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 Clivio
Piccione Racing in the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formule Three Championship,
Round 17/18, Silverstone, Northamptonshire,
August 13th/15th 2004
Round 17
Monaco's Clivio Piccione was back in action in British Formula Three
this weekend, after his recent trip to the Netherlands for the Marlboro
Masters. Four days later the F3 circus reconvened at Silverstone,
for Rounds 17 and 18 of the British series to be run on the long
and demanding Grand Prix circuit.
Things
didn't get off to the best of starts with Friday morning's qualifying
revealing that Clivio's Carlin Motorsport car had problems, most
notable being it was oversteering into the slow corners. When you
only have a thirty-minute session, major setting changes are out
of the question, and so Clivio simply had to try and make the most
of the situation. This he duly did, qualifying in 10th for Sunday's
race with a time that was only a quarter of a second off pole time,
and despite the fact that the car's handling was far from ideal.
Provided the oversteer could be dialled out during qualifying for
Round 18, there was a good chance that the youngster would be able
to move up the order during the race.
The
best laid plans, however, have a tendency to derail when other people
do unpredictable things. For Sunday morning's race, held under sunny
skies, no one could have anticipated that Marcus Marshall (Fortec
Motorsport), who was just ahead of Clivio on the grid, would jump
the start and then hesitate as the pack screamed round into Copse
for the first time. With the Australian in the way, Clivio decided
he'd better try and pass the red Fortec Dallara. "So I went
to overtake him into Abbey but he didn't want me to get by, so he
closed the door on me. I just went for it anyway and locked up and
ended up on the grass." By the time Clivio had recovered, he'd
lost a number of places. This gave him an opportunity to demonstrate
that it is possible to overtake in an F3 car, whatever the doubters
say, provided you're brave enough. His bravery in no doubt, Clivio
would probably have preferred not to have to play catch up but if
that was what he had to do, so be it.
And
so, he set about regaining his lost places with marked enthusiasm,
and was soon on the tail of his teammate Danilo Dirani. The Brazilian
didn't hold him up for long, which was not something that could
be said of Lucas di Grassi (Hitech Racing). The Hitech driver put
up some stiff resistance, even though Clivio was clearly faster,
and it took longer than the Carlin driver liked to actually get
past: "Di Grassi was a bit of a problem, because he was defending
pretty well, even though it was just for one point. But then I got
a really good move and I was able to pull away after that."
Having
despatched the Brazilian, Clivio's teammate Alvaro Parente was the
next target. He was being rapidly caught, but the short race distances
in this championship proved to be a problem. There simply weren't
enough laps left to bring the chase to a satisfactory conclusion
and he finished the race in 10th place, a solitary point being scant
reward for so much hard work. However, Clivio was able to demonstrate
that the car was now properly sorted, and was relatively cheerful,
convinced that he was in with a good chance of finishing much further
forward in the afternoon's race. "The car is now pretty consistent
and I think a top five finish is possible this afternoon,"
he commented later.
Round
18
Although Clivio Piccione of Monaco had hoped for a top five placing
in qualifying for Round 18 of the 2004 British Formula Three Championship,
it was not to be. The session started promisingly enough, with a
lap that put him way up the order, but then things went a bit pear-shaped
for Carlin Motorsport's young driver. With the current tyre from
Avon, you have no more than two laps when the rubber is at its optimum.
After that, the tyre is no longer effective, and as there are limits
to how many sets you can use, you must get your fast lap in while
the tyres are still good: "The plan was to do two quick laps,
but I only did one. I went out and was pretty quick in the slow
corners on my first lap, but the next lap was going to be quicker
anyway, so I didn't push into Copse and Becketts. And that's when
I did my time. Next lap I would have pushed more so I would have
gained at least 4/10ths in those two corners but I had a problem
into Copse. The car was just touching on the apex, and so it was
unsettled on that lap and that was it. If I knew that was going
to happen I would have pushed even more on my first lap and I would
have been in the top five I think!" However, the car was still
far better than it had been in qualifying for Round 17, so Clivio
was still optimistic about his chances in the race. "I think
the car is a bit better but we maybe went a bit too far in the opposite
direction. I did a reasonably good first lap, and in the second
one I should have gone a lot better. At least the car is now relatively
good and now I'm really focussed."
As
it turned out the race was a complete lottery, the result having
little to do with grid positions or even talent. Around ten minutes
before the start, it began to rain, dark clouds scudding rapidly
over the Northamptonshire countryside, soaking everything in their
path, and drying up again just as rapidly. Tyre choice became a
monumental gamble. Should you opt for slicks and run the risk of
falling off the track in the early stages of the race while the
track dried out, or should you go on wet weather tyres and try and
make a break for it before the track dried out? While most of the
field opted for wet weather tyres, Marcus Marshall (Fortec Motorsport)
started on slicks, while Clivio's team-mates, Alvaro Parente and
Danilo Dirani, rushed into the pits at the end of their formation
laps for slick, thus having to start from the pit lane after the
rest of the pack had already gone.
Clivio
and his engineer decide it would be best staying with wet weather
tyres. "It was a joint decision. I wasn't sure, I told them
the track was dry round the back, but then it rained really hard
on the start//finish line. I thought if I made a good start I could
be sixth or so and fighting for a place in the top five so we decided
not to risk it and it didn't work!" A reasonable start saw
him hang on to his position, which suggested that the decision might
have been right. However, it wasn't long before the track dried
completely, allowing Parente and Dirani to charge up through the
order to claim 2nd and 3rd, while a somewhat surprised Marshall
provided the most surprising winner of the year. The wet tyre-shod
men, on the other hand, struggled as their tyres began to disintegrate.
And just to make things even worse, Clivio had not one, but two,
near misses as Andrew Thompson (Hitech Racing) got it all wrong
at Luffield. "He spun once in front of me, then he went back
on the track in front of me, and then he spun again. He had two
spins in ten seconds." It was a bit unnerving to say the least.
And then, to make a less-than-perfect end to a disappointing weekend,
Clivio's Mugen-Honda engine began to overheat to the point where
he had no option but to bring it back to the pits and retire from
the race.
By: Lynne Waite and Stella-Maria Thomas
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