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The son of a legend, a diabetic who runs with a cell phone and a woman who was saved from a brutal accident: who are Franco Colapinto's rivals in F3

2023-05-23T11:01:55.742Z

Highlights: Sophia Floersch hit a fence at 275 kilometers per hour. Christian Mansell needs his mobile phone to monitor his blood sugar. Alonso's protégé and Montoya's heir. An x-ray of the Argentine's rivals.. Formula 3 is one of the steps prior to Formula 1 and, being an opening act with Formula 2, its drivers live with the idols of the World Championship. It is there that the Argentine Franco Colapinto competes against 29 other participants, including the son of an F1 legend, a diabetic who runs with a cell phone.


Sophia Floersch hit a fence at 275 kilometers per hour. Christian Mansell needs his mobile phone to monitor his blood sugar. Alonso's protégé and Montoya's heir. An x-ray of the Argentine's rivals.


Formula 3 is one of the steps prior to Formula 1 and, being an opening act with Formula 2, its drivers live with the idols of the World Championship, as will happen in Monaco during the seventh round of the championship led by Max Verstappen. It is there that the Argentine Franco Colapinto competes against 29 other participants, including the son of an F1 legend, a diabetic who runs with a cell phone and a woman who was saved from becoming paraplegic.

Sophia Floersch: 22 years in the passport, just 4 from her second birth

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A post shared by Sophia 👑 (@sophiafloersch)

"On November 18, 2018, I celebrated my second birthday in Macau," German Sophia Floersch once acknowledged. That day, while competing in Formula 3, he suffered a chilling accident: his car touched Sho Tsuboi's, soared to more than 275 km / h and stamped against the outer fence of turn 3 of the circuit.

The result was a fearsome fracture in the seventh cervical vertebra (C7) of the then 17-year-old pilot's spine. "A bone splinter had gotten dangerously close to his spinal cord," said his dad, Alex.

The next day, she spent 11 hours in an operating room and came out of there, fortunately, with no spinal damage or signs of paralysis. And, just over a week later, he had already left the hospital to begin a long rehabilitation.

Watching the video of the accident for the first time, Sophia was "shocked." In fact, it seemed implausible to him. "I still watch the video and I don't think it's about me. Everything happened so fast that I couldn't feel anything. I know the video is appalling, but at the same time I know it's unbelievable that I can already comment on it," he told Australia's 7 News Sydney a month later.

Although she then lamented that "I would have preferred to draw media attention" for her success "and not for a stupid crash", Sophia Flörsch transcended that accident four and a half years ago.

In February this year, after announcing her return to F3 in the PHM Racing by Charouz team, she was chosen to be part of the Alpine Academy of young drivers. "The aim of the programme is to train and develop female drivers and provide them with opportunities to reach the pinnacle of motorsport, whether it is F1 or WEC," he said.

From that platform it is also expressed so that more girls and women compete for a place in motorsport. "My goal is to show that I'm still a woman with long hair and nail polish who does a sport that people think is only for men. I'm trying to change and help through social media to make motorsport more attractive and show girls that nowadays you can do anything. It's not just about racing drivers, there are also engineers, mechanics...", he reflected in a recent note with The Sporting News.

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There, too, she took a critical look at categories such as the Wseries and the recently opened F1 Academy: "I'm not very much in favour of all-female line-ups because I think motorsport is a mixed sport. We need the same budget, the same opportunities, to be able to compete at the same level. A quote from Formula 1 boss (Stefano Domenicali) who said there won't be a woman in F1 in the next five years at 100% is a bit frustrating to be honest.


Christian Mansell: the 18-year-old Australian who runs with a cell phone to monitor his diabetes

Article 6.1 of the Formula 3 technical regulations says that "the use of a wireless data transmission device is prohibited". That's why, when Australian Christian Mansell first got into the Campos Racing car with a cell phone – in Bahrain on March 2 – he was investigated. The Spanish team, then, explained that the phone is vital to monitor the blood sugar level of the 18-year-old driver who suffers from Type 1 diabetes.

The device used by Mansell, which has nothing to do with F1 champion Nigel, transmits information to the cloud about the level of his blood glucose and sends an alert in case his health is at risk. The data is received in real time in the Campos box by your coach, who is authorized to order you to stop. It is that a drop in sugar levels can cause dizziness, vision problems or even fainting, which would put your safety and that of your rivals on the track at risk.

"In the Campos team they have supported us a lot, obviously they found out and it was a shock because there is a very small finite community of us in the racing world. And they're completely involved in this, they wanted to learn about it," he told the Australian version of Sky News.

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A shared publication by Christian Mansell (@christian.mansell)

Mansell, who wrote in his Instagram bio that he suffers from type 1 diabetes, acknowledged that the popularity he acquired allows him to raise awareness about a disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce insulin and about a way to monitor it without taking blood from his finger "every day because he gets tired."

"I get a lot of direct messages through Instagram, usually about these kids texting me and saying, 'I never knew I could do this,'" she explained of the use of sensors that measure glucose continuously and in real time.

In addition to the alert that his physical trainer receives, his mother, Megan, monitors through the app Christian's glucose levels before and during races, as they can be affected by hormones and emotions: often, adrenaline increases his glucose levels and nervousness lowers them.

The FIA, likewise, came out to clarify the situation of Mansell with a statement before the second date of F3, in Australia. He clarified that the young man "is fit to compete" but that the stewards understand that allowing him control through the telephone, the way he usually does it on a day-to-day basis, is for now "the only feasible". "The mobile phone that monitors Christian Mansell's blood sugar levels is blocked by the FIA technical delegate."


Sebastián Montoya: the heir to a respected surname in F1

Juan Pablo Montoya's son, Sebastian, was born 18 years ago in Miami, but races with a Colombian license, like his father, the two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 and seven Formula 1 grands prix. His approach to motorsport was with motocross by his uncle, an official KTM rider in Enduro, and then he thought of IndyCar. Until he got on a monoposto and now his only goal is to get to F1 (and win it).

"My dad is one of the best drivers in the history of motorsport who could never win the Formula 1 championship. I can make history and that's what I want to do. Obviously my dream would be to become world champion and I'm going to work on that," he told EFE who debuted this year in F3 with the Hitech Pulse-Eight team – one of the most important – and joined the Red Bull Academy.

"I hope Sebastian has a chance with Red Bull," said Juan Pablo Montoya, who in F1 raced for Williams – he was elected rookie of the year in 2001 – and McLaren, although he knows Helmut Marko very well, the advisor of the Austrian team who is focused on the follow-up of young drivers, because he raced for his team in Formula 3000 in the late '90s.

"Helmut pushed me to always be a better person," recalled the Colombian. Now a lot of guys need to be spoken to sweetly and he's more like me, he's more old-fashioned... But I think Sebas has a very good opportunity here to learn a lot from them and I think part of the training program is very good. They have it all. For me, as a parent, it's very exciting. And as a driver I have to admit that I am a bit envious of him."

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A shared publication of Red Bull Junior Team (@redbulljuniorteam)

For now, in his debut season, Sebastian already stood out in F3 by getting his first podium in the second race: a second place in the Sprint Race of Australia, where he started from pole for the inverted classification.

"I stayed at almost midnight reading all the messages that came to me after the podium," he recalled in an interview with As Colombia. There are people who support me a lot and others who say I'm only for my dad, but at the end of the day I run because I love him. There's no reason not to make it to Formula 1."

The protégé of Fernando Alonso, the leader of Formula 3

Among the 30 drivers in the category, in addition to an Argentine, the son of an F1 legend, a diabetic who runs with a cell phone and a woman who was saved from being paralyzed, is Gabriel Bortoleto, the protégé of Fernando Alonso.

The 18-year-old Brazilian is part of Team Trident, is the leader of F3 with 58 points, 20 more than the second, the Swiss Gregoire Saucy, and is represented by A14 Management, the company of the two-time Spanish F1 champion.

"Every weekend I'm in touch with him. I ask him things," he acknowledged after the victory at the Bahrain GP. There, who also led the practice, sent a message to Alonso, who gave him some tips with what "he had to do". "I did. And, honestly, it worked, and it was a very, very good thing to test on the track," he recalled.

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2023-05-23

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