Colapinto Claims Emotional Victory at Rain-Soaked F3 Sprint Race in Silverstone

The FIA Formula 3 championship’s visit to Silverstone started its running with practice and qualifying on a sunny British day. Luke Browning for Hitech GP finished first during practice with a lap time of 1.45.794 on a dry but green track due the series being the first track action of a packed weekend.

However, in qualifying it was Leonardo Fornaroli who set the pole time with a lap time of 1.45.520, ahead of Oliver Goethe in second and Josep Maria Marti in third. The Sprint race saw Sebastian Montoya on the reverse grid pole with Jonny Edgar alongside, and Taylor Barnard in third.

On Saturday morning showers littered the team’s radar including the rain hitting the track at the scheduled start time for the Sprint race. Playing it safe, the officials delayed the start to 9:30 BST to allow the teams to change tires, however Gregor Saucy took the gamble to start on wets.

At the start of the Sprint race, the front row got away evenly with Montoya leading the first lap; Taylor Barnard went around the outside of Abbey overtaking Edgar and slotting into second. Marti overtook his teammate Mansell going into the Maggots-Becketts complex, but other than the moves at the front, it was an uneventful start.

On lap six, championship leader Gabriele Bortoleto overtook the Hitech of Luke Browning going into Stowe and finishing the move into Vale. However, more showers started to appear on the radar and by lap nine they arrived with such intensity that the safety car was deployed until the shower passed.

Some drivers took this opportunity to pit for wet tires, something not normally seen in Formula 3. These drivers included the Prema trio of Dino Beganovic, Paul Aron, and O’Sullivan.

The safety car came at the end of lap 12 and on a damp track, Barnard out-braked himself going into Abbey and spun Montoya around, losing positions, with Franco Colapinto capitalising on the incident, taking the lead. With the Prema cars closing the gap on wet tyres, it would’ve been difficult to keep the lead, however, the track dried quickly and the trio quickly wore out their tires.

As the chequered flag came out, it was Colapinto with an emotional win for MP motorsport after the events at the FRECA race the weekend before, Bortoleto in second and Mansell taking a season-best third place. 

Race winner and Williams Academy driver Colapinto was delighted with the result, “Super good race, super happy with the points and win. It was really tricky with the rain out there on the slicks and trying to make the right decision with the strategy, but the team did an amazing job, I just had to drive the car.

“We were really good today in terms of pace and I’m just super happy with the points. This one is for Dilano and for all his family and friend and all of MP Motorsport. We’re going through a difficult couple of days, so this one is for him and everyone in out there in Argentina, thank you for the support.” he added.

Mansell said after the race, “To get onto the podium in my rookie season is a great result, so now we can kick on and keep being a regular part of these battles up the field. We got the calls right in the rain throughout and that was a key part of the Sprint, and it was a very emotional podium for all of us after the events of Spa the previous week.” 

Oliver Goethe Wins in the Dry/Wet Formula 3 Feature Race

Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited

The second and longer feature race started under cloudy but dry conditions and it was a Trident one-two from the grid with Fornaroli and Goethe. The two started equally and it was another uneventful start until the Vale and Club corners.

First at Vale Collet and Edgar collided and Collet was spun around, breaking the front wing of Edgar; and then further down the field Hugh Barter and Luke Browning collided, breaking the suspension of Browning and leaving him perpendicular to the racing line causing the safety car to be deployed.

On lap eleven Gabriele Mini passed Franco Colapinto going into Stowe, and then on lap fifteen, after threatening for most of the race Oliver Goethe used DRS and overtook Fornaroli going into Brooklands to take the lead.

However, the teams started noticing rain coming in, which was forecasted to hit close to the end of the race. But on lap seventeen umbrellas, coats, and ponchos started appearing in the crowd signaling rain for the teams.

On lap ninteen, Roberto Faria was racing with the VAR of Tommy Smith, the two made contact and Faira ended up in the wall and Luffield. At this point, more rain started to fall but only Smith risked a stop.

At this point, the time limit to get the race finished was approaching, risking a finish under the safety car, thankfully the marshals worked quickly to clear the scene of the accident and the green flag came out with two laps of racing remaining on a very damp track.

This allowed Smith to go from the lower edges of the grid to eleventh place by the chequered flag. At the front of the pack, it was Oliver Goethe who took the victory, Leonardo Fornaroli in second place, and Pepe Marti in third place. 

Talking after the race, Goethe said, “I’m delighted to be honest. It was a really tricky race, it started raining at the end and we stayed on slicks. It was a scary one but so happy with the win here.”

Results: Sprint race 

Pos.	#	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time
1.	10	Franco Colapinto	Arg.	MP Motorsport	37:17.100
2.	5	Gabriele Bortoleto	BRA	Trident	37:20.830
3.	24	Christian Mansell	GB	Campos	37:22.940
4.	17	Caio Collet	BRA	CAR	37:23.343
5.	15	Gabrielli Mini	ITA	Hitech	37::31.654
6.	25	Hugh Barter	AUS	Campos	37:34.595
7.	4	Leonardo fornaroli	ITA	Trident	37:36.701
8.	14	Sebastien Montoya	COL	Hitech	37:40.734
9.	22	Ido Cohen	ISR	Carlin	37:59.179
10.	23	Josep maria Marti	ESP	Campos	38:09.827
11.	28	Alejandro Garcia	MEX	Jenzer	38:09.917
12.	1	Paul Aron	FIN	Prema	38:10.487
13..	2	Dino Beganovic	SWE	Prema	38:11.388
14.	16	Luke Browning	GB	Hitech	38:11.942
15.	9	Nikoli Tsolov	BGR	ART	38:13.053
16.	3	Zak O’Sulivan	GB	Prema	38:14.594
17.	6	Oliver Gothe	DEN	Trident	38:15.594
18.	26	Nikita Bedrin	ITA	Jenzer	38:23.589
19.	29	Sophia Floersch	GER	PHM by Charouz	38:24.875
20.	18	Raphael Villagomez	MEX	VAR	38:26.965
21.	8	Gregor Saucy	FRA	ART	38:28.891
22.	7	Kalen Fredrick	USA	ART	38:21.099
23.	31	Mackenzy Cresswell	GBR	PHM by Charouz	38:32.057
24.	21	Max Esterson	USA	Carlin	38:33.545
25.	20	Oliver Grey	GBR	Carlin	38:33.742
26.	19	Tommy Smith	AUS	VAR	38:49.062
27.	30	Roberto Faria	BRA	PHM by Charouz	38:49.104
28.	11	Mari Boya	ESP	MP Motorsport	39:03.177
29.	12	Jonny Edgar	GBR	MP Motorsport	39:00.146
30.	27	Taylor Barnard	GBR	Jenzer	39.17.722

Notes:

Ido Cohen received a 10-second-time penalty for causing a collision with Tommy Smith  Nikita Bedrin, Oliver Grey, and Roberto Fario received 5-second penalties for Track limit violations   Mari Boya received a 35-second time penalty for track limits.  Taylor Barnard received a 10-second time penalty for a collision with Sebastien Montoya 

Results: Feature race 

Pos.	#	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time
1.	6	Oliver Goethe	DEN	Trident	47:40.009
2.	4	Leonardo Fornaroli	ITA	Triden	47:41.729
3.	23	Josep Maria Marti	ESP	Campos	47:42.137
4.	1	Paul Aron	EST	Prema	47:44.393
5.	24	Christian Mansell	GBR	Campos	47:45.977
6.	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	BRA	Trident	47:47.343
7.	15	Gabriele Mini	ITA	Hitech	47:48.006
8.	10	Franco Colapinto	ARG	MP Motorsport	47:48.538
9.	8	Gregor Saucy	FRA	ART	47:50.027
10.	14	Sebastian Montoya	COL	Hitech	47:51.767
11.	9	Nikola Tsolov	BGR	ART	47:52.157
12.	11	Mari Boya	ESP	MP Motorsport	47:52.709
13.	25	Hugh Barter	AUS	Campos	47:53.178
14.	2	Dino Beganovic	SWE	Prema	47:54.084
15.	17	Caio Collet	BRA	VAR	47:54.689
16.	18	Rafeal Villagomez	MEX	VAR	47:54.776
17.	26	Nikita Bedrin	ITA	Jenzer	47:55.505
18.	3	Zak O’Sullivan	GBR	Prema	47:55.817
19.	7	Kaylen Fredrick	USA	ART	47:56.490
20.	20	Oliver Grey	GBR	Carlin	47:58.076
21.	27	Taylor Barnard	GBR	Jenzer	47:58.923
22.	31	McKenzy Cresswell	GBR	PHM by Charouz	48:00.317
23.	29	Sophia Floersch	GER	PHM by Charouz	48:00.732
24.	22	Ido Cohen	ISR	Carlin	48:02.922
25.	19	Tommy Smith	AUS	VAR	48:05.201
26.	28	Alexandro Garcia	MEX	Jenzer	48:06.910
–	30	Roberto Faria	BRA	PHM by Charouz	Retired
–	21	Max Esterson	USA	Carlin	Retired
–	12	Jonny Edgar	GBR	MP Motorsport	Not classified
–	16	Luke browning	GBR	Hitech	Retired

Notes: 

Caio Collet received a 5-second time penalty for overtaking Ido Cohen off the track.  Tommy Smith Received a 15-second time penalty for track limit violations.