Martins re-takes FIA F3 Championship lead with Spain Feature Race win

Victor Martins took his second win of the FIA Formula 3 Championship season in the Feature Race in Barcelona on Sunday morning.

Roman Stanek led the field away from the line, ahead of Martins, Alexander Smolyar and Isack Hadjar.

Everyone made a clean start, with Martins wasting no time in getting around the outside of Stanek at Turn 1 and finishing the move off at Turn 2 to take the lead.

Zak O’Sullivan and Reece Ushijima tangled exiting Turn 12, as they did a couple of times in the 2021 GB3 Championship. The stewards deemed no further action was necessary, with GB3 champion O’Sullivan sitting 16th after starting 18th.

Ushijima’s Van Amersfoort Racing team-mate Rafael Villagomez crashed out on Lap 3 at the same corner after colliding with Kush Maini, scrambling the safety car.

Racing resumed on Lap 8, and Jak Crawford got past his compatriot Kaylen Frederick into Turn 1, with Arthur Leclerc trying to take advantage around the outside of Turn 3.

Kush Maini received a ten-second time penalty for the contact which ended Villagomez’ race.

Leclerc didn’t make his characteristic charge through the field in the first half of the race, falling from fifth to ninth by the end of Lap 9.

Brad Benavides found himself in the wall at Turn 2, bringing the safety car back out.

Racing resumed for a second time on Lap 15, with Sprint Race winner David Vidales and Leclerc tangling at Turn 1 and both running across the runoff.

Vidales would later retire with suspension damage, as the Spanish driver managed to bring the car back to the pits.

The other Campos Racing cars were in action behind, as Hunter Yeany sent it down the inside of Josep Maria Marti but made contact and got front wing damage as Martin went into the gravel.

Leclerc managed to get into the top ten and into the points despite Juan Manuel Correa squeezing him onto the grass before Turn 1, but the Monegasque driver had a penalty hanging over him after his earlier incident with Vidales.

Correa retook the position later on Lap 20, which opened the door for a great battle between Prema Racing‘s Leclerc and Correa’s ART Grand Prix team-mate Gregoire Saucy.

Yeany also received a five-second penalty for his collision with Marti as Frederick narrowly avoided contact with Franco Colapinto at Turn 2 on Lap 22.

Colapinto was on a late charge, trying to get past Sprint Race podium finisher Caio Collet into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, but MP Motorsport‘s Brazilian driver won that South American battle.

Victor Martins came home to take the win, with Stanek and Hadjar completing the podium.

Alexander Smolyar led Oliver Bearman in fourth, with Crawford, Collet, Colapinto, Frederick and Correa rounding out the top ten.

Zane Maloney made a stunning recovery from his second pit-lane start of the weekend to finish 13th, narrowly missing out on points.

FIA Formula 3 Championship Feature Race Results – Barcelona:

Pos.	No.	Name	Nat.	Team	Laps/Gap
1	7	Victor Martins	FRA	ART Grand Prix	24 laps
2	2	Roman Stanek	CZE	Trident	+2.3s
3	18	Isack Hadjar	FRA	Hitech GP	+3.0s
4	11	Alexander Smolyar	FIA	MP Motorsport	+3.6s
5	6	Oliver Bearman	GBR	Prema Racing	+4.3s
6	5	Jak Crawford	USA	Prema Racing	+5.4s
7	10	Caio Collet	BRA	MP Motorsport	+6.6s
8	29	Franco Colapinto	ARG	Van Amersfoort Racing	+6.8s
9	17	Kaylen Frederick	USA	Hitech GP	+8.4s
10	9	Juan Manuel Correa	USA	ART Grand Prix	+12.0s
11	8	Gregoire Saucy	SUI	ART Grand Prix	+14.1s
12	25	William Alatalo	FIN	Jenzer Motorsport	+15.2s
13	3	Zane Maloney	BAR	Trident	+17.5s
14	4	Arthur Leclerc	MON	Prema Racing	+18.3s
15	1	Oliver Rasmussen	DEN	Trident	+18.7s
16	15	Lirim Zendeli	GER	Charouz Racing System	+21.2s
17	23	Ido Cohen	ISR	Jenzer Motorsport	+26.0s
18	16	Francesco Pizzi	ITA	Charouz Racing System	+26.6s
19	19	Nazim Azman	MAL	Hitech GP	+27.8s
20	31	Reece Ushijima	JPN	Van Amersfoort Racing	+28.2s
21	22	Josep Maria Marti	SPA	Campos Racing	+28.4s
22	24	Federico Malvestiti	ITA	Jenzer Motorsport	+29.7s
23	28	Enzo Trulli	ITA	Carlin	+29.9s
24	14	Laszlo Toth	HUN	Charouz Racing System	+31.1s
25	12	Kush Maini	IND	MP Motorsport	+54.8s
26	21	Hunter Yeany	USA	Campos Racing	+85.4s
27	26	Zak O’Sullivan	GBR	Carlin	DNF (damage)
28	20	David Vidales	SPA	Campos Racing	DNF (damage)
29	27	Brad Benavides	USA	Carlin	DNF (crash)
30	30	Rafael Villagomez	MEX	Van Amersfoort Racing	DNF (crash)