Formula 3: Arvid Lindblad won the first race of the season

The first race of the Formula 3 season in Bahrain ended with a victory for Red Bull youth program participant Arvid Lindblad. Laurens van Heupen and Leonardo Fornaroli were on the podium together with the Prema driver.

Pole holder Laurens van Heupen could not hold on to the lead and let Nikola Tsolov take the lead in the second corner. Max Esterson retained third place, while Tim Tramnitz moved from sixth to fourth. Dino Beganovic punctured his left front tire on the first lap after contact with Santiago Ramos and went to the pits to replace it. The stewards later gave Dino a 10-second time penalty.

Nikola Tsolov tried to gain an advantage over Van Heupen, but the Dutch ART rider showed the best time on the second lap and consolidated a second behind the leader. In the opening laps, Tramnitz lost the positions he had gained at the start, allowing Lindblad and Fornaroli to take the lead.

On the fourth lap, Van Heupen tried to launch an attack on Tsolov – the drivers drove side by side for several turns, but in the eighth turn Nikola was in the lead.

Round six saw a close battle between Christian Mansell, Sami Megetunif and Luke Browning for seventh place, with Browning emerging victorious. The stewards believed that Luke overtook his rivals by driving off the track and gave him a 10-second time penalty.

On lap seven, Megentunif made a mistake in turn four, went off track and let Gabriele pass Mini in the battle for tenth place.

On the eighth lap, the tires of Tsolov’s car began to lose efficiency, allowing the top five to group within two seconds. On the next lap, Lindblad overtook Esterson for third place. Max was then overtaken by Fornaroli.

On the eleventh lap, in the first corner, Van Heupen attacked Tsolov and took the lead of the race, but Nikola did not give up, counter-attacked and regained first place before turn eight.

On the next lap, in the first corner, Lindblad tried to attack Van Heupen, but Laurens managed to hold on to second place. On the thirteenth lap, Van Heupen tried to attack Tsolov in turn four, but this attempt was not successful. In turn eleven Laurens made a mistake himself and let Lindblad take second place.

Five laps before the finish, Lindblad Tsolov attacked in the first corner, taking the lead, but in the fourth the Bulgarian driver counter-attacked and regained the lead. On the next lap, Arvid attacked again in the first corner and took first place – this time Tsolov was unable to attack the Prema rider.

On the seventeenth lap the tires finally lost their effectiveness on Tsolov’s car and he allowed Van Heupen to take second. On the next lap Nikola fell out of the top three – Fornaroli overtook him in the first corner.

Sixteen-year-old Arvid Lindblad confidently led his debut Formula 3 race to victory, beating another debutant Laurens van Heupen by 5.4 seconds at the finish. Leonardo Fornaroli finished third.

Nikita Bedrin earned no points and finished thirteenth. Qualifying winner Dino Beganovic was the last to reach the finish line. Matias Zagazeta was the only one to retire after a collision with Tommy Smith.