World of Sport: FIA F3; GT World Challenge Europe; NASCAR Cup; Formula Regional European; Supercars
FIA FORMULA 3 BARCELONA (ESP) 8-9 MAY ROUND 1/7
FIA Formula 3 has a reputation for being chaotic, and the first weekend of the season certainly didn’t disappoint.
The three races featured three different winners – ART Grand Prix’s Alexander Smolyar plus Prema Racing pair Olli Caldwell and Dennis Hauger – in the first event run to the new triple-header format including two reversed-grid races.
Hauger snatched a late pole position for the main event on Sunday, which pays much more heavily on points than the other two races, by pipping Trident-run fellow Red Bull protege Jack Doohan by a mere 0.006 seconds.
Hauger had to work for it at the start, emerging from a four-wide moment at Turn 1 in front. Victor Martins emerged in second from Matteo Nannini and Doohan. On lap nine, Doohan snatched third from the MP Motorsport car of Martins, before passing HWA racer Nannini three tours later.
By this stage Hauger was over 3s ahead, and Doohan had to settle for second. Behind Nannini, Caldwell passed Martins for fourth with four laps remaining. On the penultimate lap, Clement Novalak took sixth from Logan Sargeant, before Frederik Vesti and Caio Collet also passed the American. Roman Stanek completed the top 10.
Smolyar claimed his maiden F3 win in the first race of the weekend, for which the grid was the top 12 reversed from qualifying. Carlin’s rookie Red Bull Junior Jonny Edgar started from pole, but Smolyar took the lead from him on the fourth lap of 22, with the help of DRS at Turn 1. Smolyar had broken the DRS train by lap eight, giving him more than 1.5s on Edgar, which he extended to more than 2s by the 12th lap.
Trident racer Novalak rose from sixth on the grid to second, and was starting to threaten Smolyar when the safety car appeared for the run to the finish. MP Motorsport rookie Collet took third on his debut. Sargeant, whose deal to race for Charouz Racing System was only completed earlier in the week, finished fourth as Edgar slipped to fifth.
Caldwell scored his first F3 win in the afternoon. With the top 12 in race one reversed on the grid for the sequel, the Briton’s sixth place meant he started seventh. But he moved into contention by avoiding incidents involving front-row starters David Schumacher and Enzo Fittipaldi, followed by another tangle between Nannini and Hauger.
The first safety car came on the opening lap after contact at Turn 2 between Novalak and Smolyar. That gave a right-rear puncture to Smolyar, who veered right and collected Sargeant on his way into the gravel.
Fittipaldi held the lead until the 12th lap when Schumacher took him by surprise with a late braking move at Turn 1. Three laps later, the pair collided when Fittipaldi attempted to pass around the outside of Turn 1 before tagging the German, who bounced over the kerb and across the gravel into the barrier.
This gave Nannini the lead, with Hauger second and Caldwell third as Fittipaldi ground to a halt. Nannini tried to fend off Hauger, only for the Norwegian to get sideways over the Turn 1 kerb and punt Nannini into a spin. Both cars lost their front wings in the tangle and plummeted down the order, allowing Caldwell to win from Martins and Vesti.