Pole holder Isaac Hadjar won the Formula 3 race at Spielberg on Sunday. Championship leader Victor Marten finished second, whose lead in the individual standings over Hadjar is now just one point. Third on the podium was a Ferrari youth academy member Oliver Berman.
On Sunday morning, the Austrian track was flooded with rain. The riders entered the grid on wet tires and the start was given behind the safety car. Alexander Smolyar didn’t start right away, but then found a gear and drove away. As the entire peloton had not yet passed him, the MP Motorsport driver returned to his sixteenth position.
After two laps, the safety car returned to the pit lane and the drivers began to fight on the track. In the first five positions have been preserved. The lead Hadjar went off the track in the first corner at the start of lap two, but the advantage created before the lap was enough to get ahead of Marten again.
The pair of leaders gradually increased their lead on each lap over Oliver Berman, who was a second ahead of his Prema teammate Arthur Leclerc. On lap six, Campos riders David Vidales and José-Maria Martí made contact three in turn in the battle for seventeenth place. Both were able to continue without losing positions.
Halfway through the race, the rain stopped and started to show a dry stretch in some parts of the track. In the top three, the gaps stabilized – Hajjar brought Marten’s gap to three and a half seconds. Victor, in turn, was two seconds ahead of Berman.
On lap 13 yellow flags appeared on the track – there was a collision between Zdenek Chovanek and Francesco Pizzi in the last corner. Both were able to continue, but Federico Malvestiti, chasing two Charouz riders, turned and remained on the track. It took a moment for Malvestiti to move, after which the flags were removed. Pizzi was given a 10-second penalty for a collision with Chovanek.
On lap seventeen, José-Maria Martí braked into Zach O’Sullivan at Turn 4, causing the Carlin driver to enter a U-turn. Zach rolled back to the end of the pack and Marty went to the pits where he pulled back.
On the twentieth lap, the safety car left the track. Pizzi and Chowanek collided for the second time in the race, this time around Turn 4. Chovanek’s car got stuck in the gravel and Pizzi was able to continue the race. Pizzi received a second time penalty of ten seconds for this.
The race resumes on lap twenty-third. In the top three, the positions were maintained and in the battle for fourth place, Leclerc was not without difficulty ahead of Kaylen Frederik. Behind them in the first corner there was contact between Collet, Edgar and Crawford. If Edgar and Crawforle lost ground but returned to the track, Collet’s race was over.
Isaac Hadjar confidently took the race to victory, showed the best lap and was three seconds ahead of Viktor Marten at the finish. With the third win of the season, debutant Hajjar climbed to second place in the individual standings, ahead of Arthur Leclerc. Alexander Smolyar earned points for eighth place.
The next Formula 3 race will take place in Hungary at the Hungaroring from July 29-31.
Results are being prepared
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
