A difficult weekend at Silverstone hasn’t dampened Marcus Armstrong’s confidence in his European Formula 3 championship challenge.
The Australian had been leading the championship when he arrived at the British track, but a poor qualifying, tyre problems for his team and a retirement in the final race meant he now has an 18 point deficit to championship leader Dan Ticktum.
“It’s not been the best of days, but we have got decent points and that’s the main thing,” he told Read Motorsport.
“I don’t want to win races. I want to win the championship.”
He added that he believed he was still in a good position to achieve that goal.
Tyres were a problem for a number of teams at Silverstone, but Prema appeared to be hit the hardest when, in the opening race, three of its five drivers retired with punctures.
They weren’t the cause of Armstrong’s retirement – suspension damage due to contact with another driver ended his run – but did add to the challenges he faced at Silverstone.
“We had a damaged tyre so I had to be really careful [in race one].
“The same thing happened in race two when I had to drive as smoothly as possible.
“Anyway, the pace has been good too so we have great potential.”
The F3 championship now heads to Misano – Prema’s home race – where Armstrong will be looking to bounce back.
