Oliver Bearman passes to the front in sprint FIA F2 win in Monza, as Tim Tramnitz took the F3 with the title battle to go to final race.
F2:
It was a fast start for pole-sitter Enzo Fittipaldi but a slow getaway for fellow front row starter Amaury Cordeel dropped the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver to fourth before reaching Turn 1. However, Fittipaldi went wide at Turn 1, giving Josep María Martí the chance to take the lead from the Van Amersfoort Racing driver at the Curva Grande, with Martins watching on in third.
But there was drama at the back of the field as Zak O’Sullivan made contact with debutant Oliver Goethe on the run to Turn 1, sending the MP Motorsport driver into a spin and then the barrier. The ART driver was involved in another collision moments later as he and Andrea Kimi Antonelli collided heading into the first chicane. O’Sullivan was out of the race, while the PREMA Racing driver pitted with a puncture and front wing damage.
Martí led the pack away as we resumed racing on Lap 4 following a Safety Car, but Fittipaldi was able to use the tow to get ahead on the main straight. However, he locked up into Turn 1 once again, giving the lead back to the Campos Racing driver. Fittipaldi struggled for the rest of the lap as Martins and Bearman got ahead of him, demoting him to P4.
On to Lap 5 and the battle for P2 commenced, as Bearman got past Martins into the Roggia chicane. Bearman was showing great pace and was right on the back of Martí heading to Turn 1 at the start of Lap 7. The Spaniard then carried too much speed into the corner, giving the PREMA driver the lead as the Campos went through the escape road.
A few laps on, Martins overtook Martí for P2 heading to Turn 1. Martí though was not giving up on the position and made a late lunge on the Frenchman heading into Turn 1. Both drivers ran wide but kept the position, as Fittipaldi and Duerksen closed in as Lap 9 got underway.
Bearman’s lead was over two seconds as we started Lap 10, but the fight for the podium was heating up. Martí was now being attacked by Fittipaldi, and the VAR driver took P3 into the first corner. Campos were struggling as Isack Hadjar lost out to a charging Gabriel Bortoleto, who after starting from last, claimed P12 down the main straight. Ahead on the road, Martí was now down to P5, as Duerksen got past him into Turn 1.
The battle for the points was incredibly tight and Aron shut the door on Crawford into the first chicane, allowing Dennis Hauger to take P8 from the DAMS Lucas Oil driver at the Curva Grande. On to Lap 17, Fittipaldi ran wide at the exit of the Roggia chicane, giving Martí and Maloney the chance to close right in on him.
He held them off until Turn 1 on the following lap before Martí dived down the inside to take P4. The Brazilian attempted to take the position back on the next lap, but the door was shut. At the same time, Maloney and Aron made contact at the same corner, forcing the Hitech driver to pit with front wing damage.
Back at the front, the top three had separated themselves from the rest of the field as Bearman crossed the line to take his second consecutive victory at Monza following his Feature Race triumph in 2023. Martins finished in second place ahead of Duerksen, with Martí in fourth place. Fittipaldi lost two places on the final lap to Maloney and Crawford to leave him in P7. Bortoleto’s tremendous charge through the field saw him finish in a tie across the line with Hauger for P8, forcing both drivers to share one point.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1829865898888609962
UPDATE: Following the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race from Monza, Hitech Pulse-Eight driver Paul Aron and ART Grand Prix’s Zak O’Sullivan have received post-race penalties. Firstly, Paul Aron has been assigned a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. During the race, Aron made contact with Car 5, Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney through Turn 1 and 2.
Afterwards, the Stewards heard from both drivers and their team representatives having also examined available video evidence. They determined that Aron had been the driver wholly to blame for the contact. Aron remains in P20 after the application of his time penalty. Finally, Zak O’Sullivan has been handed a five-second time penalty for a false start.
The Stewards examined video evidence and determined that the driver of Car 2 moved after the fourth red light went on and before the start signal was given. Having considered that O’Sullivan stopped after moving outside of his grid box, they elected to hand him a five-second time penalty. Despite O’Sullivan not finishing the Sprint Race, the Stewards decided not to convert his time penalty into a grid drop for the next race in which he competes.
F3:
Before the lights could go out, title contender Christian Mansell radioed into his ART Grand Prix that he was stuck in third gear. A second formation lap was required but the Australian was able to get off the grid, though he had to start from the pitlane for causing the delay. At the race start proper, reverse grid pole sitter Tramnitz covered off Dino Beganovic on the run to Turn 1 before going wheel-to-wheel with Montoya, who had to skip over Turn 2 but settled into second after passing the PREMA Racing driver ahead of the first corner.
Fornaroli was on the move early on and was up three spots to 13th on the opening lap. A Safety Car was deployed on Lap 2 after Noel León and Nikita Bedrin wound up in the gravel after contact at Turn 2 with Tommy Smith, requiring the former cars to be cleared away. Smith was later handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident. Racing got back underway entering Lap 6 but a big snap through Parabolica put Montoya under immediate pressure from Beganovic. However, the Colombian held onto second into the first chicane.
Joseph Loake and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak ran through the gravel at Turn 4, allowing Lindblad and Fornaroli to move up into the points in ninth and 10th places respectively, with Browning and Minì following directly behind the pair in 11th and 12th. With DRS on the run to Ascari, Fornaroli battled by Lindblad on Lap 7 to secure ninth position from the PREMA driver.
Teammate Ramos meanwhile was able to move ahead of Beganovic to take third place, and he was quickly onto the rear wing of Campos’ Montoya in the fight for second. Onto Lap 9 and with another helping of DRS, Fornaroli moved ahead of Martinius Stenshorne at Turn 1 to put himself into the top eight, while up ahead Ramos surged by Montoya through the Curva Grande for second.
Lap 10 and after two previous unsuccessful attempts, Browning passed Lindblad for 10th position to move into the points. Meanwhile, Fornaroli’s charge continued as he passed Mari Boya for seventh position, as Stenshorne followed through on the Spaniard into Turn 1 on Lap 11. Montoya stuck with Ramos after being passed and re-took second into the first corner on Lap 12, while teammate Sami Meguetounif was able to move ahead of Beganovic at the same spot.
Alex Dunne meanwhile relegated Beganovic to sixth just before the second Safety Car of the race. Max Esterson and Piotr Wisnicki had collided at the first chicane and were out of the running. Both drivers were OK, but their cars needed clearing away. With the track clear the Safety Car was withdrawn going into the final lap of the race, setting up a one-lap shootout to the end.
Tramnitz retained the lead but further back, Browning cleared Fornaroli into Turn 1 to take eighth place. The leader held on from Montoya and Ramos, while Dunne and Beganovic rounded out the top five. Meguetounif cleared Boya after the Campos driver ran through the gravel at Ascari, a mistake that allowed Browning to move up one place further to earn seventh. Boya fell to eighth while Fornaroli and Minì rounded out the points to set up a final day showdown for the 2024 Drivers’ Championship.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1829794818173608032
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the Sprint Race at Monza, several drivers including Sebastián Montoya have each received a post-race time penalty. Firstly, Campos Racing driver Sebastián Montoya was judged to have forced Car 6 belonging to Trident’s Santiago Ramos off the track during their fight for the podium places.
After hearing from both drivers and their team representatives along with reviewing all available video evidence, the Stewards determined that Car 11 of Montoya had crowded Car 6 beyond the edge the track on the approach to Turn 1. As a result, they elected to apply a five-second time penalty to the Campos driver, dropping Montoya from second in the classification down to 11th position.
It moves Ramos up to second, Alex Dunne to third place, all other drivers move forward one position down to Martinius Stenshorne, who takes the final point in 10th place. Secondly, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Cian Shields has received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.
During the race, Shields made contact with Car 29 of Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin at Turn 1. After hearing from both drivers, their team representatives and examining available video evidence, the Stewards determined Shields was the driver wholly at fault for the contact. As a result, they handed the Hitech driver a five second-time penalty, dropping him from 18th to 20th in the results
Thirdly, AIX Racing driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak has been assigned a 10-second time penalty for a breach of Article 40.8 of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Sporting Regulations. After hearing from both drivers and reviewing video evidence, the Stewards determined that the Thai driver had overtaken Rodin Motorsport Car 31 of Joseph Loake under Safety Car conditions.
The Stewards therefore assigned a 10-second time penalty for the infringement, which drops Inthraphuvasak from 19th to 21st. Next, ART Grand Prix driver Christian Mansell has been awarded a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.
Mansell was racing with Car 21, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Sophia Floersch, at Turns 4 and 5 when there was contact between them. Following the race and after hearing from both drivers, their team representatives and examining video evidence, the Stewards determined that Mansell was wholly responsible for the collision.
As a result, the ART driver remains 22nd in the classification. Finally, Noel León has been awarded a 10-place grid penalty. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver was found to have caused a collision with ART’s Nikola Tsolov. After hearing from the drivers and team representatives along with examining available video evidence, the Stewards determined that León was wholly to blame for the collision.
Because León was not classified in the Sprint Race results, his penalty is converted into a five-place grid drop. The Van Amersfoort driver will serve the sanction at the next race in which he competes.
Here’s the new F3 car
[Note: The story is as per press release]
