F3 Monza – Day 1 & 2

Day 1-

Free Practice-

Oliver Bearman hit the ground running at Monza, finishing the opening session of the Championship-deciding weekend fastest of all. Isack Hadjar also looked quick out of the starting gates, ending up just a fraction off the top spot. Arthur Leclerc made it two PREMA Racing drivers in the top three in third.

With heavy rain overnight and into the morning, Free Practice got underway in damp conditions as drivers headed out onto the circuit. Rafael Villagomez was the first to suffer a spin, pirouetting out of Turn 2.

With half an hour to go, Juan Manuel Correa led the way on 1:50.513 narrowly ahead of Alexander Smolyar and Zak O’Sullivan. A virtual safety car was deployed briefly for the Jenzer Motorsport of Frederico Malvestiti, who had a temporary halt at pit exit.

Entering the final 10 minutes, the track hit the crossover point. Martins shot to the top by four tenths until Gregoire Sacuy and Oliver Bearman dipped into the 1:47s with five minutes to go.

Bearmans next lap was almost a second quicker as the track continued to dry out rapidly in the final moments. Vidales, Martins and then Edgar each the took the top spot in quick succession before Bearman restored his name to the top of the times on 1:44.873.

Qualifying-

Alexander Smolyar claimed pole position for MP Motorsport after a qualifying session interrupted by a significant red flag. Isack Hadjar crashed out of qualifying midway through the session which saw him end up 16th.

In the title race, Zane Maloney led the way, qualifying second for Trident ahead of teammate Roman Stanek in P3. Victor Martins, Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman followed nose to tail, fourth,fifth and sixth on the grid with Jak Crawford ended the session eighth for PREMA.

The title contenders took two of the three top spots following the first laps, Stanek first ahead of Hadjar in P2. Leclerc slotted into seventh after a huge snaps of oversteer out of the second Lesmo.

As the third laps filtered through, Hadjar looked set to take the fastest lap with two good sectors. Through Parabolica, he ran wide, picked up gravel and then spun into the barriers and bringing out the red flag.

The full top 10 are- P1: Smolyar, P2: Maloney, P3: Stanek, P4: Martins, P5: Leclerc, P6: Bearman, P7: Alatalo, P8: Crawford, P9: Edgar and P10: Marti.

Day 2-

Franco Colapinto won the Monza Sprint Race from pole position, winning ahead of Oliver Bearman after the PREMA Racing man put in a great drive to secure P2. Collet, ended up P3 after holding off a number of threats behind for a podium result.

Martins, Hadjar and Leclerc all had contact at some point during the Sprint Race and fell down the order, it was Bearman though who secured the best result to give himself a real chance of the championship.

The Safety Car came out on lap 4 after Zak O’Sullivan came unstuck into Turn 1. Missing his braking point, he had to take avoiding action to steer clear of his teammate and tagged the barriers as a result.

Hadjar’s title hopes suffered another blow on the restart after he damaged his front wing in contact with Maini. He was forced to pit for a new one on Lap 10.

The full top 10 are- P1: Colapinto, P2: Bearman, P3: Collet, P4: Maloney, P5: Edgar, P6: Saucy, P7: Crawford, P8: Leclerc P9: Marti and P10: Martins.

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