Leonardo Fornaroli is heading into the final round of the FIA F3 Championship with nothing to lose as he holds a slim one-point advantage atop the driver standings.
The Italian has been incredibly consistent over the opening nine rounds, although Fornaroli is still yet to win a race in his Formula 3 career.
Fornaroli holds the smallest of leads over his compatriot Gabriele Mini, with Williams junior Luke Browning also sitting in third place.
Now, the championship leader has outlined hitting mechanical trouble whilst battling with Frenchman Sami Meguetounif at Imola early in the year as a potential title-defining moment.
Leonardo Fornaroli admits the incident at Imola is still in his mind
During the Feature Race at the third round of the season at Imola, Fornaroli was battling at the front of the field alongside Meguetounif and Oliver Goethe.
But his Trident car shut down on the main straight, costing the Italian valuable time and four critical places as Meguetounif went on to take the victory.
Fornaroli recovered to stand on the podium on the Emila Romagna Grand Prix weekend and finish in third place, his second consecutive podium finish in a Feature Race.
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Yet the 19-year-old has now admitted that the mechanical issue still plays on his mind many months later, despite Fornaroli’s good run of form since.
He told the FIA F3 website: “In Imola, I was about to win or fight with Sami for the win but, unfortunately, I had the issue on the main straight and we lost so much time. I have that one here in my head, you know.
“It was terrible for me, but we managed still to finish third and score good points but, of course, I lost some points there. However, we cannot change the past, and I’m only looking forward to the future.”
Fornaroli lost further points later in the season at the Red Bull Ring, too, after exceeding track limits in qualifying and losing the lap time.
The Italian even admits that he isn’t completely happy with the performances Fornaroli has produced in FIA F3 so far this season.
He added: “I’m not a hundred per cent satisfied with my job, especially with what happened in Austria, which was a really bad mistake, a really small mistake but with big consequences.”
The FIA F3 title battle will be decided by fine margins at Monza
Just 16 points separate the top four in the FIA F3 drivers’ championship, and three other drivers including Sweden’s Dino Beganovic are mathematically still in contention.
Fornaroli has been incredibly consistent and scored points in all but two of the races which built the foundations for his title challenge.
A couple of points are available for pole position, which could prove critical with just two races left to go in the FIA F3 season at the venue of the Italian Grand Prix.
Qualifying will also be vital as cars look for the all-important slipstream on Monza’s long straights and improve their lap times.