Formula 2 & F3 Hungary: Antonelli aces in, Tsolov takes three
Non-F1 NewsTuesday, 23 July 2024 at 07:30
The FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships were on the Hungarian Grand Prix bill, with Mercedes protege Kimi Antonelli making good on the hype around him and while Nikola Tsolov took his third win of the season
The 30-minute qualifying session for Round 9 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship took place on a hot Friday afternoon at the Hungaroring.
Estonian Paul Aron, who led the championship most of the season till surrendering the lead to French driver Isack Hadjar, took his second feature race pole position of the season with the HiTech GP team. His pole time was 1:30.028.
Sharing the front row with him was VAR’s US-based Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi, who lapped the 4.38 km circuit in 1:30.096.
Row two was second-year driver and championship leader coming into Hungary, Hadjar for Campos Racing. Invicta’s impressive Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto qualified fourth. Row three was Alpine junior Victor Martins of the ART team and MP Motorsports Dennis Hauger.
Prema’s Andrea “Kimi” Antonelli qualified seventh with Rodin’s Zane Maloney eighth. The top ten of the grid was completed by Invicta’s Indian driver Kush Maini and Trident’s Dutch F2 veteran Richard Verschoor, his tenth qualifying position gave him pole position for Saturday’s Sprint race.
Prema team’s Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman, headed for F1 with Haas next season, qualified 14th.
Qualifying was red-flagged 19 minutes into the session following a spin by Red Bull junior “Pepe” Marti.
F2 Sprint Race: Verschoor DQed, Maini inherits win
Maloney third on the grid stalled on the formation lap and had to start from the back of the grid. A disappointing start to the weekend for the driver who has been winless since winning both the Sprint and Feature race in the opening round in Bahrain.
As the lights went out Verschoor from pole position got to the first turn in the lead. The Dutchman was on hard tyres and was chased in close pursuit by Antonelli on soft tyres. All 22 drivers completed the opening lap without anybody slamming, which is so common in junior Formulae. DRS was enabled on lap two and Antonelli made a lunge but was chopped off by Verschoor. It was obvious it was only a matter of time before the soft tyres would help the Mercedes junior take the lead.
The inevitable happened on Lap 4 as Antonelli took the lead going into Turn 1 and started pulling away. Verschoor in second was followed by Maini, Martins, Hauger and Bortoleto. Championship leader Hadjar was eighth on Lap 6 followed by Bearman and Colapinto in tenth. Antonelli’s advantage over Verschoor was over 2.2s. On Lap 7 Fittipaldi executed an impressive pass on the outside of fellow Brazilian Bortoleto to get into the top six.
At the end of Lap 10 of 28 top five were Antonelli, still outside the DRS zone of Verschoor in second, third was Maini, followed by Martins and Hauger. As the race approached halfway point Verschoor started eating slowly into Antonelli's lead.
On Lap 12 Hauger forced the issue to take fourth from Martins, but the French driver was able to keep his car ahead without any collateral damage. By now Verschoor had reduced Antonelli’s lead into DRS range and was hotly pursued by Maini. Both drivers, Verschoor and Maini, were on hard tyres.
The smoke signal from Antonelli’s lock-up indicated his tyres were losing traction. More lock-up from his front tyres on Lap 16 brought Verschoor even closer. Lap 17 massive lockup from Antonelli allowed both Verschoor and Maini through going into Turn 1.
On Turn 12 Martins got into the podium position by demoting Antonelli to fourth. More smoke and misery for him as Fittipaldi passed him for fourth and then very quickly the Italian was passed by Hadjar.
Prema team brought Antonelli into the pits for hard tyres on Lap 19. After 20 laps, the order was Verschoor leading from Maini, followed by Martins, Fittipaldi, Hauger, Hadjar, Colapinto and Bearman eighth. Antonelli's pit stop put him 22nd. On Lap 21,
Hauger’s failed attempt to grab fourth from Fittipaldi resulted in him losing his position to Hadjar with a quick opportunistic move on the outside by the French Red Bull junior.
The following lap he pulled out another on the outside move to take fourth from Fittipaldi. Emerson's grandson lost fifth position to Hauger on Lap 23 after an intense defense. On the next lap puncture forced Fittipaldi into the pits for fresh rubber.
Battle of the Brits on lap 25 saw Taylor Barnard snatch eighth place from Bearman. Lap 26 Bearman went into a corner sandwiched between DAMS’ American drivers, Jak Crawford, and Juan Manuel Correa. Despite some agricultural racing, all were able to continue.
There was a rush hour traffic scene on the final lap for positions outside the points. Up front, smooth sailing for Verschoor who took his fourth F2 victory. He becomes the 14th different driver to win a race this season. Maini was P2 and third step of the podium was taken by Martins.
In post-race scrutineering Verschoor's excellent work was chopped up and he was disqualified as the plank on his car was below the minimum specified thickness. Indian Maini inherits victory, Martins is promoted to second and Hadjar is the new third man on the podium.
Feature Race: Antonelli lives up to the hype
Strange situation for championship leader Hadjar as his team failed to get the car on the grid in the allocated time, forcing the French driver to start from the pit lane.
Early championship leader Aron started from pole position but dropped back at the start. Martins, from fifth on the grid, bolted into the lead going into Turn 1. At the end of the opening lap, he led from Fittipaldi, Bortoleto, Maloney Antonelli, Hauger and pole-sitter Aron was seventh. The top three were on soft tyres while Maloney and Antonelli opted for hard tyres.
DRS was enabled on Lap 2 and immediately Fittipaldi made attempts to grab the lead, but Martins was able to maintain the race lead. By Lap 5 Martins extended his lead over Fittipaldi to outside the DRS zone. Antonelli passed Maloney on Lap 6 for fourth. The following lap Maloney was taken out by Aron, bringing out the Safety Car.
The race leader and others on soft tyres came in to put on hard rubber. Antonelli assumed the lead with Verschoor and Maini second and third respectively. Martins came out in fourth. Racing resumed on Lap 11. Hadjar had moved up to 16th.
Both Maloney and Aron were out. Antonelli led the field from Verschoor, Maini, Martins and Cordeel. By the end of the lap, Antonelli had a 2s lead. The following lap Martins set the fastest lap and was threatening Maini for third.
Lap 15, Martins passed the Indian driver to get into the podium position. The French driver continued to set the fastest lap, seeking his first feature win of the season. Toyota supported Ritomo Miyata and moved into fifth ahead of Bortoleto.
Lap 19 Martins moved into second by passing Verschoor. Six seconds ahead was race leader Antonelli who still had to stop for his mandatory pit stop. At the end of Lap 20 of 37 Antonelli led from Martins, followed by Verschoor, Maini and Bortoleto. Antonelli’s teammate Bearman was 14th ahead of Hadjar.
The turning point of the race came on Lap 22 when Belgian Amaury Cordeel went into the barriers. Antonelli took advantage of the Safety Car for a change of tyres. This put Martins back in the lead on hard tyres, while Antonelli came out on soft tyres. Game on.
Action resumed on Lap 27 with Martins leading from Bortoleto, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Antonelli completing the top five. The Italian wunderkind moved into fourth position by Turn 1 and was in podium position by Turn 3. Going into Turn 1 of the following lap Antonelli passed Bortoleto for second. In no time Martins was fighting for his lead.
His hard tyres were no match for Antonelli’s soft tyres who grabbed the lead on the front straight on the following lap. That was all she wrote. The 17-year-old raced away to his second victory in two weeks, his first Feature race win. His margin of victory over Martins was 12.58s.
On the final lap, Verschoor took advantage of his soft tyres and passed Bortoleto to get on the third step of the podium.
2024 Formula 2 Championship Standings
In the championship Hadjar, who finished 18th, maintains his lead with 140 points. Aron, who also failed to score in the Feature race, is second on 122 points.
Bortoleto is third with 110 points, followed by Maloney, with 101 points and Colapinto with 96 points. Antonelli’s win has lifted him to sixth in the standings with 85 points.
Formula 3 Qualifying: Front row lockout by the ART Grand Prix team.
First pole position for their Dutch driver Laurens van Hoepen. Their two-time winner this season from Bulgaria Nikola Tsolov qualified second.
Row two was Italian Leonardo Fornaroli of the Trident team and Mexican Noel Leon of van Amersfoort Racing. The second Trident car of another Mexican Santiago Ramos qualified fifth with AIX team’s Joshua Dufek sharing row three with him.
The Austrian was disqualified after his car was found to be below the minimum weight requirement in the post-qualifying inspection. One-time championship leader, Luke Browning, qualified seventh but his best time was deleted for causing a red flag with less than a minute to go in the qualifying session.
F3 Sprint Race: Bedrin takes maiden win
Swede Dino Beganovic started from the partial reverse grid pole position. The Ferrari Academy member had qualified 12th. Sharing the front row with him was Nikita Bedrin.
A clean start saw Beganovic lead into the first corner, but already under intense pressure from Bedrin, who was able to take the lead a few corners later. At the end of the opening lap the top five were Bedrin, Beganovic, Inthraphuvasak, Voisin and Mansell.
On Lap 4, with DRS enabled Beganovic started to pile the pressure on Bedrin, the top four were all within one second of race leader. Top five at the end of Lap 5 were: Bedrin, Beganovic, Inthraphuvasak, Callum Voisin and Tim Tramnitz.
Ten laps into the race the top five remained the same. Beganovic being encouraged to put pressure on race leader Bedrin by his team. The Swede delivered a dive bomb and briefly got ahead, but it backfired, and he lost his brief lead and second place to the AIX drivers Bedrin and Inthraphuvasak.
On Lap 12 of 18 championship leader from Sicily Gabriele Mini was 12th. Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad, the most successful driver this season with four wins, was 16th.
Sophia Floersch, the only lady in the series and Alpine junior was 23rd. A fast-moving Trulli train was forming behind Bedrin.
With two laps to go Bedrin still had his teammate Inthraphuvasak within DRS zone, but he kept his calm and carried on to his first victory in the series. Tenth different winner this season.
Beganovich put the pressure on Inthraphuvasak to regain his second spot but at the same time had to worry about Tramnitz trying to get on the podium. The Swede was able to hang on to his podium position.
Inthraphuvasak’s second place was the first podium at this level of international racing for a Thai driver since Alex Albon’s victory in the GP3 race at Sepang in 2016. Tramnitz and Mansell completed the top five.
F3 Feature Race: Van Hoepen leads ART one-two
The all-ART front row saw Dutchman van Hoepen and Bulgarian double winner this season Tsolov. The 24-lap race, reduced to 23 laps due to an extra formation lap, saw the Alpine Academy’s Bulgarian bolt ahead of his teammate at the start to grab the lead going into Turn 1. An incident-free opening lap saw van Hoepen trail his teammate followed by Leon, Fornaroli and Ramos completing the top five.
At the end of Lap 5 the only change in the top five was Mansell had demoted Ramos down to sixth. Ferrari junior Beganovic was ninth, and Alpine Academy’s championship leader Mini was 12th. And Red Bull junior Lindblad was 19th. Lap 9 race leader Tsolov was advised on team radio to “pay attention” as his teammate wanted to pass him.
Despite being in the DRS zone van Hoepen was unable to leap ahead of Tsolov. Mansell, in fifth place, was the man setting the fastest laps. The top five were within five seconds of the race leader on Lap 15. The main battle developing was for tenth between Prema teammates Beganovic and Mini. The Italian was under pressure from Mari Boya. The Spaniard sailed past Mini on Lap 21 for P11.
Safety Car was deployed with two laps remaining after Lindblad and Matias Zagazeta collected each other and were stranded by the side of the track. The Peruvian pilot landed himself a five-place grid penalty for his next race as the stewards determined he was wholly responsible for the collision.
The track would not go green again. So, the green Aston Martin Safety Car led Tsolov and the rest of the field to the chequered flag. Third win of the season - first in Feature Race - for Tsolov who is part of A14 Management. The A as in Alonso.
Van Hoepen gave ART one-two in the race, his first podium in a Feature Race. His joy was short-lived as he was disqualified for car being underweight in a post-race inspection. Fornaroli was promoted to podium finish in third. Mansell and Ramos completed the top five.
2024 Formula 3 Championship Standings
With only two rounds remaining, Spa and Monza, Mini maintains his lead with 119 points. Browning on 115 points has closed the gap to only four points. Lindblad is third with 113 points. Fornaroli is only one point behind in fourth, and Mansell completes the top five in the standings with 97 points.
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