After the stage in Monaco, Formula 3 returned to the track in Barcelona and, also on this occasion, leaves the race field with a new leader of the championship, albeit still with Italian colours. If in the Principality it was Gabriele Minì who took the lead of the classification, after the Spanish stage there is another driver in command, Leonardo Fornaroli, who can enjoy a five-point advantage over Luke Browning, who only achieved a fifth place in the course this weekend.
It wasn’t a simple weekend for Minì, who for the first time in the season closed a race weekend without any points on the scoresheet: a hard blow for a driver who had made consistency his best tool, given that the championship for now saw an alternation of values on the field.
The successes were achieved by Mari Boya, who took advantage of the accident of the Trident duo in the sprint race to achieve his first success in the preparatory series for Saturday, and Arvin Lindblad, who thus turned out to be the first driver capable of achieving two successes during this championship.
Arvid Lindblad, Prema Racing
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Sprint race: Boya takes advantage and wins
Mari Boya took the F3 podium for the first time in a relatively easy race for the Campos driver, after unexpected initial contact between Santiago Ramos and Sami Meguetounif of the Trident duo paved the way for the Spaniard.
In fact, following a penalty for track limits imposed on Sebastian Montoya after qualifying, Trident found itself on the front row with drivers Ramos and Meguetounif. However, any hope of victory disintegrated due to a third-lap collision between the two teammates, in a situation which, understandably, sparked a sense of anger and disappointment within the Italian garage.
With DRS activated at the start of the lap, Meguetounif got the better of Ramos, who in turn was defending the inside line into Turn 1. However, the two came into contact by tightening the line too much into Turn 1, with Ramos taking the lead he managed to return to the pits with a puncture, but returned to the rear of the group.
In the confusion, Nikita Bedrin (AIX Racing) and Callum Voisin (Rodin) also made contact at the same corner, in this case resulting in both retiring. The beneficiary was the home driver Boya, who preceded Dunne and Goethe when the action resumed on the track on the eighth lap.
Santiago Ramos, Trident, and Sami Meguetounif, Trident, make contact
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
While all eyes were on the top of the standings, at the back Montoya was the author of a good comeback with several overtakings, going from twenty-seventh to fifteenth position when the Safety Car came out due to the incidents mentioned above. This progress continued even after the intervention of the safety car, with Nikola Tsolov, Luke Browning and Christian Mansell being overtaken by the Colombian.
However, Montoya’s comeback stopped on lap thirteen, when he came into contact with Gabriele Minì during the eighteenth lap at the exit of turn four as the lines of the two drivers converged. The contact caused a puncture in the right front tire on the Italian’s Prema, with Minì unable to do anything to steer the car, also taking Montoya with him into the gravel, who at that moment was on the outermost trajectory against his will.
Up front, Boya managed the tyres, resisting attempts from Dunne, who recently joined the McLaren academy. The race then ended under Safety Car in the final laps due to another accident, thus giving the Spaniard his first F3 victory in front of his own fans. Boya finished ahead of Dunne and Oliver Geothe, while Martinius Stenshorne took fourth place ahead of Laurens Van Hoepen, Noel Leon, Leonardo Fornaroli, Dino Beganovic, Arvid Lindblad and Tim Tramnitiz who closed the points.
Mari Boya, F3
Feature race: Lindblad is the first to win two races
Arvid Lindblad became the first driver this season to win two races, recording a comfortable victory four seconds ahead of Christian Mansell, in what was the 100th Formula 3 race after the name change from GP3 a few years ago does.
After the victory in the opening sprint race of the season in Bahrain, Lindblad took the lead in the Spanish race, also taking fourth place in the standings, just 13 points behind the new championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli, who inherited the lead from Gabriele Minì .
Starting from pole position for the first time in F3, Mansell made a perfect start to lead the field into the first corner without running into any major dangers. But after extending his lead to over a second, Lindblad managed to quickly close that gap by putting himself within range of the ART driver’s DRS, with his first lunge on lap four.
Compared to the sprint race, temperatures on Sunday were noticeably cooler, with a risk of rain that persisted throughout the race, so much so that the riders even reported a few drops from the sky. After attempting an initial attack on Mansell, the Prema driver wasted no time in executing his move, using DRS to force the inside of Turn 1 on lap five, with a maneuver that allowed him to take the lead.
Arvid Lindblad, Prema Racing
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Behind him, however, there was no shortage of overtaking, because a few minutes later Luke Browning also overtook Nikola Tsolov’s ART for third place. Gabriele Mini had arrived in Spain as championship leader after victory in the Monaco race, but his difficult weekend in Barcelona continued when he reported something of a technical problem with his car. The Italian’s difficulties were such that in the end he finished in twenty-first position, which led him to not score a single point over the course of this weekend: a hard blow, especially because Minì had been one of the most consistent drivers until this point of the championship.
Just before the halfway point of the race, Hitech began to suggest to Browning that he should attack Mansell if the tires allowed it, so as not to let Lindblad escape too much at the head of the race. The twist came on lap fifteen, with conditions officially declared wet, so much so that Mansell signaled the arrival of rain in the final sector.
However, there was never really a challenge between Mansell and Browning, as the gap remained at least two seconds apart. On the contrary, the Briton was forced to manage the threat coming from behind, when Leonardo Fornaroli, who had passed Tsolov for fourth position, closed back to under a second, coming significantly closer with a superior pace.
Fornaroli made his move on Browning in Turn 1 of the final lap, passing side by side at the chicane before finally completing the pass in Turn 3. With his tires now at their limit due to less than stellar handling, Browning slipped at the behind Oliver Goethe, finishing in fifth place.
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