Hadjar wins Silverstone FIA F3 Sprint Race with late pass

Isack Hadjar took his second win in the FIA Formula 3 Championship as he led home Victor Martins and Reece Ushijima at Silverstone on Saturday morning.

The Hitech GP driver started fourth on the reversed grid, behind Ushijima, Martins and Kush Maini.

Brad Benavides slowed on the formation lap, but continued past the National pitlane meaning the start was aborted and the drivers set off on a second tour around the circuit before the lights went green.

Martins jumped Ushijima into Abbey, while Kush Maini tried to get around the outside at Village but couldn’t find a way through.

The whole field made it through Lap 1 cleanly, despite Filip Ugran going three-wide on the run into Copse on his return to FIA F3.

Oliver Bearman was squeezed onto the kerb on the exit of Vale as he tried to get past Zane Maloney..

The Charouz Racing System pair of Laszlo Toth and Zdenek Chovanec were under investigation early on for starting out of position.

Reece Ushijima had a look around the outside of Martins into Stowe on Lap 4 but couldn’t get through, but Isack Hadjar was able to get past Maini towards the end of the lap.

Ushijima had another go at the same corner a lap later, being forced wide into the run-off area, but he couldn’t get ahead into Vale.

Benavides finally got out on track for an 11-lap test session with the rest of the field six laps ahead of him.

Having cleared the MP Motorsport car of Maini, Hadjar closed the gap to Ushijima ahead to make it a three-way fight for the lead just before the halfway stage.

The French driver had been gaining on Ushijima by as much as four tenths a lap, trying to find a way around the outside at Copse.

When that didn’t work, he had another look into Maggotts and Becketts, eventually taking second into Stowe on Lap 8.

The three Prema Racing drivers ran line astern on Lap 9, with Jak Crawford leading Arthur Leclerc and Bearman.

Toth and Chovanec collided at Club later on the same lap, and found themselves stranded in the middle of the circuit to scramble the safety car.

Chovanec was out on the spot, while Toth was able to struggle through a full lap to get back to the pits, with the incident being investigated after the race.

Racing resumed on Lap 13, with DRS not being enabled again until Lap 15.

Pepe Marti started from the back of the grid after difficulties in Qualifying, but made up ten positions to P20 by the end of Lap 13.

Federico Malvestiti ran wide on the exit of Luffield, bouncing across the gravel but managing to rejoin.

David Vidales got past Franco Colapinto into Vale on Lap 15, bringing Feature Race polesitter Zak O’Sullivan into the battle for P12.

Meanwhile, a battle royale was brewing between the two French drivers at the front, with Ushijima hanging onto Hadjar’s gearbox in turn.

Hadjar got around the outside at Stowe in a stunning move on Lap 16 and started the final lap in the lead.

The Red Bull junior held on for the final lap to win the Sprint Race, setting the fastest final sector time in the process.

Martins came home second ahead of Ushijima, with 2020 BRDC British Formula 3 title rivals Maini and Kaylen Frederick finishing fourth and fifth.

FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race Silverstone Results

Pos.	No.	Name	Nat.	Team	Laps/Gap
1	18	Isack Hadjar	FRA	Hitech GP	17 laps
2	7	Victor Martins	FRA	ART Grand Prix	+0.7s
3	31	Reece Ushijima	GBR	Van Amersfoort Racing	+1.3s
4	12	Kush Maini	IND	MP Motorsport	+2.9s
5	17	Kaylen Frederick	USA	Hitech GP	+5.8s
6	2	Roman Stanek	CZE	Trident	+6.5s
7	3	Zane Maloney	BAR	Trident	+7.2s
8	4	Arthur Leclerc	MON	Prema Racing	+7.6s
9	6	Oliver Bearman	GBR	Prema Racing	+7.9s
10	5	Jak Crawford	USA	Prema Racing	+8.5s
11	10	Caio Collet	BRA	MP Motorsport	+9.2s
12	20	David Vidales	SPA	Campos Racing	+10.9s
13	29	Franco Colapinto	ARG	Van Amersfoort Racing	+11.2s
14	26	Zak O’Sullivan	GBR	Carlin	+12.3s
15	1	Jonny Edgar	GBR	Trident	+12.9s
16	21	Hunter Yeany	USA	Campos Racing	+13.3s
17	23	Ido Cohen	ISR	Jenzer Motorsport	+14.0s
18	8	Gregoire Saucy	SUI	ART Grand Prix	+14.3s
19	25	William Alatalo	FIN	Jenzer Motorsport	+14.9s
20	22	Pepe Marti	SPA	Campos Racing	+15.2s
21	9	Juan Manuel Correa	USA	ART Grand Prix	+16.9s
22	19	Nazim Azman	MAL	Hitech GP	+17.7s
23	30	Rafael Villagomez	MEX	Van Amersfoort Racing	+18.2s
24	11	Filip Ugran	ROM	MP Motorsport	+18.9s
25	16	Francesco Pizzi	ITA	Charouz Racing System	+21.1s
26	24	Federico Malvestiti	ITA	Jenzer Motorsport	+21.3s
27	28	Enzo Trulli	ITA	Carlin	+23.3s
28	27	Brad Benavides	USA	Carlin	+6 laps
29	14	Laszlo Toth	HUN	Charouz Racing	DNF (crash)
30	15	Zdenek Chovanec	VEN	Charouz Racing System	DNF (crash)