Jonathan Cochet wins Marlboro Masters

[Gerard]

From Autosport:

French Formula 3 Championship leader Jonathan Cochet added the Marlboro Masters title to his Pau Grand Prix victory with a dominant win at Zandvoort on Sunday.

Cochet's Signature Dallara-Renault made a good start from pole position and, with his closest rivals suffering catastrophes of varying magnitudes, no one ever got close to the flying Frenchman.

'My start was very good and after that I didn't look in my mirrors,' he said. 'I wanted to go very fast to build a one or two-second lead. My car made it very easy, although I had to attack very hard in the first few laps, because you don't know whether the second man will catch you at the end of the race.'

'There were a lot of things on the track at the end because of crashes, but I slowed down because I had a big lead.'

The first of Cochet's rivals to strike trouble was second-row starter Narain Karthikeyan. The Indian stalled, causing the start to be aborted and forcing him to the rear of the grid for the second attempt.

Then outside front-row man Yannick Schroeder discovered he had stripped first gear on the second parade lap. He was forced to start the race in second, meaning that he was very slow off the line.

At the second start proper, Takuma Sato (second row) and Gianmaria Bruni (third row) both stalled, their clutches getting too hot to operate. That meant that Cochet's team-mate Benoit Treluyer, the other third-row starter, was able to grab second from Ben Collins and Tomas Scheckter, who burst through from the fourth and fifth rows respectively.

The safety car appeared at the end of the first lap, Schroeder's car having been pitched into the barriers after a collision with Milos Pavlovic. When they restarted on lap four, Treluyer was nowhere near as sharp as Cochet, who sprinted away. Collins then pulled off a great manoeuvre on the other Frenchman to take second around the outside of the Tarzanbocht hairpin.

Scheckter fended off an early challenge from Toshihiro Kaneishi to start closing in on Treluyer. The South African finally found a way by on lap 11 as Treluyer, jetlagged after flying in from his Japanese F3 Championship exploits only on Thursday, wilted further and further.

Kaneishi took a good fifth from Tom van Bavel, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Andrew Kirkaldy, while Nicolas Kiesa had a strong recovery from a first-lap excursion onto the grass to pass Matteo Grassotto on the final lap for ninth.

British F3 leader Antonio Pizzonia damaged his reputation in a huge way by slipping up big time. The Brazilian, who qualified down in 22nd, only raced at the behest of the Manor Motorsport team but he deliberately arrived late in the pits, after the pit lane had closed. He therefore was forced to start from the pits, putting in an unconvincing drive to 27th before giving up after a collision with Bruni.

Results
1 Jonathan Cochet Fra 33m09.939s
2 Ben Collins GBR 33m13.368s
3 Tomas Scheckter RSA 33m13.740s
4 Benoit Treluyer Fra 33m17.916s
5 Toshihiro Kaneishi Jap 33m18.455s
6 Tom Van Bavel Bel 33m19.134s
7 Jeroen Bleekemolen Hol 33m20.454s
8 Andrew Kirkaldy GBR 33m21.186s
9 Nicolas Kiesa Den 33m22.539s
10 Matteo Grassotto Ita 33m24.391s
11 Tiago Monteiro Por 33m25.383s
12 Milos Pavlovic Yug 33m25.506s
13 Julien Beltoise Fra 33m32.368s
14 Martin O'Connell GBR 33m33.532s
15 Zsolt Baumgartner Hun 33m34.739s
16 Armin Pornbacher Ita 33m37.536s
17 Tony Schmidt Ger 33m38.442s
18 Marco Du Pau Hol 33m44.662s
19 Narain Karthikeyan Ind 33m54.387s
21 Nicolas Stelandre Bel 33m58.233s
22 Ryo Fukuda Jap 33m59.145s
23 Giorgio Mecattaf Sui 34m01.238s
24 Omar Galeffi Ita 34m01.450s
25 Adam Jones GBR 34m02.005s
26 James Andanson Jnr Fra 34m02.006s
27 Warren Carway Irl 34m48.097s
28 Takuma Sato Jap 1 Lap
29 Tristan Gommendy Fra 2 Laps
30 Philip Cloostermans Bel 2 Laps
[Edited by Gerard on 6th August 2000]

[Gerard]

How about Pizzonia's behaviour?
He qualified in 22nd place and made it clear he didn't see any point in starting the race.
He then was forced by his team to take part but after the race was initially red-flagged he deliberately arrived late in the pits and because of that he had to start from the pitlane. After that he raced with an indifferent attitude and I think he was more than happy he collided with Bruni after which he gave up.
Is this the way a future champion has to behave?

[Crash Test]

Quick! get him in F1! It needs someone with a little attitude, someone who goes out there and crashes on purpose

[Dan Friel]

If I was Manor Motorsport, i'd sack him on the spot!!! Totally dreadful...

Just because he's test driven a F1 car, he thinks he's the next Senna!! I just hope Sato / Schetker kick his butt the rest of the season...

[angst]

Pizzonia's behaviour doesn't bode well, I wonder if it's that attitude that Pat Symonds is refering to the extra 5% he needs to add to his game. I hope he grows up quickly for his own sake( I don't think Benetton will look upon this at all favourably). But Cochet looks bloody good.