerful reminder of the young New Zealander’s standout potential, the talented teenager took full advantage of wet conditions in Sunday’s Feature Race to further endorse his growing credentials.
In a phenomenal performance under ultra-tricky circumstances, Sharp carved through the pack to gain no fewer than 17 places – quite possibly the most ever achieved in a single FIA F3 race at the Hungaroring.
Even before that, the Rodin Motorsport star had delivered an equally stunning show of overtaking in Saturday’s shorter Sprint Race. Despite several laps lost to Safety Car interruptions and the short and challenging Hungaroring’s reputation for processional racing, he charged through the field to gain 12 positions by the chequered flag.
The remarkable total of 29 places gained over a single FIA F3 weekend is believed to be a record – and incredibly, Sharp set it on a circuit not known for overtaking opportunities.
His lowly grid positions in both races partly explain the dramatic comebacks. As seen recently at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, Sharp has struggled with one-lap qualifying performance.
Both team and driver have worked tirelessly to resolve the issue but Sharp’s #24 entry remained near the bottom of the timing sheets. Frustratingly, he qualified 28th of the 30 drivers for both the Sprint and Feature races.
“Clearly we’re struggling in qualifying – I’m not a P28 driver,” insisted the man who won back-to-back British F4 and GB3 titles. “A much as we are trying to resolve the situation we are yet to show any improvement.”
Despite being mystified by his underwhelming qualifying form at a track where he won last summer en route to the GB3 title, Sharp understood that the Hungaroring rewards racecraft more than raw pace. And so it proved.
With eyes forward after a strong start in Saturday’s Sprint, Sharp picked off rival after rival to finish 16th from his 28th grid position – his last-lap move on Noah Stromsted, a Mercedes-AMG F1 Junior Team member and recent Spa winner, was particularly impressive.
If anything, Sharp’s drive in Sunday’s wet Feature Race was even more extraordinary. Once again on the move early from P28, he showcased exceptional car control to surge up the leaderboard, eventually finishing 11th – just 0.2 seconds shy of a top-ten finish and a valuable championship point.
“We bounced back really well,” admitted the British-born Kiwi. “The fact that I was able to make up so many positions in both the dry and the wet shows that even when we’re struggling with qualifying, I can still move forward and race well.
“It was really enjoyable. I was able to make some really cool overtakes – the pass on Stromsted was probably one of my best ever. And then the Feature Race in the wet was even more fun, carving through the pack.”
The FIA Formula 3 Championship now enters a summer break before returning for its season finale at Monza in Italy over the weekend of 5–7 September. While encouraged by his exceptional performances in Hungary, Sharp knows that next time at Monza raw talent alone may not be enough to recover ground lost in qualifying.
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