Aitken wants cancelled Monza GP3 race rescheduled

Race 2 at Monza was cut from the GP3 schedule after wet weather caused delays to the Formula 1 qualifying session on Saturday, which led to the first race of the third-tier category being postponed until Sunday and the second called off.

GP3 joins Formula 2 for a standalone event at Jerez on 7-8 October, where Aitken, now 43 points behind championship leader and Monza race winner George Russell, would like to see the missing event take place.

"I know there was some talk on the weekend of them rescheduling the race for Jerez," he told Motorsport.com.

"So fingers crossed that happens because we all put a lot of work and effort in and to only have one race [last] weekend was a bit sad.

"It makes my life a bit more difficult, so I’m hoping that we do have that reverse grid race in Jerez, but we never know."

Mercedes F1 junior Russell – Aitken’s ART Grand Prix teammate – was philosophical about losing out on the second race in Italy.

"In terms of race two, Jack and my title rivals would have been starting ahead of me so from that perspective it’s almost played in my favour because it hasn’t given Jack an opportunity to catch some more points," he said.

"[But] there’s two ways to look at it – I would have loved to have gone racing again at Monza. I think we had the pace to be able to move forward again and maybe potentially have a weekend like we had in Spa [where Russell scored a win and second place].

"But obviously we can’t do anything about mother nature and it’s the price you pay for being with F1. They obviously have to take priority and if we are the ones that have to lose out, so be it."

Motorsport.com understands that there have not been any plans made for rescheduling the missing Monza race at Jerez at this stage.

Russell aiming to clinch title at Jerez

Russell, winner of the sole Monza GP3 race, add that he is hoping to secure the title at Jerez.

The Mercedes junior is now 43 points ahead of closest rival Aitken, and he needs to score at least five points more than his teammate in order to seal the crown in Spain.

"I extended the championship lead and I’m going to Jerez quite happy and just [focused on] consolidating more points and hopefully sealing the championship that weekend," Russell said.

"If you can get it out of the way in Jerez it’s just one less thing to worry about when we arrive in Abu Dhabi."

"Overall, even though it was a very eventful or uneventful weekend – I’m not too sure which is the correct word to use – it’s been one race [win], 25 points out of possible 31 [four for pole and two for fastest lap added to 25 for victory], so I’m happy with that."