Here's the thing: sometimes a late call-up changes everything. Francisco Macedo ended up setting the absolute fastest time of this week's post-season test at Jerez after receiving a very late invitation from Van Amersfoort Racing.
It was not an entirely smooth start, mind you. The Portuguese driver had to battle through some issues on Day 1, but he and the team sorted those gremlins out overnight to bounce back in style on the second day.
When the teams switched to qualifying runs and times dropped to their lowest, Macedo laid down a 1:29.766. That effort stood as the best time of the entire week, leading fellow Van Amersfoort Racing driver Enzo Deligny by 0.169s. He then backed up that stellar morning with a second-place finish in the afternoon during the race simulations.
Speaking in the paddock after finishing the test, Macedo reflected on the unexpected opportunity to jump into the Formula 3 machine. "It was a bit of an unexpected test," he said. "I actually received a late call. I tried to prepare myself as best as possible, and today I managed to get a P1 in the morning, P2 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, yesterday I had some issues during the day, but me and the team managed to solve them during the night, and today we were fastest."
Stepping into a Formula 3 car for the very first time brought a massive shift compared to the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine he is used to driving. He pointed out the sheer speed and vastly superior braking capabilities, noting simply, "I just had a blast." Reuniting with Van Amersfoort Racing—his team from last year—made the transition much smoother because he already knew everyone in the garage.
Adapting to new rubber also presented a major hurdle. Dealing with two different tyre compounds—the Medium and the Hard—was a novel experience for a driver accustomed to single-compound categories, especially with shorter tyre life and heavier degradation during race runs. "It was a big challenge," Macedo explained, noting that he had to be fully switched on from the very first lap. When asked if he had managed to adapt to the tyres by the end, he joked, "Actually I managed to survive at least to the end."
