‘I thought my race was over’ – Felbermayr relieved by podium finish after near-miss with Larsen

Emma Felbermayr was delighted as she converted her P6 start into a podium finish in Race 1 after narrowly escaping a race-ending incident with Alba Larsen.

Attempting to overtake Felbermayr for fifth, Larsen tried to squeeze up the inside of the Audi driver at Turn 3. With the gap closing up through the apex, the Ferrari junior clipped Felbermayr’s rear and broke her own front wing.

Fortunately, it proved to be a near-miss for Felbermayr. However, the Austrian believes the incident hampered her chances of moving onto the podium sooner.

“It definitely was a tricky race,” said Felbermayr. “I feel like we were all more or less on the same level of pace. There was no one coming through the field or having a bad race because of the pace.

“I feel like we were quite strong as well in some sectors, so we could do the overtakes. Unfortunately, (there was) the hit with Alba, I thought my race was over. Maybe I could have done all the moves a bit earlier without it but anyways, lucky I came away from it.”

The latter stages saw Felbermayr’s pace come alive. On Lap 10, she found her way past Payton Westcott for fourth and sealed her spot on the podium with a decisive switchback on Rafaela Ferreira.

Asked whether she could have pulled off the move on the Racing Bulls driver sooner, she replied: “I’d never been as close to make the overtake (before). In some sections she was faster and some I was faster, but the distance was always too big. I knew where my strength was, which was Sector 1. I closed the gap there and it turned out good.”

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After celebrating Audi’s first podium on a Grand Prix weekend, Felbermayr is ambitious to add to her haul of silverware on Sunday. Lining up P3 after her best-ever Qualifying, she believes today’s performance bodes well to contend with polesitter Alisha Palmowski and Larsen.

“I was in front of Alba and Alisha today and neither of them were faster than me,” she noted. “I’m quite confident with the speed. Obviously, it’s not going to be easier than today because they were faster in Qualifying than me. But from today, I think we can get the work done — the fight is on.”