There was snow at Oulton Park, then rain at Croft, Monza and Rockingham, but on race day at Snetterton the sun shone at last - and, even better, Stefan celebrated his first race win in F3.

Weatherwise, the weekend started badly with yet more rain, but on track Stefan soon got into his stride and had two good testing sessions on Friday. He kept up the good work on Saturday on a track that was wet in the morning but began drying during the afternoon. In qualifying for race one he was third quickest, with pole going to his team-mate Jay Bridger. Then in the second session Stefan got the upper hand and, with just a minute to go, claimed his first pole position.

On Sunday morning the umbrellas came out again as the drivers waited on the grid for race one - not to keep the rain off this time, but to shield them from the sun. When the lights went out for the start of the race Stefan got away well, but on the first lap he and several others were passed by a hard-charging Andy Meyrick who had started some way back. Stefan spent a number of laps chasing Ali Jackson's International Class car, which was between him and third-placed Steven Guerrero. Eventually Jackson passed Guerrero and Stefan began putting on the pressure. Going for an overtaking move, though, he overshot a corner and went over the grass, which cost him the chance of a podium finish. Stefan came home fourth, 17th overall.

For race two, on a hot afternoon, Stefan lined up 13th on the overall grid, just ahead of Bridger. At the start there was a bit of confusion over the lights, which caused a couple of drivers to hesitate slightly, but Stefan made a great getaway. On lap one he made up three places, leaving his team-mate behind a string of International Class cars. "I had a very clean first lap," he said afterwards, "and I capitalised on that. I was 10th then and it was a case of running consistently, setting some consistent fast laps."

Doing exactly that, Stefan gained a place when race leader Brendon Hartley spun out, though later on he was passed by Marcus Ericsson and dropped back to 10th. He then maintained that position all the way to the chequered flag, crossing the line to take his first F3 win and leading Bridger in a one-two for the Fluid team. At the podium ceremony, a delighted Stefan celebrated by spraying his crew with champagne.

At the end of a successful day he said: "The first race was a bit of a hard one and I wasn't very pleased with the outcome, but we put it right for the second one and got a result." And looking forward to the next round at Thruxton: "I think we'll have a good car there as well. It's a fast, flowing circuit and I think we'll be competitive again."

Some more champagne would go down nicely!