Mansell 'might scream' if he can back up F3 podium opener at Australian GP

Maitland-born Mansell, 19 and now based in the UK, finished second in the Bahrain feature race and said he "might scream" if he backs up his round-one result with a top three in Melbourne later this month (March 22-24).

"I mean if I get a podium there, I think I might scream," Mansell told F3 media in a post-race interview.

"As Luke [Browning, F3 race winner] said, I am biased obviously but I genuinely think it's one of the best tracks on the F3 calendar just from a racing standpoint."

Mansell, who made his F3 debut last year and drove the Albert Park circuit for the first time, now sits third overall on the F3 championship ladder following action in Sakhir.

He collected 18 points as runner-up on Sunday with Browning in front with 25. They both walked away empty handed from Saturday's sprint race. Tim Tramnitz (21) sits second.

"You need to have good points at the start of the season because you're going to have a bad round, it's F3 we all have bad rounds no matter what, it's about building up that tally as soon as possible and then maintaining it," he said.

Mansell started the feature race in eighth position and managed to improve six places, describing P2 as a "mega result".

"Exciting, I mean I was very, very aggressive in the opening stages of the race, I knew exactly what I wanted to do," he said.

"Turn eight was my favourite corner in that race, I made a few pretty decisive moves into there but overall, just really really happy with how the race turned out."

The 10-round season also stops at Monaco (May 23-26), Barcelona (June 21-23) and Silverstone (July 5-7) before finishing in Monza (August 30-September 1).

In between F3 campaigns, Mansell switched teams from Campos Racing to French-based ART Grand Prix.

He recently had some success in New Zealand.