Zak O’Sullivan: My rookie season in F3

So, this was my rookie year in Formula 3 and, overall, it’s not been a bad season.

The first thing to mention is that I have obviously learned quite a bit.

It was a pretty different championship from what I’ve been part of in the past through British F4 and GB3, so it’s definitely been a valuable learning experience.

There are a lot of new experiences to get used to in F3.

Things like the race weekend format, the tyre degradation and, of course, DRS, which has been a pretty big feature in my racing this year.

After the success I’ve had with Carlin in previous years, this wasn’t quite the year we had hoped to have as a team, but only because we’re determined to get Carlin back to where it belongs at the top of the standings.

We worked hard all year to try and find solutions and while this year has definitely been an improvement in F3 versus previous seasons, there is still progress to be made.

At times, it was a bit of a painful season, always trying to find the right setup, but we definitely had some positive moments.

Obviously, Silverstone as a whole was a great weekend.

Getting pole position on the Friday and then my first F3 podium in the Feature Race on the Sunday were both very special feelings.

Also, the fact that it was a home race for me, and then my Williams Academy teammates Logan and Jamie doing so well added to the occasion.

Being able to share that success with them and the wider Williams team made it a very memorable weekend for us all.

Another great moment was Hungary, where we had a pretty lucky - but I’ll take it - Feature Race.

We swapped to the right tyres at the perfect moment and then were able to overtake quite a lot of cars!

Ending the race that way and also setting the Fastest Lap was a nice feeling.

It’s just a shame we ran out of laps in the end!

And then, of course, getting P3 and another trip to the podium more recently at Zandvoort was another standout moment.

It was nice to get a positive result like that towards the end of the campaign.

So yeah, there have definitely been some cool moments in my first season in F3, perhaps more tricky ones overall, but I’ve learned a lot.

I want to give a massive shoutout to Carlin and Williams for their support all season.

They’ve been with me every step of the way and I’m sure there are much bigger and better things to come next year.