2023 Melbourne Formula 3 round
The 2023 Melbourne FIA Formula 3 round was a motor racing event held between 31 March and 2 April 2023 at the Albert Park Circuit. It was the second round of the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship and was held in support of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.
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| Round 2 of 10 in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location | Albert Park Circuit Melbourne, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course | Temporary street circuit 5.278 km (3.280 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sprint race | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Feature Race | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Report
Background
The FIA Formula 3 championship made its debut in Australia alongside fellow feeder series, FIA Formula 2 Championship, supporting the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit.[1]
Championship standings before the round
Going into the round, Trident's Gabriel Bortoleto took the lead in the standings by 26 points, three points over fellow rookie and teammate Oliver Goethe. Dino Beganovic (also a rookie driver) was ranked third with 22 points.[2]
After the opening round, Trident has already build up a comfortable lead in the Teams' Standings with 52 points, twenty-four points ahead of reigning Teams' Champion Prema Racing in second place. ART Grand Prix was the third-ranked team with 22 points.[3]
Qualifying
The maiden qualifying session of Formula 3 in Down Under was red-flagged twice. The most notable red flag was the first one appearing when Pepe Martí ran wide into turn 10 and was therefore not able to avoid contact with the barrier, ending his qualifying session prematurely after just six minutes. Meanwhile, Franco Colapinto set the fastest time with 1:33.588, just 0.012 seconds faster than Zak O'Sullivan. When qualifying arrived in its final stage, the majority of the drivers went on to improve their times like championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, who took pole position with a 1:33.025 by nearly two tenths of Grégoire Saucy in second, with previous polesitter Gabriele Minì qualifying in third. Caio Collet qualified tenth and took reverse grid pole for Saturday's Sprint Race.[4]
Sprint race
An eventful maiden race occurred at Albert Park, with polesitter Sebastián Montoya having a great launch at the start ahead of Oliver Goethe and Luke Browning. However, both drivers collided shortly after the start, prematurely ending Goethe's race after a few corners with a left-rear puncture. When the first Safety Car period ended, both Hitech drivers Montoya and Browning found themselves in a tough battle for the lead and nearly causing them to make contact into turn 8, with Franco Colapinto taking benefit by inheritng P2 from Browning in order to chase down Montoya. On lap 6, the Argentinian driver was then able to overtake Montoya as the Safety Car once again came out after a big accident from Ido Cohen. In the final stages of the race, Colapinto then was able to build a gap to the rest of the field, whilst Montoya was busy fighting against Zak O'Sullivan for second place, with the British driver going around the outside of Montoya on turn 11 with three laps remaining, before the third Safety Car period once again put the field together. The race finished behind the Safety Car, meaning that Colapinto took the checkered flag first ahead of O'Sullivan and Montoya. However, his effort turned out to be meaningless after he has been disqualified for a technical infringement alongside his teammamtes Mari Boya and Jonny Edgar, who finished ninth and eleventh respectively. Following Colapinto's disqualification, O'Sullivan inherited the win to take his maiden victory in Formula 3, whilst Montoya and Paul Aron (who moved up from fourth to third) celebrated their first F3 podium.[5]
Feature race
In another eventful and heated race, it was Gabriel Bortoleto who kept a cool head and got himself an immediate getaway from Grégoire Saucy and Gabriele Minì. The early stages of the race turned out to be very eventful, when several incidents happened. The most notable incidents were the retirements of Sebastián Montoya, Mari Boya and Franco Colapinto, who were all involved in separate collisions. Boya even was sent airborne on his opening lap crash with Nikola Tsolov. Tsolov should later be involved in another incident, when he collided with Kaylen Frederick under the Safety Car. However, with the Safety Car ending and the race resuming, Bortoleto was able to held off the challenge from Saucy, as he took the checkered flag to become the first driver in FIA Formula 3 to win the first two consecutive Feature Races ahead of Saucy and Minì. Leonardo Fornaroli, Zak O'Sullivan and Paul Aron managed to retain their starting positions in the end, finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Most notably, Pepe Martí remarkably finished seventh after both starting from P30 and taking benefit by some time penalties for drivers such as Luke Browning or Dino Beganovic. Taylor Barnard also took benefit from the chaos to finish ninth, taking his first points in FIA Formula 3.[6][7]
Classification
Qualifying
Notes:
- ^1 – Hunter Yeany originally qualified 22nd by setting a lap time of 1:35.132, but was given a 10-place grid drop for Saturday's Sprint Race and his time was deleted as he was found to be significantally speeding under double yellow flag conditions while setting his fastest lap time. As a result, the penalty dropped him to P26 in the final classification and to P29 for the Sprint Race.[11]
- ^2 – Tommy Smith originally qualified 28th, but was given a carrying penalty from the Sakhir Feature Race for his involvement in two incidents. For both, he was assigned a three-place grid drop and a ten-second time-penalty, with the latter being converted into another three-place grid drop. However, the penalty will not have any effect of his grid position as Yeany got penalised and Pepe Martí did not set a time during qualifying.[12]
- ^3 – Pepe Martí failed to set any valid time after crashing at the opening stages of qualifying, but was later given permission to start both races from the back of the grid.
Sprint race
Notes
- ^1 – Franco Colapinto, Mari Boya and Jonny Edgar all have been disqualified from the Sprint Race as it was found the suspension keels on all three MP Motorsport cars did not conform to regulations. Following Colapinto's disqualification, Zak O'Sullivan inherited the win and Luke Browning was subsequently credited fastest lap. However, Christian Mansell received the fastest lap point as he posted the fastest lap among the drivers classified among the top ten.[13]
Feature race
Notes
- ^1 – Luke Browning originally finished sixth, but was later given a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Franco Colapinto, dropping him down to eighth.[14]
- ^2 – Dino Beganovic originally finished eighth, but was later given a ten-second time-penalty for causing a collision with Caio Collet, dropping him out of the points in thirteenth.[14]
- ^3 – Nikita Bedrin retired from the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Standings after the event
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
Notes
References
- "FIA Formula 3 to race in Melbourne from 2023". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- "F3 Drivers' Championship – Sakhir 2023" (PDF). FIA. 5 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- "F3 Teams' Championship – Sakhir 2023" (PDF). FIA. 5 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- "QUALIFYING: Bortoleto on pole in Red Flag-affected session". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- "SPRINT RACE: Colapinto takes measured win amidst the drama in Melbourne". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- "FEATURE RACE: Bortoleto keeps perfect Feature Race record with Melbourne win". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
- Klein, Jamie (2 April 2023). "F3 Australia: Bortoleto wins back-to-back feature races". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
- "Christian Mansell". fiaformula3.com. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- "Nikita Bedrin". fiaformula3.com. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- "Formula 3 2023 Result for Round 2 : Australia, Melbourne 31 March–2 April 2023". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- "Hunter Yeany receives post-Qualifying grid penalty". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- "Sakhir Post-Feature Race penalties". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- "Colapinto loses Sprint Race win after technical infringement". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- "Melbourne post-Feature Race penalties". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2 April 2023.