Technical problems, changeable weather and difficult conditions: The Ardennes rollercoaster at Spa-Francorchamps once again lived up to its name at the third round of the French Formula 4 Championship. Mathilda Paatz had to face a number of challenges on the well-known Formula 1 circuit in Belgium, but was still able to prove her talent and gain valuable experience at the same time. Even if the results in the end do not reflect the 15-year-old's potential, satisfaction prevails.
The weekend got off to an extremely unfortunate start for the ADAC Formula 4 Junior Team driver: a fault with the accelerator pedal sensor meant that she was unable to get any driving time in free practice, which meant that she was even further behind the competition in terms of experience at the start of the weekend, many of whose drivers were already familiar with the track from the previous year, while the 15-year-old from Cologne was making her debut in the Ardennes. The following qualifying session also took place in rain under difficult conditions. Paatz ended up in 21st place after a spin and a cancelled lap time due to track limits ruined a better grid position.
However, in the first race on Saturday, also in the rain, the ADAC Sports Foundation protégée put in a strong performance: Paatz defended her position against the competition and drove a good race until she had to retire on the last lap of the race after an accident of her own making. As a result, she lost a good and hard-fought 19th place shortly before the finish.
Lots of experience gained
In the second race, which was started on a drying track with slick tyres, Paatz continued this good performance. Despite heavy rain, which set in towards the end of the race on the start-finish straight and demanded everything from the young field of starters on dry tyres, the driver from Cologne drove to a solid 20th place. In the third and final race on Sunday morning, Paatz finished the race in 19th place, although two long safety car phases meant that only a few laps were driven at race pace and therefore hardly any changes in position were possible.
"It was a challenging weekend," commented Mathilda Paatz. "The results don't reflect what we had hoped for and what was possible, but despite the difficulties and technical problems, we were able to gain a lot of experience, especially in wet conditions. I improved in particular in terms of my duel behaviour, was able to make some good overtaking manoeuvres and learned a lot in changing conditions. So, despite the mediocre results, I'm proud of the progress we've made and I'm looking forward to the upcoming races."
The next race weekend of the French Formula 4 Championship will be the highlight of the season for Mathilda Paatz: the next three races are scheduled at the legendary Nürburgring from 26 to 28 July. At the only home race on the calendar, Paatz wants to present herself in top form in front of her home fans, partners and sponsors.
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