Kush Maini resisted pressure from Gabriele Mini to win sprint FIA F2 race in Monaco, as Martinius Stenshorne scored victory in F3.
F2 –
Maini got the perfect start, but Luke Browning fell down the order to fifth by Turn 1. His poor getaway allowed Gabriele Minì to climb up to P2. Into Mirabeau, Lindblad attempted a pass on Jak Crawford for third but contact between the two allowed Browning back past for fourth and ahead of the American. The Campos driver emerged from the tangle in third but was later handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. With DRS enabled, Minì was on the rear wing of the race leader, the gap hovering at 0.3s in the opening 10 laps while the pair pulled over eight seconds clear of Lindblad in third.
The gap was neutralised on Lap 12 when the Safety Car was deployed to recover Joshua Duerksen’s AIX Racing #20. The Paraguayan driver was left in the barriers ahead of Portier following contact with MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe out of Mirabeau that left the AIX with race-ending damage. Back to racing conditions entering Lap 15, Maini escaped from DRS range to Minì behind while Lindblad had Browning right on his gearbox in the battle for third on the road.
Goethe was on the move again, sneaking his MP car up the inside of Victor Martins at La Rascasse to take P9 on the road. Contact between the pair though resulted in a 10-second time penalty for Goethe. With 10 laps to go, Minì was back to within 0.2s of the race leader, while Lindblad had dropped back by over 10 seconds in order to set up a late-race charge to minimise his time penalty. The Red Bull Junior Team driver was told to push on Lap 22, and he immediately upped his pace to put a buffer between himself and Browning.
By the final lap, he was on the rear wing of Minì in second with Maini a further couple of seconds up the road. It allowed the DAMS driver to earn his second F2 victory ahead of Minì, who fended off Lindblad across the line. With Lindblad’s time penalty applied, it gave Browning P3 and dropped the Campos driver to eighth position. Crawford wound up fourth ahead of Richard Verschoor, Sebastián Montoya, Leonardo Fornaroli, as Lindblad completed the points in P8.
F3 –
It was a fast start from second for Stenshorne, but pole-sitter Alessandro Giusti had a slow getaway and dropped to fourth before reaching Turn 1. Taponen was one of the beneficiaries of Giusti’s start as the ART driver went up to P2 ahead of his teammate van Hoepen. However, the Safety Car was deployed at the end of the opening lap as James Hedley, Nicola Lacorte, Santiago Ramos, and Ivan Domingues collided at Turn 8, with all four drivers’ cars needing to be cleared up.
In a separate incident, Noel León and Callum Voisin made contact, forcing the PREMA Racing driver to stop on track with damage. Back to racing conditions, Stenshorne was showing good pace out in front and had pulled out a one second gap to Taponen by the start of Lap 10, the rookie now coming under threat from van Hoepen. Onto Lap 12, and the Norwegian’s lead was over 2.1s while van Hoepen was less than two-tenths away from Taponen.
However, by the end of the lap, the Finn driver reduced the gap to just 0.6s, while Charlie Wurz, in sixth, was now under pressure from his TRIDENT teammate Rafael Câmara. Behind them, Mari Boya was under attack from Voisin, with his Rodin Motorsport teammates Louis Sharp and Roman Bilinski keeping a close eye on their battle. Lap 15 of 23, Noah Stromsted reported a puncture after colliding with Brad Benavides. The damage forced the TRIDENT rookie to retire after recovering to the pit lane. Out in front, Stenshorne had built his lead back up to 1.3s clear by the end of Lap 17, with van Hoepen and Giusti right on the back of Taponen once again.
There was then a change of position for P12, as Benavides went down the inside of Ugo Ugochukwu into Turn 1. Onto the penultimate lap and Boya was having to hold off the Rodin trio for P8. Voisin then hit the rear of the Spaniard at the Nouvelle Chicane, causing him to have a slow exit, which allowed teammate Sharp to take ninth from him. Back at the front, Stenshorne stormed off to win by 2.2s from Taponen, as van Hoepen rounded out the top three to achieve his first podium since this same race in 2024. Giusti was ultimately forced to settle for fourth ahead of his MP Motorsport teammate Tim Tramnitz, while Wurz held off Câmara to take P6. Boya held on for eighth ahead of Sharp, as Voisin rounded out the top 10.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1926209129153970342
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of Saturday’s FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race, several drivers have been penalised. Firstly, Nicola Lacorte has been given a 10-second time penalty. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver was found to be wholly at fault for a collision with Santiago Ramos on Lap 1 as he had unnecessarily pinched and deprived the Van Amersfoort Racing driver of room at the entry of Turn 7.
After reviewing available evidence, the Stewards determined that there were no mitigating circumstances for the incident, and as a result, elected to apply the standard penalty for causing a collision, which is a 10-second time penalty. As Lacorte did not finish the race, the 10-second time penalty is converted into a five-place grid drop that will be applied in the next race in which he participates.
Secondly, James Hedley has been given a five-second time penalty for not being in the correct starting position. The Stewards examined video evidence and positioning/marshalling system data and determined that the contact patch of Car 26’s front tyres was outside the line of grid box at the Start signal. Under Article 8.6.1 a) and b) of the International Sporting code this is considered a False Start and it incurs a mandatory penalty under Article 37.15.
But given the limited extent of the breach the Stewards opted to hand Hedley a five-second time penalty. Next, Bruno del Pino has also been given a five-second time penalty for a false start. The Stewards examined video evidence and determined that the driver of Car 18 committed a false start by moving before the start. However, he did not gain a significant advantage, so the Stewards elected to hand him a five-second time penalty.
With the penalty applied, Del Pino finishes P22 in the final classification. Additionally, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak has also been given a 10-second time penalty for being out of position. He was found to have been out of position at Safety Car Line 1 during the Formation Lap. As such, a 10 second stop-and-go penalty has been converted to a 30-second time penalty, which has been added to his final race time. The penalty means the Campos Racing driver drops from 18th to 23rd in the order.
Following today’s FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race at Monte Carlo, AIX Racing driver James Hedley withdraws from the Event. The British driver sustained a hand injury following contact in the early stages of the race.
Qualifying round-up:
F2 –
GROUP A:
The even-numbered cars kicked off the first segment, and with warm-up laps completed, Martins picked up his pace immediately to put in a 1:21.792 for the top spot by over a second. Gabriele Minì was P2 for PREMA Racing, with Joshua Duerksen a further four-tenths back in third. Arvid Lindblad cut that gap down to just under three-tenths on his first effort for Campos Racing, going to second. Minì found more time but remained third with his improvement moments later.
Into the final five minutes and Lindblad became the first driver to displace Martins from the top spot, going to provisional pole momentarily until Richard Verschoor secured P1 with a 1:21.520. Martins had to abandon his second attempt after cutting the Nouvelle Chicane, but he moved back to provisional pole after a cool down lap, setting a 1:21.145. On to the final attempts, Martins couldn’t improve but he had done enough to retain the top spot in Group A, finishing up 0.375s ahead of Verschoor in P2, and 0.398s clear of Lindblad in third. Minì and Kush Maini of DAMS Lucas Oil rounded out the top five in Group A.
GROUP B
With the target set, the odd-numbered cars followed out of the pitlane, and just as the first flying laps were set to get underway, the Red Flags were waiving. Rafael Villagómez found the barriers at the final corner after a squabble for track position with Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne. Once the Van Amersfoort Racing car was recovered, the Stewards confirmed the incident would be investigated after the session, and Qualifying resumed with 12:05 left on the clock.
Preparation laps complete, Dunne set the pace with a 1:21.781 to go to P1 ahead of Leonardo Fornaroli of Invicta Racing. Luke Browning followed across the line, and he filtered through in third for Hitech TGR. As the session ticked into the final three minutes, the next set of laps arrived, and the Championship leader improved onto a 1:21.437. Sebastián Montoya found more time also, moving PREMA Racing up to second in Group B.
With less than a minute to go, Dunne found a session-best first and second sector time and a final sector good enough to set a 1:21.142 to steal pole at the very end. Fornaroli improved to second position, but third-placed driver Montoya driver spun to bring out the yellow flags in the final sector. Jak Crawford followed with Browning in fifth in Group B.
Result: https://www.fiaformula2.com/Results?raceid=1082
F3 –
GROUP A
The first 15 drivers headed out for Qualifying and after a few preparation laps, Tsolov went fastest on a 1:26.072, with PREMA Racing’s Noel León in P2, 0.261s behind. Tsolov retained his place at the top with a 1:26.647 on his next push lap, but his gap to León on this occasion was 0.102s, as Brad Benavides went into the top three for AIX Racing. The drivers had time for a couple more laps and the timesheets were being set alight as there were several personal best times being set.
León went quickest on a 1:25.502, but he was soon beaten by the other Campos of Mari Boya by 0.022s, with Charlie Wurz in P3 for TRIDENT, just 0.034s off provisional pole. Tsolov was flying though, and he completed a 1:24.882 to take provisional pole. Wurz followed him across the line to go second, over half a second behind the Bulgarian.
But Boya was improving once again and set the fastest first sector of the session. However, the Spaniard just did not have enough to beat Tsolov, crossing the line to go to P2, 0.127s off his teammate. León’s late lap took him to P3 ahead of Wurz, with Tuukka Taponen in fifth for ART Grand Prix, as Martinius Stenshorne rounded out the top six for Hitech TGR.
GROUP B
With another 16 minutes on the clock, the second set of drivers went out on to the track with a 1:24.882 the time to beat. TRIDENT’s Rafael Câmara set the early pace with a 1:25.635, 0.123s quicker than Voisin in second. On the next set of laps, Voisin’s 1:25.359 was now the benchmark for the rest of the field to beat, and Bilinski made it a Rodin one-two by going to within 0.104s off his teammate’s time.
However, as the drivers set off on their next laps, PREMA’s Brando Badoer hit the barrier at Turn 1, bringing out the Red Flags. Green flags waved and the drivers had just three minutes and 21 seconds to try and get their best times of the day in. Bilinski was one of the few that could improve though. His 1:25.332 put him in P1, but it was not enough to beat Tsolov’s pole-sealing time, giving Campos their first FIA F3 pole since Spa-Francorchamps in 2023.
Voisin could not better his time and wound up 0.027s off his teammate, as Tim Tramnitz rounded out the group top three with a late lap that put him to 0.093s behind Bilinski. Câmara wound up fourth for TRIDENT, with Laurens van Hoepen in P5, as Alessandro Giusti rounded out the top six, the MP Motorsport driver putting himself on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of Qualifying at Round 4 in Monte Carlo, one driver has been disqualified from the results while two have been penalised. Firstly, DAMS Lucas Oil driver Nicola Lacorte has been disqualified from Qualifying. During the session, Lacorte went off at Turn 1, but acquired outside assistance to re-join the track, contravening Article 31.4 of the FIA F3 Sporting Regulations.
Following the session, the Stewards heard from the driver and team representative and examined video and timing evidence. They determined that Car 29 had rejoined after receiving physical assistance from the marshals, breaching Article 31.4 in the process. Furthermore, Lacorte re-joined the session after receiving the black flag, breaching Appendix H, Article 2.5.4 1d) of the FIA International Sporting Code.
As a result, all lap times set after the issuing of the black flag to Car 29 have been deleted. Car 29 has been given permission to start the Sprint and Feature Race from the back of the grid once other penalties have been applied. Each car behind Lacorte in the classification moves up one position.
Secondly, Rafael Câmara has been handed a three-place grid penalty for a Red Flag infringement. Following the session, it was found that the TRIDENT driver was below the minimum delta time during the Red Flag, breaching Article 31.9 of the FIA Formula 3 Sporting Regulations. As a result, Câmara has been handed a three-place grid drop. He will serve the penalty in both the Sprint and Feature Race in Monte Carlo.
Lastly, PREMA Racing’s Brando Badoer has lost his best lap time. In the latter stages of Group B running in Qualifying, Badoer hit the barrier at Turn 1, bringing out the Red Flags and delaying the session. Following the conclusion of Qualifying, the Stewards examined video evidence and heard from both driver and PREMA team representative and determined that Badoer had been solely responsible for the Red Flag, constituting a breach of Article 33.5 of the FIA Formula 3 Sporting Regulations.
As a result, the Italian rookie loses his fastest lap time, which originally put him P12 in the provisional classification for Group B in Qualifying. It means the PREMA driver moves down to P13 in the classification, with all drivers behind him originally moving up one position each.
Result: https://www.fiaformula3.com/Results?raceid=1062
[The story is as per press release]
