Austria F2 & F3 Review: Bearman wins and other stories

Both Formula 2, known as the official feeder series of Formula 1 and Formula 3 have failed to produce a dominant driver of the season.

There is no new Piastri or a Russell. Entering the Red Bull Ring the past weekend, after 12 races only two drivers, Zane Maloney, and Isack Hadjar, had scored more than a single victory in Formula 2. In this day and age, the ticket to Formula 1 is championship success in your Formula 2 rookie season. Here's looking at you kid, Pourchaire.

In Formula 3, Arvid Lindblad, a Red Bull junior, became the first two-time winner in Formula 3 after 10 races.

Norwegian Dennis Hauger held off Paraguayan Joshua Dürksen by .008s to grab his second pole position of the season. Latin neighbors Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto and Argentine Franco Colapinto were side-by-side on row two.

In the closing minutes of qualifying championship leader Paul Aaron spun but was able to continue. The Estonian Mercedes Junior qualified fifth. French Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar and second in the championship was seventh fastest in qualifying.

Oliver Bearman, hoping to be confirmed as HaasF1 driver for 2025 at his home grand prix was 9th. His Prema teammate and fellow F1 hopeful for next season “Kimi” Antonelli, was 16th.

Zane Maloney, who had a perfect start to the season by winning both races in Bahrain, could only manage 20th on the grid.

The 28-lap race saw Indian racer Kush Maini start from a partial reverse grid pole position, sharing the front row with man looking for his first podium of the season, Oliver Bearman. He took off in the lead as the lights went out.

A mega hustle ensued behind Bearman for second. At the end of the opening lap the English Ferrari junior led from Red Bull junior “Pepe” Marti, Maini, Taylor Barnard, and championship leader Aron. Hadjar dropped to 12th after starting from fourth on the grid.

By Lap 5 Marti was 1.4s behind Bearman despite losing left front wing end plate after contact with Maini. Lap 7 Aron passed Barnard for fourth. The British driver then came under pressure from Brazilian Bortoleto. By now Marti was in DRS zone of race leader Bearman. Bortoleto into top five on Lap 9.

Halfway through the race, at the end of Lap 14, the top five were Bearman, Marti, Maini, Aron and Bortoleto. Colapinto was sixth and Dürksen seventh. Lap after lap Marti remained within DRS zone of Bearman but was unable to seriously threaten for the lead.

Likewise, Maini was unable to mount a challenge for the second step of the podium. Lap 19, American Jak Crawford, winner of the feature race in Barcelona, got into point paying position by taking tenth from Barnard.

Aron, posting fastest laps, was able to take third from Maini on Lap 21 and then Bortoleto demoted the Indian into fifth. The Brazilian McLaren junior put Aron under intense pressure for third, and Marti was less than .5s behind Bearman on Lap 25.

With two laps to go Bearman was able to claw back outside the DRS zone of Marti and went on to take his first podium and victory of the season. “Happy to be back on the podium, it’s been a tough run so far, so I’m happy to finally get a result that the team deserve,” said the Briton.

Marti had to settle for second. Aron radioed his team, “that was a fun race” after he successfully defended his third-place podium finish from Bortoleto.

Drama before the formation lap. Pole sitter Hauger, Maini and Crawford all stalled. And had to start from the pit lane. Dürksen - seeking his maiden win in F2 - led at the start of the 40-lap race. Top five at the end of the opening lap were Dürksen, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Aron and Hadjar. Sprint race winner Bearman was seventh and his Prema teammate Antonelli was tenth.

DRS was enabled on Lap 2 and by the next lap Bortoleto was threatening for the lead. On Lap 4 the Brazilian passed the Paraguayan driver for the lead. The top two in the championship Aaron and Hadjar were locked in spirited battle for fourth. Within two laps, Bortoleto had pulled out of the DRS zone, Dürksen lost second place to Colapinto on Lap 6. Dürksen’s pitstop on Lap 8 promoted Hadjar to fourth.

Several drivers came into the pits on Lap 9 for tyre change, including race leader and Antonelli. The Italian stalled and lost valuable time.

After the first dozen laps the top five were Colapinto, Bearman, Zak O’Sullivan, Belgian Amaury Cordeel and Czech racer Roman Stanek, all yet to pit. Antonelli was the last man running on the track. Lap 17 Aron was given a five second penalty for changing direction more than once.

At half distance, the race was over for Bearman as he slowed on the track and pulled into the pits. Top five were Colapinto, Cordeel, O'Sullivan, Crawford and Stanek. Net race leader, having made his pit stop, was Bortoleto. By Lap 21 Borteleto was in the top five, while Red Bull junior “Pepe” Marti was fighting tooth and nail with Stanek. Soon Marti had his teammate Hadjar breathing down his neck.

The French driver complained on team radio, “he did not defend on Bortoleto, but he's defending on me.”

Hadjar pleaded with the team to let him pass Marti for sixth so he could go after Bortoleto. The team requested the Spanish driver who obliged on Lap 27, with the understanding position would be given back if Hadjar could not pass Bortoleto. The top five still had to make mandatory pit stops.

With 10 laps to go, the order was Colapinto, Cordeel Crawford, Bortoleto and O'Sullivan. Hadjar was sixth less than two seconds behind Bortoleto but was complaining about his tyres.

Lap 32 Colapinto is called to the pits from the race lead. Others who had not pitted followed, and this put Bortoleto in the lead with yet-to-stop Crawford second, followed by Red Bull juniors, Hadjar and Marti in close combat with each other.

Firework was expected from Colapinto as he rejoined on super softs.

Hadjar requested three more laps before giving the position back to Marti. Top five with same number of laps remaining, Bortoleto. Hadjar, Marti, Aron, and fast-moving Colapinto on fresh tyres. Colapinto moved into fourth by passing Aron on Lap 38. Marti was told by his team to hold position as he was being investigated for VSC violation.

On the penultimate lap Colapinto passed Marti to get on the podium and on the final lap he also passed Hadjar but ran out of time to hunt down Bortoleto for the win.

“We had some opportunities earlier; I've had some mistakes that I couldn't get a win but finally we put everything together. We had a mega pace, mega car today. I'm so happy,” said Bortoleto in the post-race interview with Will Buxton.

The Brazilian McLaren junior’s first F2 win puts him third in the championship with 85 points. Hadjar is second with two wins and 106 points.

Aron is at the top of the standings with 117 points but still in pursuit of his first victory of the season. Nevertheless, impressive for a Rookie as he is racing against several second and third year F2 drivers.

F3 Qualifying: First pole position in F3 for British driver and Williams junior Luke Browning. Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad qualified second. Row two was German Tim Tramnitz and Sicilian Gabriele Mini. Row three had Swede Dino Beganovic and German Oliver Goethe. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli was 24th on the grid.

Australian Christian Mansell took the lead at the start from front row. Before the opening lap was completed Bulgarian Nicolai Tsolov took second place from pole sitter Martinius Stenshorne. Safety car was deployed as recently dropped Red Bull junior Casper Sztuka stopped on the track. Ferrari Junior Beganovic also spun on the opening lap but was able to continue.

Racing resumed on Lap 5. Top five Mansell, Tsolov, Stenshorne, Alex Dunne and Montoya. DRS was enabled on Lap 6. Tsolov took full advantage and going from the outside into Turn 4 on Lap 7 grabbed the lead from Mansell. At the end of Lap 10 less than two seconds covered the top five lead by Tsolov, Mansell, Stenshorne, Dunne and Sebastian Montoya.

Lap 15 Mansell passed Tsolov for the lead, but it only lasted one corner as on Turn 4 Tsolov returned the favor, again going on the outside. The ding-dong between the two continued with the Australian again going ahead on the following lap.

Then Montoya had a big crash. Driver climbed out on his own. He had been embroiled in an intense battle with Dunne. Before the Safety Car was deployed Mansell was passed by both Tsolov and Stenshorne in the same corner.

This happened because Mansell slowed as soon as he heard the Safety Car beep instead of slowing when the SC sign appeared on his display.

The track went green for the final lap. Tsolov kept his lead and pulled ahead of Stenshorne to a safe distance, and that is how the race finished giving him his second F3 victory of the season. Mansell took the third step of the podium. Dunne was fourth and Dutch driver Laurens van Hoepen completed the top five.

Luke Browning led the 26-lap F3 race from pole position. All thirty cars completed the opening lap without any body slamming so common in junior formulae. Browning was followed by fellow Brit Lindblad at the end of the opening lap.

Beganovic was third followed by Mini and Goethe. Mexican Noel Leon improved from 13^th on the grid to seventh. On Lap 2 Beganovic took second from Lindblad.

Top five after five laps were Browning, Beganovic, Lindblad, Mini and Goethe. Montoya was out after making contact with Tramnitz, who was given a 10s penalty. Upfront it was a close battle, the top three Browning, Beganovic and Mini were covered by one second. Lap 13 Leon goes off track and lost time coming out of the kitty litter.

Lap 15 Browning was leading but within DRS range of second place Beganovic. The Prema pilot was less than half a second ahead of Sicilian teammate Mini. The order remained the same on Lap 20 with a spirited battle developing between Mansell and Lindblad for sixth. Mansell moved into top five after passing Dunne, and a lap later passed Goethe for fourth.

Three laps to go the heat was on. F3 Sprint Race winner Tsolov sailed past Lindblad for seventh after some wheel banging. Browning was in control up front as Mini passed Beganovic to take second, who barely held on to the third step of the podium from a charging Mansell. Goethe was fifth.

Browning’s victory, the second of the season, takes him to the top of the F3 championship table. He leads with 106 points. Mini is second on 95 points. Leonardo Fornaroli lost his championship lead and slipped to third after scoring only two points in Austria.