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Collet hails Race 2 result as ‘up there, but not close enough’ after third P4 in five races
Despite scoring his fifth successive points’ finish, Caio Collet was left wanting more as he missed out on the podium by one place for the third time in five races, labelling the result as “up there, but not close enough.”
After a difficult fourth round of the season in Budapest, Collet has returned from the summer break in red-hot form with his best run of points since making the step-up as Formula Renault Eurocup vice-champion.
Scoring in all three races at Spa, the Brazilian followed up fifth in Race 1 with fourth in Race 2 at Zandvoort but is now set on securing a first podium since Le Castellet.
“Starting the races in P7 and P8 and finishing them both in the Top 5 was good, but not really where I wanted to be,” said Collet. “We had pretty good pace and we moved up a few places in both races. We've been up there, but not close enough.
“We've always been up there in the last few races, but we’ve finished P4 nearly every time and that’s a bit frustrating. We clearly have the pace, both me and Victor (Martins) are strong this weekend, so if we can both get on the podium tomorrow then that would be really nice.”
MP Motorsport are enjoying their best season to date in Formula 3, with Collet’s teammate Victor Martins winning for the first time in Race 2. The Frenchman’s maiden win is the Dutch team’s first this year and increases their podium tally to six for the season, with the team standing fourth on 193 points.
Martins is also Collet’s teammate in the Alpine Academy and the Brazilian said that he was delighted to see the team get the result that their work has warranted after several near-misses.
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“The team have deserved a win since Round 1 in Barcelona,” Collet continued. “We've shown good pace in all of the rounds so far, apart from Budapest, and we've always been in the top five.
“But there have been some things that were out of our hands that didn’t go as planned, like at the Red Bull Ring when I stalled, or when Victor had engine failure with two laps to go.
“That has been a bit frustrating because the team have really deserved a win. They've worked really hard for this, so I am happy for them.”