Motorsports Mondial
Home Coming King
Felipe Nasr, 2011 British F3 Champion, is given a Champion’s reception upon arrival in native Brazil.
This mega-talent from Brasilia has won two very competitive championships in the past three years in the cut-throat world of European road racing. In the prestigious Macau F3 Grand Prix last month, he was second in both the qualifying race and feature event.
The Felipe file features race and championship winning ways before he was 10-years-old. He was 2000 Brasilia Champion in the cadet class at the age of eight. He repeated the feat the following year and finished an impressive second in the same category in the Brazilian championship.
Nasr notched up a championship win every year for the next six seasons.
Pointing in the right direction. Uncle Amir Nasr runs a team in Brazilian stock car racing and is a guidance force in the career of Felipe.
Grand debut. Grand finale.
The 2008 Formula 1 race at Interlagos saw an epic, emotion-filled season finale. But behind the scenes, in a supporting race, a new talent was emerging.
Nasr finished on the podium in his first weekend of single-seater racing, in the final race of the Formula BMW Americas.
For the 2009 season, like the legion of talented Brazilian drivers before him – from Fittipaldi to Felipe Massa – he moved to Europe, and joined Antonio Ferrari’s Euro International team to compete in Formula BMW Europe.
Racing against a host of second year and much more experienced drivers, Nasr dominated the season, winning the championship with 392 points against 288 for runner-up, Spaniard Daniel Juncadella.
From 16 races Nasr took seven victories, claimed eight pole positions and was on the podium in all but two races. A one-off appearance in the Pacific variant of the same series saw two wins, two poles and two fastest laps from three races.
La Familia.
This command performance in his first season of motor racing naturally sparked interest from various teams and driver management programs. After careful evaluation of various offers, Nasr, who is ably guided his father, Samir and uncle Amir, decided on the management of Steve Robertson, the man who brought us the soft-spoken but oft-winning Kimi Raikkonen.
What Robertson saw in Nasr, as in Kimi, was a driver winning races of brief duration by a wide margin. “Pure racing talent,” said Robertson in an F1 Weekly interview earlier this year.
Success breeds success. Two championships in three years for Nasr. The 2009 Formula Formula BMW Europe and this year’s British F3.
Felipe in F3
Fittipaldi, Piquet and Senna all arrived in F1 on the back of their success in British F3. For the 2010 season Nasr entered the series driving for Double R Racing – as in Räikkönen Robertson – with Mercedes powerplant.
In only his second full season of single-seater racing, Nasr finished the season in the top five, taking maiden victory at Rockingham. He also made three other podium appearances and recorded three fastest laps.
Change of team to Carlin Motorsports for the 2011 season saw Nasr open the season with a pair of victories, and a second, from the first weekend at Monza in a Volkswagen-powered Dallara.
Five other victories, and podium finishes in more than half of the 30 races, helped Nasr amass 318 points to win the British F3 Championship, ahead of Dane Kevin Magnussen on 237 points.
Street smart. Hustling in the streets of Macau, Nasr was quick all weekend in the former Portuguese colony. A late race yellow prevented him from mounting a challenge for victory.
Nasr signed-off on his F3 career with strong showing in the streets of Macau. The inaugural F3 race here in 1983 was won by fellow Brazilian Ayrton Senna.
The Final Frontier
The 2012 season will bring Felipe Nasr to the gates of Formula 1. A decision is expected in the near future on his future plans.
He recently tested World Series by Renault machinery at Motorland Aragon and was quoted on their website saying:
“Driving a single-seater like this is all part of preparing for F1.”
Forza Felipe!
— Nasir Hameed
Greetings and racing regards from California.