Victor Martins held off multiple safety car periods to win feature F2 race in Silverstone, as Oliver Goethe wins in F3.
F2:
It was a frantic start to dry feature F2 race in Silverstone in cloudy conditions where ART’s Victor Martins and DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa went wheel-to-wheel for the lead fight which the Frenchman kept eventually. The move was under investigation though.
There was a moment when Martins went off track and rejoined which was taken to be as leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Prema’s Oliver Bearman was third from Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi and Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan in Top 5.
Campos’ Kush Maini dropped from the front row to sixth as Prema’s Frederik Vesti gained places to be seventh from Carlin’s Zane Maloney, Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar and ART’s Theo Pourchaire in the Top 10 points, as MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger had a spin in a fight.
He managed to continue on and in his recovery process, while fighting against Virtuosi’s Amaury Cordeel, the latter spun off to deploy the safety car. Before that, it was Martins leading Iwasa, Bearman in the Top 3 with Doohan clearing Fittipaldi for fourth.
Maloney was up to sixth from Pourchaire with Maini and Vesti dropping down. But as the safety car was deployed, several started to pit and switch to the hard tyres. Hadjar took the F2 lead from DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc, with Martins slotting in third after his pit.
Trident’s Clement Novalak was fourth from Van Amersfoort’s Juan Manuel Correa and Campos’ Ralph Boschung, with Iwasa in seventh from Bearman, Doohan and Maloney. The re-start was good from Hadjar but there was immediate safety car again for an incident.
It involved Trident’s Roman Stanek who was spun around by Vesti. The Dane was seemingly hit by Hauger as the field bunched up in the corner after re-start. While Stanek stopped immediately, Vesti and Hauger pitted to change tyres and fix damage.
But for Vesti it was a retirement as he left the pits and had his suspension broken. The re-start saw Hadjar lead Leclerc and Martins, with Iwasa jumping places along with Pourchaire. Bearman lost out after a wide moment as he dropped outside the Top 10.
Maini was chasing him and teammate Boschung when he tapped the back of the Swiss driver with both spinning to retire where Bearman was clean out. As the safety car was deployed, Martins was handed 5s penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
The re-start was good for Martins from Maloney as Leclerc jumped Pourchaire to third with Iwasa in fifth from Novalak, Doohan, Daruvala, Correa and Bearman in the Top 10, where Correa also passed Bearman at the re-start being on the soft tyre.
As Martin led the way, Maloney started to drop off from him with Leclerc chasing second but his tyres started to drop with Pourchaire on his tail. Doohan cleared both Novalak and Iwasa to get up to fourth with the Frenchman losing out and dropping outside Top 10.
It was Martins ahead of Maloney and Pourchaire with Doohan , Iwasa and Daruvala gaining places, passing Leclerc. The Monegasque was fighting Bearman, Fittipaldi and Correa in Top 10. There was a 5s time penalty for Daruvala for speeding in the pitlane.
Martins at the front managed to stretch out a 5s time to win the feature F2 race at Silverstone from Maloney and Pourchaire as Doohan was fourth from Iwasa and Daruvala, where the Indian dropped to seventh due to his penalty allowing Bearman to sixth.
Fittipaldi was eighth from Leclerc and Hitech GP’s Jak Crawford in the Top 10.
#F2 #BritishGP Results FeatureRace. #MsportXtra @F2Inside pic.twitter.com/HXJ1boVx85
— #MsportXtra © (@MsportXtra) July 9, 2023
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the Silverstone Feature Race, two drivers have been handed post-race penalties. Firstly, Oliver Bearman has been handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision. The PREMA Racing driver was found to have been wholly responsible for contact made with Kush Maini, which led to both Maini and Campos Racing teammate Ralph Boschung retiring from the Feature Race.
As a result, Bearman falls to eighth in the final classification. MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala and Rodin Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi are promoted to sixth and seventh places respectively. Roy Nissany has also been handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
The PHM Racing by Charouz driver was found to have been wholly responsible for the contact with MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger, which then caused further contact between PREMA Racing’s Frederik Vesti and Trident driver Roman Stanek. As a result, Nissany drops from 12th to 17th in the final standings.
Rest all were cleared as Prema were fined twice: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Silverstone%20Event%20-%20OFFENCE%20-%20Car%207%20-%20releasing%20the%20car%20in%20an%20unsafe%20condition%20F2%20paddock%20to%20F1%20pit%20lane.pdf
F3:
Fornaroli covered off his teammate to retain the lead into Turn 1 while Gabriel Bortoleto made immediate progress up to fourth position, going around the outside of Christian Mansell into Turn 3. Paul Aron cleared both of them though into Brooklands to move himself into P4. Further ahead, Martí cleared Goethe to take second position, albeit briefly. The Trident driver was able to retake the place with a great pass around the outside of Stowe later on in the lap.
Luke Browning made contact with Hugh Barter out of the final corner, leaving the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver with a broken suspension. It resulted in his retirement from the race and brought out the Safety Car. Jonny Edgar was also out of his home event on Lap 1 after contact with Caio Collet on the opening lap. The Brazilian was into the pits at the end of the lap for repairs, dropping down to the back of the pack.
Racing got back underway on Lap 7 with Fornaroli relaunching into a comfortable lead over Goethe but with DRS soon re-enabled, the top six were separated by under three seconds at the halfway mark. Gabriele Minì was doing his best to join the lead fight, passing Sprint Race winner Franco Colapinto with DRS on the Hangar Straight on Lap 11.
Aron was the closest to the driver in front in the lead pack and with DRS on Lap 15 and tried to pass Martí around the outside at Stowe. The PREMA Racing man didn’t have room to complete the pass and had to fall back in line behind the Spaniard. Up in front, Goethe was able to pass his teammate to take the lead of the race.
On Lap 17, rain began to fall and Robert Faria went off into the barriers at Woodcote. He was out of the car and OK, but the Safety Car was called upon once more. As the rain intensified, Tommy Smith was the only taker for wet tyres with three laps remaining, rejoining in 28th position. The Safety Car was called in on Lap 20 with Goethe leading the way on a greasy track surface.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Collet was able to make great progress despite running the slick hard tyres, taking multiple positions on the penultimate lap to rise up to the points positions. Teammate Smith was able to take full advantage of conditions on the wets, going from 28th to 12th in the space of a lap and a half.
Goethe was able to cling on to victory ahead of teammate Fornaroli, with Martí third for Campos. Aron ended up fourth ahead of Mansell and Botoleto. Minì followed his title rival home in seventh with Sprint winner Colapinto eighth. Collet was able to climb up to ninth in the end ahead of Grégoire Saucy, who denied Smith his maiden F3 points by just over a tenth in a drag race to the line.
#F3 #BritishGP Results FeatureRace. #MsportXtra pic.twitter.com/ljO8cdWq3l
— #MsportXtra © (@MsportXtra) July 9, 2023
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 3 Feature Race at Silverstone, several drivers have been penalised. Caio Collet has been handed a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
The Brazilian was found to have forced Rodin Carlin’s Ido Cohen off the track at Turn 15 in their battle, and the Van Amersfoort Racing driver did not give back the position. It drops Collet from P9 to P15 in the classification, promoting Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Sebastián Montoya to the final point-paying position in 10th.
Tommy Smith has been handed two separate time penalties for exceeding track limits. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver went beyond track limits four times during the Feature Race, earning a five-second time penalty as a result. He then went over track limits a fifth time, meaning he has been handed a further 10-second time penalty.
It drops the Van Amersfoort driver from P11 to P25 in the classification. Finally, MP Motorsport’s Jonny Edgar has received a grid penalty for the following race he will take part in. Edgar was found to have caused a collision with Collet at Turn 16 on the opening lap, earning a five second time penalty as a result. Because Edgar did not finish the race, his penalty is instead converted into a grid drop for the next race.
Final results: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Silverstone%20Event%20-%20F3%20Feature%20Race%20-%20Final%20Result.pdf
Here’s how F2 and F3 sprint race panned out
