Oliver Goethe clinched his third podium of the season last weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Goethe completed one of his strongest FIA F3 weekends to date. He kicked off with a superb start setting the second fastest time in the practice session. He had an impressive run in the extremely tight qualifying as well, finishing in P5, only 0,1s off pole, securing his best starting position of the season for Sunday’s Feature Race.
The reverse grid put the German Red Bull Junior P8 on the Sprint Race grid. He made a stunning start, overtaking three cars in the opening lap, and moved up to fifth place. A contact between teammates allowed Oliver to make up two more positions before another incident brought out the safety car in Lap 3. The race resumed on Lap 7 and Oliver made a great getaway, pulling a solid gap from fourth-placed Van Hoepen. He kept Dunne ahead of him under constant pressure, but tyre wear stopped him from making the final move. An accident with 3 laps to go brought out the safety car once again, and it led the field across the finish line with Oliver in third place.
Goethe’s accomplished the 5th FIA F3 podium of his career and his third of the 2024 season. He crossed the line as the highest-finishing Red Bull Junior driver, adding 8 points to his tally.
Sunday’s race was more challenging for the ROFGO Junior driver, as he struggled with too much wheel spin at the start that dropped him all the way back to ninth place, but it didn’t faze Oliver who started a charge back through the field. He climbed back up to P6 by the halfway mark, made a spectacular move on Tsolov and overtook Browning in the final lap for P4 in the pouring rain and that’s where he finished the race.
As the FIA F3 season reaches its halfway point, Oliver is the only driver in the 30-strong field who finished every race in the points. With a total of 20 points collected last weekend, he is now 6th in the overall standings, with only 20 points separating him from the leader.
Oliver Goethe: “Overall I had a very strong weekend in Barcelona. Qualifying was extremely tight so pole position was very possible but we ended up fifth, one-tenth off pole, but it was still my best qualifying of the year. In the sprint race I had an amazing start and managed to finish on the podium from 8th on the grid. The start however on the feature race was really poor due to a lot of wheel spin unusually so I lost many positions but managed to fight myself back to fourth, I managed my tires very well and in the end, I managed a good haul of points. Big thanks to Campos, the car was incredible all weekend. We are clearly on the right path and I can’t wait to go again next weekend.”
The FIA F3 season continues next weekend with the second leg of the triple-header at the Red Bull Ring, the home turf of the Junior Academy Oliver is part of.