Bianchi wants to emulate grandfather

Frenchman Jules Bianchi is hoping to make some Macau Grand Prix history this weekend by following in the footsteps of his grandfather and winning on the famous streets.

Mauro Bianchi triumphed in the 1966 Macau Grand Prix, driving an Alpine-Renault T66, and 42 years on, grandson Jules is now one of the leading contenders for victory.

Speaking on the day before first practice gets underway for the end-of-season blue riband event, Jules Bianchi admitted that his grandfather's exploits had brought an extra-special motivation in his quest to claim victory.

"I would really like to win at Macau because my grandfather won here more than 40 years ago," he told autosport.com. "It is really sentimental, you know. But I prefer not to think about the victory too much now, I will do my best and then we will see what happens."

The ART driver won the Masters of F3 at Zolder this year, and two Euro Series races en route to third place in the championship behind Nico Hulkenberg and Edoardo Mortara.

His form, and ART's status as one of the best F3 teams, means Bianchi is among the pre-event favourites for this weekend's race. However, he is keen to play down expectations - claiming his rookie status at Macau will leave him with some catching up to do.

"I think there are a lot of people who know the track really well, and there are a lot of good drivers, so I don't think I am the favourite for this race," he said. "I will work to finish first in the race and then we will see after that.

"For sure it is quite open, but there are some strong teams here. TOM'S are very good, but we have worked a lot for Macau after Hockenheim so we are well prepared. Let's see."

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Alguersuari targets rookie Macau win

Jaime Alguersuari is hoping to add the Macau Grand Prix to his British Formula 3 championship in the 55th running of the event this week.

The 18-year-old Spaniard became the youngest ever British champion last month and is confident that he has a good chance of winning Macau at the first attempt.

"To be honest, I feel very good," he told autosport.com. "Being the British champion and winning a street race at Bucharest gives me a lot of power for this race.

"It's my first year here and I don't know the track, so it will be tough to win or be in the top three, but that is what we are here for. For sure Carlo van Dam and (Edoardo) Mortara will be fast, and Brendon Hartley will be fast. There are also some Macau rookies, like Mika Maki and Jules Bianchi who will be contenders."

Alguersuari has done what he can to learn the circuit ahead of the first practice session tomorrow.

"I've watched a lot of video footage and looked at a lot of data," he said. "It is not an easy track to learn, probably the most difficult circuit in the world that I've seen. So we will see in the free practice tomorrow how it is.

"It will be tough, but my teammate Brendon (Hartley) has given me some notes for the track as he knows it from last year."

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Q and A with Jaime Alguersuari

Q and A with Jaime Alguersuari

Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari has already made history this year by becoming the youngest ever winner of the British Formula 3 Championship.

He is now hoping to add another important achievements to his CV this weekend by winning the Macau Grand Prix at his first attempt.

Autosport.com caught up with the Carlin Motorsport driver to talk about his hopes for the blue riband event, his plans for the future and what he thinks about Portugal's new F1 circuit.

Q. What are your feelings heading into the Macau Grand Prix?

Jaime Alguersuari: "To be honest, very good. Being the British F3 champion and winning in Bucharest, it gives me a lot of power for this race. Obviously it is my first year here and I don't know the track, so it will be tough to win or be in the top three, but that is what we are here for. We are going to try our best."

Q. What preparations have you do for this weekend?

JA: "I've watched a lot of video footage and looked at a lot of data. It is not an easy track to learn, and probably the most difficult circuit in the world I have seen. So we will see tomorrow in the free practice tomorrow how it is. It will be tough, but my teammate Brendon (Hartley) has given me some notes for the track as he knows it from last year."

Q. There are a lot of rookies here this year, do you think it is a very open field?

JA: "For sure. Also, we have some drivers who were strong in this race last year and there are some rookies from this year in F3, so I think it will be a good race, very competitive, and we will see where we are on the pace."

Q. Who do you think are your main threats?

JA: "For sure Carlo van Dam, (Edoardo) Mortara will be fast, and Brendon Hartley will be fast. There are also some rookies, like Mika Maki and Jules Bianchi who will be contenders."

Q. Has your title success from Britain sunk in yet after it all turned around in that final weekend?

JA: "Yeah, it was unbelievable. To be the first Spanish champion in Britain, and to do it in the last race, was unbelievable. I was 12 points behind (Oliver) Turvey going into that race, so it was a good gap to be able to win."

Q. Were you surprised how well the season went?

JA: "Yes. It was my first season in F3, I won five races so far and have done a couple of podiums, so I did a great job. My team, Carlin Motorsport, did also a fantastic job in British F3 and I was very impressed with our season."

Q. How big is your popularity back home in Spain now?

JA: "Oh, it's quite big. I am the first Spanish driver to win the British championship, and also to do it as a rookie, and that helped even more. I am quite glad with what I did, but there is still a lot of work to do. Next year, maybe I do GP2 or World Series by Renault, so we have to see what is the best choice for me. We have to keep on working."

Q. What is your preferred option?

JA: "I think GP2. I don't have to move up fast. I am 18 years old, I think I can learn from GP2. The biggest difference from F3 to GP2 is the tyre. Although the car is different the tyres are very different from the Avons we run in England. I just need experience to be an F1 driver."

Q. And what about your running with Toro Rosso and Red Bull?

JA: "We just do some testing. It is good experience for me. Even if I do a show run it is more mileage in an F1 car, so it is fantastic for me. I get more mileage and I get more experience."

Q. You drove the new Algarve track the other week. How was that?

JA: "It was very nice. Obviously we were not testing there, it was just a show run, but I made a good exhibition. The crowds enjoyed it a lot, I did some doughnuts and rolling starts, and the people really enjoyed it."

Q. What is the track like?

JA: "It is very fast. There are a lot of points to overtake and for an F1 track it will be awesome. For sure it is very fast, and you feel the aero a lot. So you will see a big difference between a fast and a slow car, and it is quite nice.

"There are a lot of downhill corners, like Brands Hatch and Oulton Park, and there are also blind corners - plus corners where you brake and turn. So it is quite technical in a way."

Alguersuari targets rookie Macau win

Arundel joins Carlin for 2009

British Formula 3 racer Henry Arundel will race for champion team Carlin Motorsport next season.

Arundel is a former race winner in Formula BMW but had a disappointing first season in F3 with Raikkonen Robertson Racing this year, finishing 15th in the standings with a best finish of sixth.

But he's confident that he can turn things around at Carlin after testing with the team after Croft since the end of the season.

"I had a bit of a tough season," he said. "I realise I have a lot of work to do over the winter and it's going to be a challenge, but I have unfinished business in F3 and I feel I'm now in the best place to get the results I know I'm capable of."

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Bianchi wins shortened race two

Jules Bianchi scored his second win of the season in a shortened Formula 3 Euro Series race at Hockenheim this morning.

The Frenchman, who won from pole position in race one last time out at Le Mans, inherited pole for today's race after he finished eighth yesterday.

He had to complete just one full racing lap to confirm the victory because of three safety car periods, with the race red flagged during the third caution. But it wasn't enough to take second in the championship from Edoardo Mortara as he still finished one point behind the Italian.

"I did two mistakes yesterday at the start and the restart and lost four places, so it was good to do the start and two restarts today and not make any mistakes," Bianchi told autosport.com.

"I'm a bit disappointed to finish third in the championship, I would have like to have got second but Edoardo managed to get a point today. that's racing."

A first corner tangle between Christian Vietoris, Mika Maki and Stefano Coletti brought the safety car out straight away. Vietoris and Coletti, contesting fourth place, squeezed towards each other on the approach to the corner and Maki was trapped between them as all three made contact.

Vietoris and Coletti were both pitched into the barrier on the outside, while Maki dropped down to eighth and continued with a damaged car.

Further first-lap shunts were crammed in before the officials could scramble the safety car. Henkie Waldschmidt and Daniel Campos-Hull collided exiting Turn 1 after Waldschmidt had bounced across the kerb on the inside. Both landed in the wall on the outside and retired.

A few hundred metres later at Turn 2, Richard Philippe collided with Frederic Vervisch under braking and spun. Philippe continued, but Vervisch retired on the spot and Sam Bird was also caught up in the incident and retired in the pits a lap later.

The field was bunched behind the safety car for just two laps before the restart, but only made it to Turn 3 before the next stoppage. Maki was falling backwards with damage from the first corner incident and James Jakes got a run at him down the back straight.

Maki moved across to force Jakes further to the inside, but Jakes clipped the back of his car and speared head-on into the inside wall on the approach to the hairpin at unabated speed. He had to be extricated from the car in his seat and was taken away in an ambulance, but escaped injury.

Bianchi broke away at the restart, pulling nearly three seconds clear of Koudai Tsukakoshi in one lap while the Japanese driver was desperately trying to hold race one winner Nico Hulkenberg at bay.

Edoardo Mortara passed Erik Janis around the outside into Turn 2 in what turned out to be the deciding factor in the battle for second place in the championship. Bianchi's six points today pulled him level with Mortara on 49, but Mortara's move on Janis earned him a point for sixth place and secured the runner-up spot behind Hulkenberg.

Just one corner beyond the end of the first full racing lap, another accident stopped the race for good. Stephane Richelmi ran wide exiting Turn 1 but over-corrected as he fought to catch the slide. His car snapped sideways and he slammed head-on into the concrete wall on the outside.

It was clear that it was going to take several minutes to extract him safely from his wrecked car and the race was red flagged after three more safety car laps with just four minutes left on the clock.

Tsukakoshi had held off Hulkenberg for the remaining half a lap to hold onto second place, while Jean-Karl Vernay and Renger van der Zande followed home in fourth and fifth, ahead of Mortara.

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1. Jules Bianchi ART D/M 28:33.459 2. Koudai Tsukakoshi Manor D/M +0.797 3. Nico Hulkenberg ART D/M +2.101 4. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V +3.288 5. Renger van der Zande Prema D/M +4.118 6. Edoardo Mortara Signature D/V +4.989 7. Erik Janis Mucke D/M +6.736 8. Robert Wickens Signature D/V +7.643 9. Mika Maki Mucke D/M +8.815 10. Yann Clairay SG D/M +10.121 11. Dani Clos Prema D/M +11.651 12. Cheng Cong Fu RC D/V +12.425 13. Franck Mailleux Signature D/V +14.223 14. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/M +15.607 15. Oliver Oakes Carlin D/M +16.844 16. Jens Klingmann RC D/V +18.909 17. Basil Shaaban HBR D/M +19.938 18. Richard Philippe SG D/M +21.607 19. Kazuya Oshima Manor D/M +22.330 20. Jon Lancaster ART D/M +23.373 Retirements Stephane Richelmi Barazi-Epsilon D/M 8 laps James Jakes ART D/M 3 laps Sam Bird Manor D/M 2 laps Frederic Vervisch RC D/V 1 lap Stefano Coletti Prema D/M 0 laps Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M 0 laps Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M 0 laps Daniel Campos-Hull HBR D/M 0 laps Fastest lap, Bianchi 1:35.683 on lap 8

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Hulkenberg takes seventh win of year

Nico Hulkenberg scored his seventh victory out of the ten Formula 3 Euro Series Saturday races with another dominant performance from pole position at Hockenheim this morning.

The champion has taken all of his wins this season in the non-reverse grid rounds and underlined his place at the top of the championship by pulling eight seconds clear of the battle for second place.

Hulkenberg increased his lead throughout the race, pushing all the way and locking up several times at the Turn 3 hairpin.

"Quite soon after the start there was the safety car, but I kept cool because I knew my speed was very good," he said. "The car was great after the restart and I did what I wanted to do at Le Mans and win to show who is the champion.

"I have wanted all year to at least be on the podium in both races so that is the aim from eighth tomorrow."

Behind, Christian Vietoris held second throughout, but the Mucke Motorsport driver was racing under appeal following his exclusion from qualifying when his car was found to be underweight. The team protested, claiming that it was only underweight because the sidepod had been damaged and part of it had fallen off, so his second place ahead of Renger van der Zande is provisional.

"I hope I can keep the points, it's very important because everything is still open for second place in the championship," said Vietoris.

The result as it stands brought Vietoris and van der Zande back into contention in the battle for second place in the standings, with Mika Maki also in the hunt after finishing fourth.

The current second-placed driver, Edoardo Mortara, finished the race only 14th. He ran third in the early stages but was given a drive-through penalty for going beyond the run-off at the exit of turn one. He was one of four drivers to receive the penalty in the race, along with Sam Bird, Robert Wickens and Jens Klingmann.

Jules Bianchi could also come into play in the fight for second in tomorrow's finale. The Frenchman had a lackluster race, losing places on the first lap and then running wide at Turn 2 and allowing Stefano Coletti, Jean-Karl Vernay and Koudai Tsukakoshi through.

But he still finished in seventh place so will start tomorrow's reverse grid race from the front row.

The race was broken up by a lengthy safety car period following multiple collisions at the Turn 3 hairpin on the opening lap. Brendon Hartley was pitched into a roll by Erik Janis and had to be extracted from his car by the medical crew having appeared to injure his back as his car landed awkwardly.

While on the outside of that incident, Jon Lancaster and Kazuya Oshima collided and both retired.

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1. Nico Hülkenberg ART D/M 41:22.235 2. Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M +7.888 3. Renger van der Zande Prema D/M +8.702 4. Mika Maki Mucke D/M +14.499 5. Stefano Coletti Prema D/M +15.885 6. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V +17.821 7. Koudai Tsukakoshi Manor D/M +22.904 8. Jules Bianchi ART D/M +23.614 9. Erik Janis Mucke D/M +31.436 10. Dani Clos Prema D/M +32.434 11. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M +36.208 12. James Jakes ART D/M +43.202 13. Edoardo Mortara Signature D/V +44.057 14. Yann Clairay SG D/M +44.786 15. Daniel Campos-Hull HBR D/M +45.500 16. Cheng Cong Fu RC D/V +51.869 17. Sam Bird Manor D/M +52.508 18. Franck Mailleux Signature D/V +58.365 19. Richard Philippe SG D/M +58.951 20. Frederic Vervisch RC D/V +1:00.368 21. Basil Shaaban HBR D/M +1:05.700 22. Stephane Richelmi Barazi-Epsilon D/M +1:13.167 23. Jens Klingmann RC D/V +1:18.078 24. Robert Wickens Signature D/V +1:21.190 Retirements Oliver Oakes Carlin D/M 8 laps Kazuya Oshima Manor D/M 0 laps Brendon Hartley Carlin D/M 0 laps Jon Lancaster ART D/M 0 laps Fastest lap, Hulkenberg 1:34.221 on lap 17

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Hulkenberg wins race one at Mugello

Hulkenberg claims pole at Hockenheim

Nico Hulkenberg claimed pole position for the first Formula 3 Euro Series round at Hockenheim this weekend in what will likely be his final F3 outing.

The champion, who is set to graduate to GP2 with ART and will miss next month's Macau Grand Prix, pipped Christian Vietoris and Edoardo Mortara to the top spot by less than a tenth of a second in the final laps of the session.

Hulkenberg went ahead early on but was pushed down to third at one point as Renger van der Zande and Vietoris each had a turn at the top following their first laps on a second set of tyres.

But Hulkenberg responded on his second set of tyres to continue his domination of the series with his sixth pole of the year.

Mortara returned to form now that the title is out of his reach and is well placed to defend his second place in the standings from Jules Bianchi and Mika Maki with third on the grid. Van der Zande ended up fourth, with Bianchi fifth and Stefano Coletti completing the top six.

Maki will have his work cut out to close the nine points between him and Mortara from eighth on the grid, behind Koudai Tsukakoshi, while Britons James Jakes and Sam Bird round out the top ten.

Series debutants Oliver Oakes and Frederic Vervisch qualified 25th and 27th respectively.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Nico Hulkenberg ART 1:33.218 15 2. Christian Vietoris Mucke 1:33.296 +0.078 15 3. Edoardo Mortara Signature 1:33.307 +0.089 17 4. Renger van der Zande Prema 1:33.450 +0.232 16 5. Jules Bianchi ART 1:33.483 +0.265 15 6. Stefano Coletti Prema 1:33.665 +0.447 16 7. Koudai Tsukakoshi Manor 1:33.713 +0.495 17 8. Mika Maki Mucke 1:33.824 +0.606 16 9. James Jakes ART 1:33.837 +0.619 15 10. Sam Bird Manor 1:33.844 +0.626 17 11. Dani Clos Prema 1:33.874 +0.656 16 12. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature 1:34.003 +0.785 16 13. Robert Wickens Signature 1:34.056 +0.838 15 14. Richard Philippe SG 1:34.105 +0.887 16 15. Daniel Campos-Hull HBR 1:34.174 +0.956 17 16. Erik Janis Mucke 1:34.182 +0.964 16 17. Yann Clairay SG 1:34.234 +1.016 15 18. Kazuya Oshima Manor 1:34.307 +1.089 11 19. Franck Mailleux Signature 1:34.316 +1.098 16 20. Brendon Hartley Carlin 1:34.404 +1.186 15 21. Henkie Waldschmidt SG 1:34.445 +1.227 15 22. Jon Lancaster ART 1:34.525 +1.307 15 23. Franky Cheng RC 1:34.871 +1.653 16 24. Basil Shaaban HBR 1:34.947 +1.729 15 25. Oliver Oakes Carlin 1:35.120 +1.902 16 26. Jens Klingmann RC 1:35.124 +1.906 15 27. Frederic Vervisch RC 1:35.924 +2.706 12 28. Stephane Richelmi Barazi-Epsilon 1:36.612 +3.394 14

Hulkenberg claims pole at Zandvoort

Hulkenberg wins race one at Mugello