Zak O'Sullivan took the top step on the podium in Austria after winning his first Formula 3 feature race
Formula 3 driver Zak O'Sullivan said he has taken a confidence boost from his first feature race win before competing at Silverstone this weekend.
The Briton, 18, won the feature race at Austria's Red Bull Ring on Sunday.
The F3 calendar features two race formats and the Gloucestershire-born driver had already won sprint races at Melbourne and Barcelona this season.
"It's more points for a feature race win, which is probably most important," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.
"It's been a long time coming, last year I got quite close once or twice but it's great to get my first feature race win and it was good also to pick up a bit of momentum rolling into my home weekend.
"The race pace has always been relatively strong all year, that was the first race where it was really a step better than the rest.
"It's a nice confidence boost going into Silverstone. Obviously they are different tracks so we've got to wait and see. I think we're building some momentum, fingers crossed it stays that way."
O'Sullivan, who drives for Prema Racing and is also part of Williams' driver academy, is fourth in the championship heading into his home race.
"It's on the F1 weekend so there's a bit more hype around the weekend and as a British driver it means a lot," he added.
O'Sullivan was GB3 champion in 2021 and moved to Prema Racing this season where the team have been building through the year.
"It's been a bit more challenging than I predicted. Small things here and there, just not feeling comfortable in certain scenarios but I've been working on it for a while now with my engineer and the team, trying to iron out all those issues," O'Sullivan added.
"In the race we've been quite strong as of late, it's just really working on that one-lap pace and trying to maximise that."
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