Jak Crawford lost sprint FIA F2 lead in Austria but regained to win in tricky conditions, while Paul Aron makes a late pass to win in F3.
F2:
Light rain ahead of the race meant half the field opted to start on the wet tyres. Utilising the dry soft tyres, reverse polesitter Crawford held the lead through the opening corners but it was Arthur Leclerc who made the most of his choice to start on wets. The DAMS driver went from third to the lead of the race by Turn 4 after the Hitech Pulse-Eight ran wide.
Jehan Daruvala spinning off into the gravel at Turn 7 brought out an early Safety Car at the start of Lap 2. This gave the wet tyre runners a chance to switch to slicks, with Théo Pourchaire, Frederik Vesti and Dennis Hauger all stopping, having run inside the top five.
Out front, Leclerc opted to stay out held the lead at the restart on Lap 4. Second-place Richard Verschoor dropped a wheel over the sausage kerb and spun off at the exit of Turn 1, necessitating another Safety Car. Leclerc chose to pit, handing the lead back to Crawford ahead of Juan Manuel Correa.
Back to racing on Lap 8, Kush Maini, Zane Maloney and Enzo Fittipaldi went three-wide up the hill into Turn 3. Diving to the inside, Maloney was through on both, but soon dropped down the order as the track dried and softs became the tyre of choice.
Their battle allowed Martins through into third and he quickly closed on Correa. Late on the brakes, the ART Grand Prix driver went up the inside of Turn 3 to pass the #23 Van Amersfoort Racing car.
Another beneficiary of the soft tyres, Novalak had already made up 16 places after dispatching Isack Hadjar for fourth and soon caught Correa. On Lap 18, the Trident driver was through on the inside to take third, allowing Hadjar the room to follow his compatriot through to take fourth. A spin for Fittipaldi between Turns 3 and 4 after catching the grass led to the Virtual Safety Car being deployed for two laps.
Having fought his way back up into the points, Oliver Bearman couldn’t hold onto a scoring finish. After overtaking Hauger earlier in the race, the MP Motorsport driver repaid the favour to take eighth. With the benefit of the switchback, the Norwegian was then able to get the run on Jack Doohan to take seventh on the final lap.
Nobody could deny Red Bull junior Crawford his maiden victory around the Red Bull Ring. Martins fought through to second, as Novalak returned to the podium for the first time since Zandvoort last year. Hadjar ensured both Hitech cars finished in the top four, as Correa’s valiant defence was rewarded with fifth ahead of Roman Stanek. Hauger ended up seventh with Jack Doohan rounding out the points-scorers in front of PREMA Racing’s Bearman and Vesti.
UPDATE: Clément Novalak has been disqualified from the Formula 2 Sprint Race in Spielberg after it was found that the #21 Trident car breached Article 12.9 of the Technical Regulations. Following post-race scrutineering, the Stewards ruled that the car’s rear tyre pressures were below the limit required. As a result, Isack Hadjar is promoted to the podium in third, whilst Oliver Bearman moves up to claim the final points paying position in eighth.
Kush Maini has been given a drive-through penalty, converted into a 20-second time penalty for forcing Enzo Fittipaldi off track between Turns 3 and 4. Maini moved to the right to try and block an overtake forcing the Brazilian off track. The penalty demotes the Indian driver from P12 to P16 in the final classification.
Maini’s teammate, Ralph Boschung, has also received a 10-second time penalty for forcing Amaury Cordeel off track between Turns 3 and 4. The Swiss driver moves from P18 to P17 in the final classification, as a result of Novalak’s disqualification. Lastly, Fittipaldi has received a three-place grid drop for the next race he participates in for colliding with Maini at Turn 3.
F3:
After a Safety Car-led formation lap, Martí retained his lead off the line, but Oliver Goethe didn’t pull away cleanly, dropping from fourth down to 27th. Aron was flying though and up to third by the end of the first lap.
On Lap 2, Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto dropped down to 14th having been in ninth position after a slow exit out of Turn 3. The Brazilian was quick to start his fightback, taking 13th from Mari Boya and then 12th from Dino Beganovic in quick succession.
Aron cleared Kaylen Frederick for P2 on Lap 8 and set his sights on leader Martí, who’d built up a 3.6s lead in the opening stages of the race. The Mercedes junior immediately set the fastest lap of the race in clean air to take four-tenths out of the Spaniard.
Frederick was on the defensive once more on Lap 9 as this time, Minì passed the ART Grand Prix driver around the outside of Turn 4 to take third. Collet was through on the following lap into Turn 3. Franco Colapinto attempted to take sixth from Zak O’Sullivan but got too deep into Turn 4 and took a trip through the gravel, falling to 19th as a result.
The Safety Car was deployed on Lap 11 after contact between Oliver Gray and Rafael Villagómez at Turn 4. The VAR driver was spun around following contact with the #20 Rodin Carlin, and the Briton had nowhere to go to avoid him.
Racing resumed entering Lap 14 and Martí put a small buffer between himself and Aron at the restart. Meanwhile, Beganovic was able to clear Luke Browning at Turn 3 to take ninth from the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver. O’Sullivan moved himself into the top five on Lap 16, diving to the inside of Frederick up the hill into Turn 3.
Aron had closed on Martí gradually lap after lap following the restart and on Lap 18, he cleared the Spanish driver into Turn 3, fending off Minì in the process, who’d put them all three-wide entering the corner. The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver was able to move himself into second at Turn 4, dropping Martí to third.
Collet dived to the inside of the Campos racer at the final corner on the penultimate lap to move himself into third, and O’Sullivan capitalised on his lost momentum to pass Martí for fourth. Edgar swept through to take fifth at Turn 5 to cap off a tricky day for the reverse grid pole sitter.
Aron made up for his disappointment after missing out on pole with a superb victory in the spray. The PREMA held off Minì, who took P2, with Collet third in front of O’Sullivan. Edgar scored his first top five of the season for MP Motorsport, having started 16th on the grid, whilst Martí ended up sixth for Campos. Frederick was seventh in the end ahead of Beganovic, Montoya and Bortoleto, who took the final Championship point in 10th.
#F3 #AustrianGP Results of a wet SprintRace. #MsportXtra pic.twitter.com/2FIH8O7eMR
— #MsportXtra © (@MsportXtra) July 1, 2023
UPDATE: Oliver Gray has been given a 10-second time penalty after the Rodin Carlin driver was judged to have caused a collision. The Briton made contact with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez at Turn 4 on Lap 11. Following a post-race investigation by the Stewards, Gray was judged to have been wholly responsible for the collision.
With the Rodin Carlin driver not finishing the Sprint Race as a result of the contact, his time penalty has been converted into a five-place grid drop for the next race in which he competes. Jenzer Motorsport’s Nikita Bedrin has also been handed a 10-second time penalty following the conclusion of the Sprint Race. Bedrin was found to have been wholly responsible for an incident with Trident driver Leonardo Fornaroli during the race. The penalty drops the Jenzer driver from 17th to 25th.
[Note: The story is as per press release]
