Australian racer Christian Mansell hailed his breakthrough Formula 3 podium at Silverstone last weekend as a significant development for his career.
Mansell was third in Saturday’s Sprint race in support of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, backing up that performance with fifth on Sunday.
“This is a very, very significant thing for my career,” he said when asked about the importance of the result by Speedcafe.
“It’s a significant milestone; to touch on the diabetes side of things, I’m the only one who’s doing it.
“We recently passed a rule for me, and this goes to show that you can definitely do anything.
“And I know everyone is going to say that when they’re in my position, but you can, you can do anything.
“Nothing is holding you back apart from your mind and I think it’s a pretty good example that, if you really, really want it, you can have it.”
The 18-year-old Novocastrian was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in July 2019, news which came as a blow at that point in his career.
He’s since gone on to race in British Formula 4 in 2020 and British Formula 3 the following year.
Last year, he graduated to the Euroformula Open Championship, finishing third in the standings with three wins.
Stepping up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2023 has brought a steep learning curve, with Mansell’s results steadily improving as the competition moves beyond its halfway point.
Part of that has been down to a change in mentality around his racing, placing more trust in his team and engineer.
“F3 is, honestly, it’s more in your head than actually driving the car,” he said.
“If you’re in a good headspace and you approach the weekend in a certain way, you end up just driving better and feeling better.
“If you put all this unnecessary, outside pressures on yourself, and not just worry about driving the car… At the end of the day, that’s what we’re here to do.
“I’m trying to fix so many problems and trying to get on top of things and trying to adjust to new things rather than just getting in the car and drive.
“That’s what I love doing.
“It was more realisation that I didn’t need to engineer the car because I have an engineer, so probably let him do that!
“So instead of complaining, I just drove the car!”
The Formula 3 season continues with back-to-back rounds in Hungary and Belgium alongside Formula 1 from next weekend.
The season then concludes at the Italian Grand Prix in September.
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