Bearman and Maloney break their F3 ducks
FIA FORMULA 3 SPA (BEL) 27-28 AUGUST ROUND 7/9
It was a weekend of two first-time winners in FIA Formula 3 at Spa. Ollie Bearman triumphed in the sprint race, before Zane Maloney took victory in Sunday’s feature encounter, one day after smashing into the barriers and rolling at the high-speed Blanchimont sweeper.
Ferrari protege Bearman lined up fifth for the sprint in his Prema Racing car, and immediately moved up one place. There was chaos at Les Combes, when polesitter Zak O’sullivan and Juan Manuel Correa made contact as he attempted to prevent the ART driver making a pass for the lead. That gave Correa a puncture, and caused front-wing damage for Carlin driver O’sullivan. Just behind Bearman, Franco Colapinto was tapped into a spin by Jonny Edgar, for which the Trident-run Red Bull Junior was given a five-second penalty.
Carlin’s Brad Benavides briefly took the lead after the melee, before Bearman snatched the lead on the second lap, just before the safety car was deployed when Christian Mansell ended up in the gravel after contact from Rafael Villagomez. Edgar took second from Benavides on the restart, but moments later there was a huge shunt between Maloney and Oliver Goethe, both walking away from the wreckage.
That prompted a red flag for barriers to be repaired and, following a 30-minute pause, Bearman and Edgar held their positions at the restart as Roman Stanek and Alexander Smolyar tussled for third. Trident’s Czech racer Stanek held on from MP Motorsport driver Smolyar and, with Edgar’s penalty demoting him to fourth, that promoted
Stanek and Smolyar to second and third.
Maloney bounced back on Sunday, and made a strong start from second on the grid alongside MP Motorsport’s polesitter Caio Collet. The Brazilian held on in front until Les Combes, when Maloney’s bid to take the lead ended with both running wide across the runoff area. As Collet rejoined the track, he flicked the unfortunate Francesco Pizzi, running in third place, into the gravel, for which he was penalised five seconds.
Collet was then passed by Goethe and, when Maloney was instructed to cede his ill-gotten lead and drop back behind Collet, that meant he had to sink to third, with Goethe now leading in his Campos Racing car on his second race weekend in FIA F3.
Pizzi was then harpooned by Kush Maini at the Bus Stop, the stricken Maini then taking out pre-weekend joint series leader Victor Martins and Ido Cohen and causing a safety car. Collet, Maloney and Stanek soon got ahead of Goethe when racing resumed, before another caution for a Gregoire Saucy shunt at the exit of Les Combes.
Maloney then snatched the lead from
Collet at Les Combes, while three laps later Stanek also got past to complete a Trident 1-2. Bearman made late moves on Edgar (for fifth) and Goethe (fourth) and, with Collet’s penalty dropped him to sixth, that promoted Bearman to third.
The Briton is now right in title contention after a dreadful weekend for the previous top three. Martins, Isack
Hadjar and Arthur Leclerc all came unstuck in a tricky qualifying session that started wet and dried out, prompting a switch to slicks, with Leclerc the best of them in 20th. Leclerc and Hadjar fought through to fifth and ninth respectively in the sprint, but none of the trio scored in the feature race. Hadjar now leads by one point from Bearman, with Martins and Leclerc next and fifth-placed Stanek just 10 points adrift.