Unstable balance. The title of the Stadio song best represents the current situation in Formula 3 after the second round of Imola. Flashes of genius, sensational mistakes and equally sensational strokes of luck made the appointment on the Emilian track exciting, bringing out little-known names to the general public, such as those of Franco Colapinto and Isack Hadjar, and confirming all the qualities already seen last year in Roman Stanek and Jak Crawford despite not having a first level technical material.
The Argentine of Van Amersfoort Racing obtained the success in the first race of the weekend, managing to take advantage of two neutralizations with the safety car that put a patch on a tire management still to be perfected, while the French of Hitech GP, unlucky in Race 1 later overtaking masterpiece, he was rewarded with the third step of the podium in Race 2 thanks to the contact in the final between Bearman and Saucy.
The episodes of the Imola weekend resulted in the creation of a very short championship standings with as many as 6 drivers enclosed in just 5 points. Leading the ranking is Victor Martins, author of an absolutely opaque weekend but graced with second place in Race 1 after the controversial Collet – Hadjar contact in the final, which allowed him to maintain the leadership of the classification, but behind the Frenchman they start to arrive the names expected on the eve.
Roman Stanek, who in Trident seems to finally have the opportunity to show all his talent, managed to move up to second position just one point behind him and is followed by a Jak Crawford who understood how consistency of performance could be the key. for the title win. A third and a second place allowed the American of the PREMA to move to third position on equal points with an Arthur Leclerc once again to be reviewed in qualifying and absolutely flawless in the race.
F3, Imola: Maloney emerges from the chaos in qualifying
The weather conditions terribly complicated the work of the drivers on the track. The rain, in fact, made the track of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari very treacherous and many made mistakes that proved to be decisive.
Many, but not Zane Maloney. The Barbadian driver showed strong nerves and a lot of speed, winning his first pole in Formula 3 at the second round of the season. Thanks to a time of 1’41 ” 180, the Trident team driver was the only one to go under the 1’42 ” and adjusted his teammate Stanek by giving him 1 tenth.
“It was a chaotic session. As a team we only did one lap because we waited for a while in the pitlane, so we had no reference. However, we were aware that by running the others the track would dry out a bit and the times would drop. It was a question of entering the track at the end ”.
“I honestly didn’t think I got pole until it was communicated to me on the radio. I didn’t feel like I had done the best lap of my career and I was quite annoyed with myself. In these conditions, however, you don’t have to make a perfect lap but you have to try to put everything together ”.
F3, Imola: Colapinto gives the first joy to Van Amersfoort Racing
The first race of the weekend was intense, full of twists and turns, and in the end it was one of the riders who, in recent months, we had indicated as an outsider: Franco Colapinto, who won.
The Argentine, after taking pole in the inaugural round in Bahrain, managed to take his first victory in Formula 3 at the end of a race in which he read every situation very well.
After having to hand over the lead to Caio Collet, Colapinto was helped by the neutralizations with the safety car which effectively canceled the gap that the Brazilian of MP Motorsport had managed to build.
If at the first restart the Argentine was not able to stay in the wake of the race leader, at the second, which took place a few laps from the end, Colapinto made the most of the DRS by taking the Brazilian’s wake and then returning to the lead and passing alone under the checkered flag.
Franco Colapinto, Van Amersfoort Racing
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
“I am proud of all the efforts the team has made to achieve this victory,” said the Argentine immediately after the race. “In qualifying we struggled a bit and that’s why I started from pole with the grid reversed, but the pace in the race was really consistent”.
“Caio overtook me at the beginning because I was in a bit of a crisis with the tires, but when they got up to temperature the situation changed and I had a chance to fight for the win. I tried to stay in the DRS area as Victor did with me in Bahrain and in the end I found myself with better performing tires and I managed to attack him in the last laps “
Race thrown to the winds, however, for Collet. The Brazilian of MP Motorsport now seemed certain to get on the podium, but made a serious error of judgment when Isack Hadjar tried to mock him on the last lap.
The Frenchman of Hitech GP, a real driver of the day in Race 1, delighted the public with masterpiece overtaking on the track, and when the green flag returned to wave he tried to mock Collet outside the Tamburello.
The MP Motorsport driver, however, did not check in the mirrors and closed the trajectory ending up colliding with Hadjar. Result? The Frenchman collapsed from third to fifth position, while Collet was forced to retire.
A Victor Martins (2nd) kissed by luck even at the end of a race decidedly below expectations took advantage of the episode, and a Jak Crawford (3rd) author of a good comeback from ninth place which allowed him to conquer the first podium of the season with the PREMA team.
F3, Imola: Maloney throws Race 2 to the wind, Stanek takes advantage of it
The second race of the weekend started on a track made wet by the rain that fell during the night which confused some riders’ ideas. Colapinto, Collet, Marti and Trulli, in fact, decided to start with wet tires, but the choice was not suitable and, also thanks to a first neutralization with the safety car, the alternative strategy went to be blessed.
Starting with slick tires was the correct choice and this was confirmed by the Trident team who saw Maloney and Stanek keep the lead once the situation was normalized. For the Italian team, however, the possibility of hitting a double in the home race vanished a few laps from the end when the safety car returned to the track to allow the stewards to remove the Benavides car which had crashed after losing the front wing.
At the restart, the driver from Barbados, busy warming up the tires, sensationally lost control of his car at the Rivazza and ended up switching off the engine amid the disbelief of his rivals and the men of the Trident wall.
Isack Hadjar, Hitech Grand Prix
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
To take advantage of it was Bearman who tried to take off, but the PREMA rookie asked too much of his cover and in the final Stanek was ruthless in overtaking him and thus obtaining the first success of the season.
“It was a great race,” said the Trident team driver immediately after leaving the cockpit of his car. “From the beginning I had a great pace and when I managed to overtake Oliver I ran away and we won the race. I am really happy and I have to thank the team. Now we have to keep pushing in view of the next appointment ”.
For Bearman, however, the situation worsened shortly after. Once in Crawford’s sights, the PREMA rookie struggled to manage the pressure of the group behind him and when Saucy tried to overtake him outside the Rivazza on the last lap the Englishman from the Ferrari Driver Academy lost control. of his car passing on the curb and then ending up against the innocent Swiss of the ART Grand Prix and forcing him to retire.
Bearman managed to limit the damage by crossing the finish line in fourth position in front of an Arthur Leclerc who once again made a masterpiece comeback from 21st place.
At the end of the second round of the season, the drivers’ classification sees Martins still in the lead with a loot of 34 points, but the Frenchman of the ART Grand Prix is followed by Stanek only one length behind, while Crawford is in third place at 32 points. Leclerc ahead of Hadjar with 31 points and Bearman with 29.
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