Zane Maloney made it double by winning feature FIA F2 race in Bahrain, as Luke Browning took early lead to win in F3.
F2:
A fast start on the Option tyre from Sprint Race winner Maloney saw him take the lead from third place on the run down to Turn 1. Behind him, front-row starters Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar collided at the same corner. The Campos Racing driver was left stranded in the middle of the road, giving Enzo Fittipaldi nowhere to go and the Van Amersfoort Racing driver collected Hadjar, with both out as a result.
A Safety Car intervention was needed with the marshals removing both cars as the Stewards handed Bortoleto a 10-second penalty for his part in the incident. Back to green flag racing on Lap 5, Maloney extended his advantage to beyond a second over Zak O’Sullivan, with Martí now up to third after overtaking Dennis Hauger. Bortoleto’s difficult opening few laps were compounded by a tough restart as he lost out to Jak Crawford for fifth.
Martí and Crawford, like Maloney, had opted for the softs and were looking to make early inroads with the Campos driver overtaking O’Sullivan for second. Crawford later jumped ahead of Hauger for fourth. Hauger’s struggles continued as on Lap 8, he lost a place to Bortoleto. A few laps later, Miyata overtook the MP Motorsport driver leaving him down in seventh. Back at the front, Crawford boxed from third, but a slow stop saw him lose drive in the pitlane, forcing him to retire.
ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins became the first driver to make a mandatory pitstop on Lap 11, switching to the soft compound tyres and rejoining down the order in 19th. His race didn’t last much longer, pulling over to the side of the track at Turn 8, requiring a second Safety Car on Lap 19. Racing got back underway on Lap 22, with the PREMA Racing drivers now squabbling over eighth place as Andrea Kimi Antonelli got past Oliver Bearman, with Kush Maini following the Italian driver through a lap later. Out at the front, Maloney had extended his lead over O’Sullivan to over a second and a half.
The ART driver was now coming under pressure from Martí, with Paul Aron also in striking distance. Invicta Racing pair Maini and Bortoleto were now on the march as they overtook Antonelli to go up to seventh and eighth respectively on Lap 25 of 32. The duo quickly closed up to the back of their MP Motorsport counterparts Hauger and Franco Colapinto, who were fighting themselves.
As the 27th tour of the track started, O’Sullivan was now struggling with his soft tyres as Martí eventually came past his fellow F2 rookie. A lap later, Aron’s comeback through the field continued as he overtook O’Sullivan to take the final spot on the podium. Hauger was also struggling with his tyres as Colapinto made his way past. Bortoleto, having now overtaken Maini, got past the Norwegian at the exit of Turn 1. A few corners later, Maini followed his teammate through, pushing Hauger down to eighth.
Back at the front, Maloney had extended his lead to over four and a half seconds to Martí and crossed the line to take his second win of the weekend, with Aron taking the chequered flag in third. Bortoleto made the move past Colapinto on the final lap but lost out in a drag race to the line with O’Sullivan. The ART driver finished fourth ahead of the Brazilian, while Colapinto ended up sixth ahead of Maini. Hauger, Miyata and Antonelli rounded out the points.
Results: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1763891593034059956?s=20
F3:
Dino Beganovic suffered a terrible start from pole, slow to getaway which left Browning free to surge into the lead. Beganovic baulked the momentum of PREMA Racing teammate Gabriele Minì behind him, allowing Meguetounif to steal a march and rise to second. Tramnitz was also a beneficiary, taking third in his MP Motorsport #7 car from seventh on the grid.
Minì’s poor start allowed Mansell and Santiago Ramos in the Trident to move through for fourth and fifth places on the opening lap. The third Trident of Leonardo Fornaroli had dropped to eighth off the line but moved ahead of Nikola Tsolov out of Turn 3 on Lap 3 to move up one spot. Mansell was also on the move again, clearing Tramnitz with a late dive to the inside of T8 to take third position.
The Australian put the same move on Meguetounif into Turn 8 to battle through for second two laps later, able to clear the Frenchman into Turn 11. Tramnitz also looked to have a pass completed for third, but the Trident driver defended well to hold P3. The fighting behind had allowed Browning to stretch his lead to 1.2s at the one-third mark, though that advantage slipped to half a second after Mansell regained DRS behind. Despite not having the drag reduction advantage, the Hitech driver was able to keep his pursuer at arm’s length heading into the second half of the Feature Race.
With 10 laps to go, the top eight drivers were tracking one another, separated by five seconds but within DRS range of the car ahead. A wide moment for Ramos at Turn 10 put him off the track, but the Mexican was able to keep Minì at bay to hold fifth. However, It did drop him out of the one-second window to Tramnitz in front. Meguetounif had been close to Mansell, but he too ran wide at Turn 10, allowing Tramnitz to close in on the Frenchman with five laps to go. The MP driver made a move into Turn 1 on Lap 19, later on the brakes to take third position.
After defending for much of the race, Browning began to up his pace in the closing laps to extend his lead slowly but surely over Mansell by a few tenths per lap. The ART driver remained within a second but couldn’t deny the Williams Academy Driver the race win. Tramnitz followed Browning and Mansell over the line to complete the podium in his first F3 Feature Race. Meguetounif ended up fourth as the highest-placed Trident ahead of Ramos and Minì. Fornaroli, Arvid Lindblad, Alex Dunne and Oliver Goethe rounded out the points-paying positions and the top 10.
Results: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1763863622223036652?s=20
Here’s how sprint F2 and F3 races panned out
[Note: The story is as per press release]
