MELBOURNE, Australia – Barbadian driver Zane Maloney said his performances since winning in Sakhir was proof his sweep of the Formula Two season-opening events was no “fluke”.
Barbadian F2 driver Zane Maloney.The 20-year-old, who drives for British team Rodin Motorsport, captured the sprint race and the feature race to dominate the opening weekend of the season in Bahrain.
Last weekend here, he made the podium again after finishing third in the feature race, on the heels of a 10th place finish in the sprint 24 hours earlier.
“[We’re] satisfied but of course we just need to keep making steps forward,” Maloney said.
“I think we have showed the last three rounds that Bahrain wasn’t a fluke. We have had the pace each round.
“[We had] some problems in qualifying in Jeddah, my going off [last Saturday] and [Sunday] so it’s not the best start to the year but it is very good for sure.
“We just need to keep working on it. I think qualifying from my side is much better than last year. I just need to keep improving that.
“We have always been fast in the race and made good moves so we just need to keep going. Everyone is catching up so we need to keep performing well.”
In the feature race here, Maloney finished behind 19-year-old French-Algerian driver Isack Hadjar who took the chequered flag, while 20-year-old Estonian Paul Aron came in second.
Two weeks ago in Jeddah, Maloney trailed in seventh in the feature and just missed out on a podium place in the sprint race when he ended fourth.
And he was left ruing his luck again last Saturday when a costly error left him down the field instead of near the podium.
“[Saturday] should have been a podium. From my side I made a big mistake which lost me lots of places,” he pointed out.
“[I am] happy to be back on – bit of a chaotic race. For sure the pace has been good all year so far. I think we have proved that each round. It is cool to have a clean Feature Race.”
Maloney will now turn his attention to the fourth Grand Prix of the season at Imola from May 16-18.
