Frederik Vesti controls sprint F2 race in Silverstone in wet conditions, as Franco Colapinto did so in F3 in similar conditions.

F2:

The wet conditions in sprint F2 race in Silverstone forced for extra formation lap where the officials took out couple of laps from the count. There was a rolling start and Prema’s Frederik Vesti led the way from Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar and ART’s Theo Pourchaire.

Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi was fourth from Prema’s Oliver Bearman, Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan, DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa and ART’s Victor Martins in the Top 8 points place. There was a slow mover in the pack with Iwasa slowing down as the race kick-started.

As he slowed, Trident’s Clement Novalak tipped PHM Charouz’s Brad Benavides into a spin to retire. Before the safety car was deployed, Bearman passed Fittipaldi to take fourth, as Iwasa dived into the pits for the teams to work on his car.

The re-start was fine for Vesti and Hadjar but Pourchaire lost third to Bearman. The Brit moved up to second after clearing Hadjar a lap later to make it a Prema 1-2. But it wasn’t for long as a spin for Bearman cost him second to Hadjar.

A lap later, he lost third to Pourchaire who came alive. He fell into the clutches of Doohan who cleared Fittipaldi. The Brazilian had a supreme wheel-to-wheel battle with Martins to stay in front, with PHM Charouz’s Roy Nissany in eighth in points.

Behind, DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc passed Carlin’s Zane Maloney for ninth with MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala close behind. At the front, Vesti held well in the lead from Hadjar and Pourchaire, but the latter eventually made the move to get second.

Bearman had a wheel-to-wheel fight for fourth against Doohan, who got ahead initially but the Brit came back on him quickly. The two continued their fight where the Prema driver seemingly pushed the Australian off track, much to the latter’s disappointment.

This battled joined the back of Hadjar with Fittipaldi, Martins and Leclerc joined the battle too. Bearman made the move on Hadjar to clear him for third with Doohan clearing him a lap later to stick with the Brit in the fight for second.

Hadjar, meanwhile, had to fend of Fittipaldi, Martins and Leclerc. Doohan finally pushed his way through Bearman in the final part of the circuit with the Brit going off which allowed Fittipaldi to clear him and Hadjar to be up to fourth.

Bearman rejoined in sixth where he had a touch with Martins too which allowed Leclerc and Nissany to get on his tail. At the front, Vesti dominated the proceedings to win the sprint F2 race in tricky conditions ahead of Pourchaire and Doohan.

Fittipaldi was fourth from Hadjar with Bearman in sixth but under investigation. Martins was seventh from Leclerc to score points, with Nissany and Maloney rounding the Top 10 ahead of the MP Motorsport pair of Daruvala and Dennis Hauger.

 

 

F3:

As rain began to fall ahead of lights out, all bar Grégoire Saucy started on slicks. Pole sitter Sebastián Montoya kept the lead from pole, while Taylor Barnard surged up to second, passing Jonny Edgar around the outside at Turn 1. Colapinto passed both in one move, diving to the inside at Village to go from fourth to second.

A scruffy run through Maggotts and Becketts allowed Barnard to retake second later in the lap, while Luke Browning dispatched Edgar for fourth at Stowe. Gabriele Minì cleared the MP Motorsport driver on the run to the Vale Chicane and Edgar fell further down the order, passed by Bortoleto and Paul Aron entering Lap 2. With DRS enabled, Bortoleto was able to pressure Minì ahead of him for fifth position.

The Brazilian was through on the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver with some clever positioning of his car, forcing a lock-up from the Italian into the Vale Chicane on Lap 6. The heavy rain finally arrived on Lap 8 and the Safety Car was deployed with all the drivers running slick tyres. Dino Beganovic took the opportunity to pit for wet tyres while the rest remained on track to join the Safety Car queue.

There were more takers on the following lap, led by Browning, who pitted from fourth position. He was followed in by Josep María Martí, Oliver Goethe, Zak O’Sullivan, Aron and the MP pair of Edgar and Mari Boya. Beganovic’s stop moved him up to P11 with only those on slicks and yet to pit ahead of him.

With positions one to 10 still on dry tyres and those behind on wets, the Safety Car was withdrawn entering Lap 13 with Barnard right on the rear wing of Montoya. The pair made contact at Turn 1, with Montoya falling to 15th and Barnard to third as a result. Aron was immediately on the move, up to seventh by his wet tyres and fourth with five laps to go. As the rain eased off, those on slicks began to build tyre temperature and things began to fall to those on dries.

Minì had lost out to both PREMAs but was back up to fifth after passes on Beganovic and Aron on consecutive laps, still running on his dry tyres. Hugh Barter and Leonardo Fornaroli followed through to take sixth and seventh respectively on Lap 16. After his spin, Montoya was back into the points and eighth, passing both of the wet-shod PREMAs down the Hangar Straight with three laps to go. Ido Cohen moved himself up to ninth at the expense of Aron as the track was now too dry for the wet tyres.

Out front, Colapinto remained out of trouble to secure the Sprint Race victory ahead of Bortoleto, who extended his Championship advantage. On the final lap, Collet closed to within half a second of Christian Mansell in the fight for the final podium place but couldn’t find a route through on the Campos Racing driver, finishing fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing.

Minì was fifth in the end ahead of Hugh Barter, who secured his best F3 finish so far. Fornaroli secured seventh for Trident ahead of a recovering Montoya and Rodin Carlin’s Cohen, who earned his maiden points for Rodin Carlin. Martí made it three Campos cars inside the top 10 to round out the points.

 

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