Interview
Saucy confidently aiming for a return to the points despite wet weather uncertainty
Grégoire Saucy has got his sights set on moving back up into the points this weekend in Budapest and says he hopes to execute a clean weekend to take advantage of ART Grand Prix’s strong pace after a disappointing run of results.
Although his rookie season got off to a stellar start in Sakhir with his third-place finish in the Feature Race, since then the French driver has failed to score with his best results being 11th on three occasions. He came very close to claiming a second podium in Imola before getting caught up in a collision with PREMA Racing’s Oliver Bearman at the final corner of the final lap.
Looking ahead to the sixth round of his first Formula 3 campaign, Saucy says he is focusing on putting all the lessons he’s learned so far into practice and getting rid of costly mistakes in order to put himself right back in contention for points.
“The first round in Bahrain was very good, we had a great weekend where I got my first podium. Imola was a bit more difficult because during the Feature Race in the last corner I was quite close to P3 and I got hit, but the pace was there. Then we were missing a bit of pace in Barcelona and Silverstone. At the Red Bull Ring, I know I had the pace to be at the top, but I got caught in traffic and made a mistake.
“So now in Qualifying, we just need to put everything together to come back out on top. I just need to find some luck and to avoid traffic, which I think will still be really difficult here in Budapest because we only have one push lap on each set of new tyres. We need to do a perfect push lap with any mistakes – I need to work on that and work with the team to try to avoid these small mistakes that cost a lot.
“My goal is to do a good Qualifying, really put everything together to be in the top and in the end, I think top 10 is my aim.”
It’s been a while since Saucy hit the track at the Hungaroring, having last raced at the Hungarian capital in 2019 in Italian F4. Featuring relatively low average speeds and a succession of tight corners along the short 4.381km circuit, he’s excited by the precision he’ll need to show this weekend but admits it’ll all be about keeping within the limit.
“I really like the track. It's like a carousel, it’s turning every time! I enjoy these kinds of tracks where it’s turning a lot and it’s quite technical and there’s also some degradation. We don’t need to push too hard at this track because as soon as we over push, it’s easy to make some mistakes. We need to be really clean from the start of the lap until the end.”
READ MORE: The Budapest Race Pack
The weather has also thrown another curveball the drivers’ way for the second round in a row. Torrential rain and thunderstorms are predicted for both Saturday and Sunday’s running which will add another layer of uncertainty to an already challenging weekend.
Nevertheless, Saucy is undaunted by the task ahead should the weather take a turn for the worse and says the experience of racing in the wet in Spielberg has helped him develop his ability to readjust to the conditions. Ideally, he is hoping that clear running on Friday, particularly in Free Practice, should give him a solid enough baseline understanding of the circuit to build off of.
“We will see what the situation is with the weather, but tomorrow should be dry. In Free Practice it’s quite good if it’s dry because it’s better to learn the circuit in the dry compared to the wet. Afterwards, if I’ve done one session in the dry and it started to rain in Qualifying or the races, it is less difficult to adapt to the conditions than if it starts off in the wet, but we will adapt.”
“At the Red Bull Ring the pace was good in the wet. In the race, we had a lot of problems with the visibility, which was quite difficult at the start, but I’m confident with the F3 car in the wet even if it starts to rain in Qualifying or in the race.”