Santino Ferrucci: Maximum down at the Nurburgring

America's Santino Ferrucci races for Mucke Motorsport in the European Formula 3 Championship.

After coming of a strong race weekend at Portiamo, I felt pretty confident going to Nurburgring. I had previously raced here last year and I found the track very enjoyable. The only down side it that we don't run the entire F1 circuit but a shorter 2.2-mile layout. Since the track is very short with no real straight, we run maximum downforce – and this is the part of my development that is the most difficult.

This weekend was a bit different as my sponsors made the trip to Nurburgring. It was an awesome feeling having them there and of course a little more pressure but also an opportunity for them to experience FIA European Formula 3 first hand. The professionals in Formula 1 seem to agree that this series is the most competitive single-seat series in the world and the grid is seriously deep with 35 cars.

As in Portimao, the Prema team had a big advantage all weekend, more than a second a lap at times, as they had all four cars in the front with a good margin to the rest of the field. This being said, the rest of the paddock is on the chase.

My free practice didn't go very well as I struggled a lot with car. I had a bad under-steer problem, and my engineer made some positive changes before qualifying. The track was changing quite a lot and in qualifying one I ended up 13th. I wasn't happy with the result and I knew it was possible to do better on my driving. I had a better car than the result. Now Ralf and I had to go back on some of our setup changes from practice to battle the new over-steer problem!

Qualifying two was not easy either. I found a lot of traffic with 34 cars on the small track. With only two laps left before time ran out in the session I had not put a lap together. I needed to run two fast laps and I managed to set one good insurance lap that put me eighth. I still had one lap left and now was the time to push the limit. I was off to a good start, with my personal best sector one and sector 2 was looking good. As I was about to complete sector two I lost the car in the fastest turn on the track, Turn 7, and spun into the gravel. I guess I got a bit too confident and pushed past the limit. I would have to settle with eighth for race 2 and 12th for race 3.

Racing with high-downforce makes it difficult to pass so starts are everything and standing starts such as ours can create opportunity. Luckily, starting is one of my strong points. When the lights went out for race 1 I had a great launch, putting myself up to seventh. I was quicker that the cars in front but it was almost impossible to pass.

On about lap 8 I was driving through the chicane (Turns 9 & 10) and my right-side mirror came off and bounced into my helmet. I should have tried to catch it but my right hand was busy! I guess I really didn't need it because looking behind you isn't good and I needed to be focused on what is ahead. Towards the end of the race, I came close to passing the car in front few times but never enough to pull the trigger. I settled for a solid six points in my seventh position.

Race 2 was also difficult. I had another great start off the line. Before entering Turn 1 I was next to my teammate in fifth...but I made a bad decision in trying to pass him on the outside and ended up losing all my spots. I then was forced off the track and put back to ninth.

Since it was still early in the race, I was able to pass back for eighth and soon found myself next to my teammate Mikkel Jensen for seventh and we raced very hard for it! We raced side by side for five straight turns, rubbing and interlocking wheels! It was really close but I trusted him and felt safe racing him.

I was fortunate and won this fight for seventh, now on my way to catch up to sixth. But as the race panned out it became more and more difficult to pass. I finished seventh for the second time on the day and snagged another six points.

Race 3 was full of safety cars! I believe we only had 11 green flag laps in the 25-lap race. Starting from 12th, I just wanted to finish in the points again and complete a consistent weekend.

I started very well and had another great jump. This time I decided to stay on the inside so I would not get sent off the track. Luckily it worked and after lap one I was eighth.

Just as I completed lap one, there was the first safety car. I was very happy because it gave me a chance to move up through the field. I had the perfect restart drag racing for seventh down into Turn 1. I had the outside, so I couldn't get the spot but I had a great cutback for Turn 2, once again putting pressure around the outside. The seventh-place car missed the brake point for Turn 3 and had a bad exit, so I was able to get next to him, this time on the inside. I made the pass a success and moved myself into seventh.

But once again, that was where I got stuck as we had three more safety cars periods. On the last restart I made an attempt to pass for sixth but I fell a bit short and brought it home for my third seventh place of the weekend. If I was 21 I think I would have gone to the casino at the track after a triple-7 weekend....

I am content that I scored points in all three races and five of my last six races (I had a mechanical issue in the other). I am growing as a driver and beginning to understand and communicate better with my engineer and driver coach. I am fortunate to have very good people around me and I am ready for Hockenheim in a few weeks – but not before a tune-up at Formula Medicine.

A big thanks to my sponsors Eastern Account System and Cly-Del Manufacturing for coming out to support my race. I also want to thank Alpinestars, Arai Helmets and Brett King Design. Special thanks to my engineer Ralf Druckenmuller, driver coach Euan Hankey and to all of Mucke Motorsport, Jo Zeller Racing and the guys at HWA Mercedes.

-Santino