Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the in in feature F2 race in Hungary in alternate strategy, as Nikita Tsolov had the F3 win.
F2:
It was a slow start for pole-sitter Paul Aron, made worse by his lock up that forced him to go deep at Turn 1, dropping him to seventh. But it was an outstanding getaway from Martins, who was in the lead before approaching the opening corner after starting in fifth. The Hitech Pulse-Eight rookie’s hopes of eating into Isack Hadjar’s 20-points Championship lead took an early dent despite the Campos Racing driver being forced to start from the pit lane after leaving for the grid late.
Martins was under pressure from front row starter Enzo Fittipaldi with Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto just behind them, with Hard tyre runners Zane Maloney and Antonelli in fourth and fifth, respectively. PREMA then came on the radio to tell Antonelli to get past Maloney as soon as possible, and he obliged by diving down the inside at Turn 9.
However, a Safety Car was required moments later when Aron, looking to dive down the inside of Hauger, carried too much speed into Turn 2 and went into the back of Maloney, causing both drivers to spin into a stop. This allowed several of the Soft tyre runners, such as Martins, Bortoleto, Fittipaldi, Hauger, Zak O’Sullivan, Oliver Bearman, and Hadjar to pit for Hards and complete their mandatory stop.
The action resumed on Lap 8 with Antonelli leading the way ahead of Verschoor and Kush Maini, the trio yet to pit. The Italian was in good form though, building up a lead of over three seconds to Verschoor by Lap 13. Just behind, Martins, now on the better tyre in P4 and putting pressure on Maini. The ART driver was up to third on Lap 15, going down the inside of the Invicta driver at Turn 1, with Bortoleto doing the same moments later on Amaury Cordeel for P6, Fittipaldi following him through shortly afterwards.
Martins’ next target was Verschoor, and he was within DRS range of the Trident by Lap 18 and dived down his inside at Turn 1 to move up to P2 on the next tour. But as he looked to close the six and a half second gap to Antonelli, the Safety Car was called upon with Cordeel having crashed into the barrier at Turn 4. The Hitech driver reported that he was okay, but this gave Antonelli the chance to pit for the Softs and he came back out in fifth behind Hauger.
But, with 14 laps to go, the Italian was now in prime position to challenge for the race win. Racing resumed on Lap 27 of 37 with Martins leading away Bortoleto, but they were quickly under pressure from Antonelli, who got past both Hauger and Fittipaldi before reaching Turn 3. Antonelli’s charge continued on the next lap as he dived down the inside of Bortoleto into Turn 1.
Following the Safety Cars, the race became one against the clock and with under nine minutes to go, Antonelli used the DRS to his advantage and passed Martins on the main straight to take the lead. Further behind, Verschoor was also on the charge and went round the outside of Hauger at Turn 2 to take P5 before getting past Fittipaldi on the next lap at Turn 1.
Onto the final lap, Antonelli had built up a lead of 12s before crossing the line to take his first Feature Race victory of the season, with Martins in second place. Verschoor made a last lap overtake on Bortoleto to take P3 with Fittipaldi following his fellow Brazilian across the line in fifth, and ahead of Hauger, who ended up in P6. Maini was another making a comeback through the field on the Softs, and he ended up seventh ahead of Miyata and AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard, with VAR’s Rafael Villagómez rounding out the points in P10.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1814951688303690201
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Budapest, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron has been given two post-race penalties. The driver has been given two five-place grid penalties for two separate incidents during the Feature Race, the first for forcing PREMA Racing’s Oliver Bearman off track.
The Stewards examined video and GPS evidence, determining that as both Aron and Bearman approached Turn 4 side-by-side on Lap 1, the PREMA Racing driver was alongside at the apex, pulling ahead at the exit and therefore had right to racing room. However, Aron made a full exit of the track and did not leave enough space for Bearman, forcing the PREMA driver off the circuit.
As a result, the Stewards elected to impose a five-place grid drop. The second penalty comes after the Stewards found Aron to have caused a collision with Rodin Motorsport driver Zane Maloney. The pair had been battling for P5 when Aron collided with the rear of the Rodin Motorsport driver at Turn 2, causing both cars to retire from the race.
The Stewards reviewed video and in-car evidence before determining that Aron had been wholly responsible for the contact that forced both cars to spin. As a result, they have handed him a 10-second penalty which, as he did not finish the race, has been converted into a five-place grid drop. Aron will now serve the 10-place grid penalty at the next race in which he participates.
F3:
Van Hoepen got wheelspin in the second phase of the start and had to defend hard from his teammate Tsolov off the line. The Dutch driver ran deep at Turn 1, allowing the Bulgarian through along with VAR’s Noel León. Into Turn 3 and the ART rookie didn’t give up, fighting his way back past the Mexican to take second.
With DRS enabled, van Hoepen began to close in on Tsolov and was within half a second on Lap 3, while León dropped to beyond a second back from the ART duo. Christian Mansell moved his ART up to fifth position with a late dive to the inside of Santiago Ramos at Turn 1 on Lap 4.
As the opening laps ticked by, van Hoepen radioed into his team to relay his tyres were beginning to overheat in the wake of teammate Tsolov. While he wasn’t quite close enough to overtake for the lead, León was able to creep his way into DRS range of the Dutchman ahead by Lap 10.
By the midway point of the race, the top six were covered by four seconds with Santiago Ramos some 9.6s clear of Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin who was running in P7. In the fight for the final points places, Oliver Goethe pulled off a late dive at Turn 1 to pass Dino Beganovic and secure himself ninth position on Lap 14, while behind that pairing, Gabriele Minì cleared Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to move up to P11.
Mari Boya was next to pass the AIX Racing driver on Lap 16 at Turn 12, and he was followed by Luke Browning on the following lap at Turn 2. Into the final three laps and after a phase of tyre management, van Hoepen began to apply the pressure on Tsolov once again in the lead fight.
Boya’s battle with Minì resumed and the Spaniard found a gap at Turn 2 to take 11th position. Contact between Arvid Lindblad and Matias Zagazeta resulted in a late-race Safety Car on Lap 21, with the PREMA Racing driver stopped at Turn 4.
With little time to clear both cars, it was not possible to resume racing in time for a final lap shootout. Tsolov took his third race win of 2024 and his first F3 Feature Race victory ahead of teammate van Hoepen. León rounded out the podium with his third rostrum visit of the season, taking third for Van Amersfoort.
Fornaroli was fourth and he took a chunk out of compatriot Minì’s Championship lead in the process, while Mansell ensured ART had all three cars in the top five with fifth. Ramos, Voisin, Nikita Bedrin, Goethe and Beganovic rounded out the points-paying positions.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1814921568302096781
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 3 Feature Race in Budapest, two drivers have been penalised. Firstly, ART Grand Prix driver Laurens van Hoepen has been disqualified from the Feature Race results. A post-race report by the FIA Technical Delegate indicated that Car 24 had not met the minimum weight requirement set out in Article 5.1 of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Technical Regulations.
After a review, it was determined that Car 24 was indeed below the minimum weight set out in the regulations, constituting a rules breach and, consequently, Car 24 has been excluded from the Feature Race result. It promotes every driver that finished behind van Hoepen up one place each in the classification, with Leonardo Fornaroli now taking the final podium place and third position for Trident.
Lastly, Jenzer Motorsport driver Matías Zagazeta has been handed a penalty. Zagazeta and PREMA Racing driver Arvid Lindblad made contact between Turns 3 and 4, resulting in both retiring from the race. After the Feature, the Stewards heard from both drivers along with team representatives and examined all available video evidence. They determined that Zagazeta had been the driver wholly responsible for the collision. As a result, they elected to apply a five-place grid penalty to Zagazeta. The Jenzer driver will serve the penalty at the next race in which he competes.
Here’s how F2, F3 sprint race panned out
[Note: The story is as per press release]
