“We’ve made a massive step since last year,” says Peroni

Alex Peroni and Campos struggled to consistently score points in 2019, but have improved considerably this season, and the Australian now believes they have the pace to regularly fight for top five finishes, and podiums, when they get it right.

The only problem so far has been getting it right on a regular basis. The combination between car and driver is clearly working out, but in a field as competitive as F3, the slightest of margins can make a huge difference.

Peroni has already had twice as many points’ finishes as he did in the entirety of 2019, as well as his first two podiums in the Championship.

“It is hard,” he explained. “It is so hard to be consistent and to always get it in the window and I think we’ve struggled to understand that on a couple of occasions. When the car is good, and when I’m feeling good, I am top five, and we are always in the hunt for a podium, but obviously, with this championship being so competitive, when you are a bit off, it is hard to still get some points.

“That’s just how this championship is, but we are starting to understand it a little bit more, for sure. Hopefully, we can be more consistent throughout the year.

“We’ve made a massive step since last year. We weren’t horrendous last year, but we were definitely struggling. Whereas this year, when we get to the track, we are always quick. We have just got to get things perfect and minimise our mistakes.”

The other challenge that Peroni has been posed with, and it’s a challenge that the entire grid are contending with this season, is the element of tiredness. With the entire season taking place over the course of 11 weeks, encompassing of three triples headers and just two weekends off, there is precious little time to take a breather.

And, any break that the teams do take, robs them of time that could be spent developing the car, or the driver for that matter. Peroni says this has been harder on the staff, than on the drivers.

“It is crazy,” he explains. “We are already more than halfway through the season, but it feels like yesterday that we were in the Red Bull Ring. You don’t really have any downtime to properly think about things. You can still analyse and improve, but it’s not like you have weeks to do that - momentum is important.

“It is hard on the team, a lot harder than on the drivers. The mechanics, and engineers are working so hard. And, now that all of the races are in the summer, it is so hot, so it is tough for the team.”