BlackArts Racing looks to win F3 Asia 2020

While Pinnacle Motorsports is still trying to take the lead and compete for the championship, it is difficult to see them passing BlackArts Racing at this point. 

Sebastien Fernandez, driving for Pinnacle, looked convincing enough in Race 9 on Abu Dabi’s Yas Marina Circuit and Pinnacle teammate Jack Doohan claimed second position. 

Those results have to be encouraging for Pinnacle, but they are still behind and there is no reason to think that the BlackArts team, and Joey Alders in particular, is going to continue letting their lead slip away. There are six races left in the competition and Alders has a commanding 48-point lead over Doohan.

The closest competitor at this point is Nikita Mazepin for Hitech Grand Prix, who is just one point behind Alders. As a team though, BlackArts is 34 points ahead of the second-place Pinnacle team. 

That lead might feel uncomfortably small at times, especially considering Alders’ most recent victory in Race 8. He was nowhere near first place for much of the race. Pinnacle driver Jack Doohan held the second-place spot and Jamie Chadwick was out in front essentially from start to finish, with a very comfortable lead of four seconds. 

Alders barely managed to battle his way into third place and would have remained there if Doohan had not had to leave the race due to a technical issue. With Alders in second, Chadwick was still far out in front with an iron-clad four-second lead when she finished. She would have been awarded the victory if she had not committed a false start penalty, which automatically awards the victory to the second place driver who, in turn, would have been Doohan if not for the technical difficulties he experienced.

In other words, it took extreme good luck for Alders to win that race, and he was not even close to winning Race 9. Fernandez had that race well in hand right from the very beginning and there was never real doubt as to who might win it. Doohan and Mazepin were right behind him, and Alders was not even close. 

Those three ended up on the podium at the end, as Alders’ luck had apparently run out. He is still the leading driver, but that gap is closing and the trend during the last two races is somewhat worrying.  

BlackArts should be especially worried since Alders is really the only driver they have right now with a real shot at winning the championship. There are three Pinnacle Motorsport drivers between Alders and the next BlackArts driver in the standings, Yu Kanamaru. Kanamaru was unable to finish Race 9 after his car spun out early on, and he finished 11th in Race 8. Alders is Black Arts’ only hope for the title but he looks out of form, with poor starts in his last two races.

His incredible luck in Race 8 saved him because if Chadwick and Doohan had finished first and second in that race, his position would be much more precarious. He will need races 10-12 to go his way to solidify his position and win the title, and that is going to require fast starts each time. 

F3 racing, unlike F1, is heavily dependent on the talent of the individual drivers. Each car is exactly the same, right down to the Giti Tire mounted on each wheel. That means no driver can gain a competitive edge through their equipment, and neither can they blame their equipment for their failure. 

Alders was not the best driver on the track in Races 8 or 9, and it showed. This competition just does not allow for any drop in form, and yet that was what he was experiencing. The drivers from Pinnacle have been able to rapidly close the gap, and the next set of races may see them overtake BlackArts and Alders unless he can return to the form that saw him gain the lead in the first place. 

Slow starts

What really held him back in the last two races were slow starts. Other drivers leapt out to early leads and never relinquished them. Chadwick and Doohan led for all of Race 8, with no real competition for the first or second spots. Likewise in Race 9 there was never any doubt that Fernandez would finish in the top spot followed by Doohan. The top two spots in both races were claimed from the moment the race began and no one was able to change that. Alders can hardly expect races 10-12 to be any different. If he cannot get out to a quick start and claim one of the top two starts as soon as the race begins, he will be left fighting for third at best, and quite possibly miss out on the podium altogether. His lead is not that big and it will evaporate in the blink of an eye if he does not soon claim another victory.

BlackArts is undoubtedly still hoping that their driver will come out on top. He is still in the lead despite a run of bad form and it is always possible that Doohan, Mazepin and others will struggle in the upcoming races. If they do, that will ease the pressure on Alders, but not by much. He is still the only BlackArts driver with a realistic shot at winning the championship, as Kanamaru is falling behind and showing no signs of catching up.

Meanwhile, Pinnacle drivers look like they are just rounding into championship form as Alders is dropping off. Doohan has rapidly caught up and Fernandez was in complete control of Race 9. As we head into the next trio of races, there is a distinct chance that Pinnacle Motorsports will pull off a massive come-from-behind win. Their drivers are good and getting better. Alders is troublingly slow right now, and his crucial victory in Race 8 came down to luck, not skill. That luck is not going to hold much longer. 

As the gap between the leaders closes, the pressure is on for Alders to pull off more wins and secure the championship. It is certainly not impossible, but he’ll have to dramatically improve his performances in the next three races.