David Ready to Spread His Wings in Austria

Sri Lankan racing driver Yevan David heads to this weekend's FIA Formula 3 round at the Red Bull Ring ready to build on the encouraging progress shown during the opening phase of his rookie campaign with AIX Racing, as one of the championship's most overtaking-friendly circuits offers fresh opportunities to move forward through the field. 

Following three demanding events in Melbourne, Monaco and Barcelona, the 18-year-old arrives in Austria encouraged by his ability to consistently move forward through the field during races and armed with valuable lessons learned during Formula 3's most-recent hot-weather event.

The Red Bull Ring presents a very different challenge to the circuits visited so far. The Austrian venue's long straights, heavy braking zones and multiple overtaking opportunities have traditionally produced some of the closest racing on the FIA Formula 3 calendar, a prospect that particularly excites David.

"I'm very much looking forward to the racing this weekend," said David.

"I love wheel-to-wheel racing. It's one of my favourite parts of motorsport because you're competing directly against the drivers around you rather than simply focusing on qualifying laps."

"The Red Bull Ring always provides overtaking opportunities and that's something I'm really excited about. It's a track that encourages racing and I'm looking forward to getting out there."

The Austrian weekend follows an encouraging run of race performances for David, who climbed from 22nd to 16th on the road in Monaco before gaining nine positions during Barcelona's Sprint Race. Those drives have reinforced his belief that stronger qualifying performances can unlock significantly greater results.

"It gives me huge confidence and motivation," he explained.

"The races have shown that I have the confidence and racecraft to fight wheel-to-wheel and move forward through the field."

"I know that if we can put together a strong qualifying performance and start further up the grid, we'll be in a position to fight for much stronger results. It's just a matter of time and continuing to execute everything properly."

Barcelona also provided important learning opportunities as teams and drivers adapted to high temperatures and increased tyre degradation, conditions expected to play an increasingly important role throughout the European summer.

"One of the biggest lessons from Barcelona was understanding how both the car and the tyres react in hot conditions," said David.

"Tyre warm-up and tyre management become much more important, and that's something we're going to continue working on as we move through the summer races."

"We've gathered a lot of useful information and now it's about maximising areas that we perhaps didn't fully explore during winter testing."

Beyond the results, David believes one of the most important developments during his opening FIA Formula 3 campaign has been an increased understanding of his own driving.

"The biggest improvement since Melbourne has probably been my self-awareness as a driver," he said.

"I'm becoming better at recognising mistakes, understanding my driving habits and identifying areas where I can improve. That's a really important part of development because once you're aware of those things, you can actively work on them."

"That's still a major focus for me because greater self-awareness ultimately leads to greater performance."

While ambitious about the future, David insists his primary objective remains focused on execution rather than results alone.

"Of course we want to keep moving forward in the results and fighting closer to the top 15 and top ten," he said.

"But for me, a successful weekend starts with executing every lap properly, minimising mistakes and delivering the best performance possible."

"I want to put together clean laps, be consistently on the limit and continue progressing in the right way. If we do that, the results will come."

Yevan David’s racing is supported by Lion Beer 0.0%, Maliban, Dimo Group, Chingiz, Nations Trust Bank, and the Ceylon Motor Sports Club (CMSC).

FIA Formula 3 action at the Red Bull Ring starts with practice (09:55-10:40) and qualifying (15:00-15:30) on Friday, the Sprint Race (10:05-10:45) on Saturday then the Feature Race on Sunday (08:40-09:25). All times local.