Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Day 1

  • F1 Academy – RND 6 Day 1

    Free Practice 1-

    Doriane Pin’s dream of keeping her title hopes alive got off to an ideal start as the PREMA Racing star topped the first practice session around Lusail.

    Abbi Pulling of Rodin Motorsport was close behind in second, as the Alpine driver tries to secure the Drivers’ title this race weekend.

    Aurelia Nobels in her ART Grand Prix machine was the first to hit the track, but it wasn’t long before she was joined on track by the MP Motorsport duo of Emely De Heus and Amna Al Qubaisi.

    It was a slow start to the session for Standings’ leader Pulling, who had an issue with her car’s starter motor. The Brit spent the first part of the session in the pit lane but got out on track with just under 20 minutes of the session to go.

    Rodin Motorsport’s Jess Edgar looked comfortable around the Lusail circuit as she went top of the timesheets early and continued to improve over the practice session.
    Hamda Al Qubaisi tried her best to knock her off the top spot, but despite going purple in the first and second sectors, was unable to beat the 1:57.592s benchmark set by Edgar.

    With the track improving, Doriane Pin of PREMA Racing put her Mercedes to the top with a time of 1:56.654s. This would be he quickest time of the session with Pulling getting close to her title rival.

    Free Practice 2-

    Doriane Pin made it two-for-two in the second Free Practice in Lusail, edging ahead of title rival Abbi Pulling at the chequered flag.

    It was a closely-fought session, with the top three separated by only 0.142s as Wild Card driver Alisha Palmowski made her mark in third.

    Driving under the floodlights around the Lusail International Circuit, the field had their eyes on preparing for both tomorrow afternoon’s Qualifying and their first-ever night race.

    Hamda Al Qubaisi was the first to get a time on the board, clocking a 1:58.348 as the initial benchmark. Setting the field’s quickest time yet in Qatar, Standings leader Pulling went top on a 1:56.453, whilst Chloe Chambers slotted into second in the Haas-liveried car.

    The Brit continued to lower the time to beat to a 1:56.038, before Maya Weug eclipsed her effort by 0.019s. Pulling quickly regained the top spot on a 1:55.785, going two tenths clear of the Ferrari driver as Palmowski climbed into the top three.

    Less than seven minutes were left on the clock as the fight for P1 ramped up. Block seized the top spot on a 1:55.517, only for the Williams driver to be immediately beaten by Palmowski’s 1:55.477.

    Pin then went fastest of all on a 1:55.043, whilst Pulling kept in close range of the Mercedes driver, sitting in just six hundredths adrift.
    Entering their final attempts, Palmowski staked her claim on the quickest effort of the day, becoming the first driver to break into the 1:54s and putting her 0.107s ahead of Pin.

    The top spot then shifted into Pin’s hands on a 1:54.914 until Pulling wrestled it away by 0.019s. It appeared to be job done, but Pin wasn’t finished just yet and snatched the fastest lap away from the Alpine driver with a 1:54.794.

  • F2 – RND 14 – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Victor Martins left it until the last minute but was the man to beat in the final Free Practice of the 2023 Formula 2 season.
    The ART Grand Prix driver ended the first session of the weekend on top after setting a 1:37.389.

    Zane Maloney put Rodin Carlin second with a late effort of his own while Theo Pourchaire kicked off a potentially title-winning weekend as third quickest. Title rivals Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vest finished seventh and ninth respectively.

    Newcomers Paul Aron and Franco Colapinto were on the track early to get some mileage under their belts ahead of their debut. The latter suffered a spin coming through the right-hander of turn 11 in the early running but was able to avoid the barriers and continue on his way.

    After a relatively quiet start to the session, the circuit filled up quickly approaching half an hour remaining as the majority of the field headed onto track. Nissany lowered the time to beat to a 1:38.492 on his next flying lap to lead by 0.6s from Maloney.
    The red flags were out soon after as Arthur Leclerc came to a halt in his DAMS between turns 1 and 2.

    Doohan briefly went to P1 after running resumed, but it was beaten in quick succession. Pourchaire was pipped by teammate Martins by 0.022s with the rookie setting a 1:38.219 to take the spot from the Championship leader.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Martins, P2: Maloney, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Doohan, P5: Verschoor, P6: Boschung, P7: Iwasa, P8: Correa, P9: Vesti and P10: Maini.

    Qualifying-

    Invicta Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan secured the final pole position of the season with a 1:35.567, beating out Alpine Academy drivers Victor Martins and Kush Maini.

    In the title fight, Theo Pourchaire has a difficult weekend ahead of him after missing the top 10 and ending qualifying down in 14th position. Direct rival, Frederik Vesti will start tomorrow’s Sprint Race from the reserve grid front row after ending the session in ninth.

    Trident’s Roman Stanek was the first to get a time on the board with a 1:37.591. His effort didn’t stay top for long as Ayumu Iwasa went quickest with a 1:37.181, three tenths ahead of Amaury Cordeel.

    Martins jumped straight back into things after topping Free Practice, launching himself 0.489s clear of the DAMS’ driver on a 1:36.692. Doohan sliced the ART Grand Prix driver’s advantage to two tenths, as Ralph Boschung and Maini slotted both Campos Racing cars inside the top four.

    After a brief break in the pitlane, the field were back out with 16 minutes remaining. Iwasa regained the fastest time on a 1:36.085, and Martins’ response left him 0.008s adrift of the DAMS driver.

    However, Doohan was on a charge, breaking into the 1:35s and rocketing up into provisional pole, two tenths ahead of Maini. Martins and Iwasa tried to find an answer for the Australian but couldn’t.
    Doohan showed no signs of slowing down, bettering his previous effort to snatch pole by over two tenths.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Martins, P3: Maini, P4: Maloney, P5: Iwasa, P6: Hauger, P7: Verschoor, P8: Hadjar, P9: Vesti and P10: Fittipaldi.

  • F3 – RND 10 – Day 1

    Practice-

    Oliver Goethe was straight back into action at Monza, going fastest of all in Free Practice with a 1:38.677. The Trident driver secured his lap just moments before a second session ending Red Flag, finishing just over a tenth clear of PREMA’s Paul Aron and Gabriele Mini for Hitech.

    Rodin Carlin set the early benchmark with Oliver Gray putting in a 1:41.612 on his initial effort around the Temple of Speed.

    As the 30 minute mark approached, the track got busier as queues of cars formed, all eager to get that all important slipstream.
    Home hero, Leonardo Fornaroli took charge, dipping into the 1:39s before Jenzer’s Taylor Barnard went over two tenths clear of the Trident.

    The first Red Flag was brought out by Nikita Bedrin as the second Jenzer stopped on track. The clock continued to tick down and running resumed with 16 minutes left.

    Gregoire Saucy took ART up into the top spot on the restart, clocking in a 1:39.276 to go eight thousandths faster than Fornaroli. Piecing together a perfect lap was far from easy.

    Mini then broke into the 1:38s but the Hitech driver was immediately beaten by Goethe and Aron. The flurry proved to be the final attempts of the morning, as MP Motorsport’s Mari Boya spun off into the barriers at Turn 11 inside the final six minutes.

    Qualifying-

    Oliver Goethe secured his first pole position of the season at Monza for Trident confirming teammate Gabriel Bortoleto as the 2023 Formula 3 Drivers’ Champion in the process.

    Running in the gap as one of two drivers on track after the second of three red flag appearances, the German driver posted a 1:38.909 to go less than a tenth clear of Van Amersfooort Racing’s Caio Collet and Paul Aron in third.

    It was all about the waiting game in the early phase of running as everyone tried to avoid being the first to jump. Aron led a train of cars out on track at the green light but the field swiftly filtered back into the pits following installation laps.

    Queues immediately formed around the track at the 23 minute mark. Situated right in the middle of a train of cars out of the Lesmo chicane, Ido Cohen was sent spinning after Rodin Carlin teammate Oliver Gray hit the rear of the car bringing out the first Red Flag.

    Once running resumed, there was no time to waste. Hungry to keep his title hopes alive, Aron went fastest of all with a 1:39.043. The PREMA driver’s effort didn’t stay top for long, as Collet leapfrogged him into provisional pole but there was little to separate the top three with 0.054s covering Collet, Aron and Goethe.

    The session was Red Flagged again seconds later, after a spin for Joshua Dufek left the Campos Racing driver stuck in the gravel trap at Variante della Roggia.

    When the session resumed with 15 minutes left, Goethe and Bortoleto were the only two cars to gamble on a run without the benefit of a slipstream. It served well as Goethe managed to improve on his earlier effort to go top.

    Opting for another attempt, the Trident driver went off into the barriers at Turn 7 with a third and final red flag deployed, nobody got an opportunity to improve as the session was not resumed.
    As Championship contenders, Aron and Josep Maria Marti were unable to secure the two points awarded for pole, Bortoleto’s job was done to claim the title.

  • F2 – RND 8 – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Enzo Fittipaldi kick started the second half of the season in great form as the Rodin Carlin driver topped the opening practice session in Spielberg. Setting a 1:15.216 before the halfway point, the Red Bull junior remained at the top of the pile throughout.

    With track temperatures approaching 40˚C at the Red Bull Ring, Roy Nissany set the initial pace, which put him ahead of Fittipaldi and Maloney by just 0.025s.

    The first Red Flag was thrown with 11 minutes left on the clock after Pourchaire spun out a Turn 4. The Frenchman dropped a wheel into the gravel, sending him into a pirouette and he was unable to restart the car.

    Green flag conditions resumed with six minutes to go. As the field jostled for track position behind him, Virtuosi Racing’s Amaury Cordeel spun off at Turn 1. With less than four minutes remaining, practice was red flagged once again and did not resume.

    Qualifying-

    Victor Martins threw down the gauntlet early on in Qualifying around the Red Bull Ring on his way to claim his second Formula 2 pole position of his rookie campaign.

    The ART Grand Prix driver led from his first flying lap, improving to a 1:14.643 on his third attempt to retain the top spot. Championship contenders Frederik Vesti and Theo Pourchaire had to settle for second and third.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Martins, P2: Vesti, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Maini, P5: Doohan, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Cordeel, P8: Leclerc, P9: Daruvala and P10: Crawford.

    Heading the field out of the pits, Roman Stanek was the first driver to take a turn in the top spot, before Vesti put himself ahead with a 1:15.134.

    Meanwhile, Practice pace-setter Fittipaldi looked to continue that form as he moved up into second, before a track limit violation demoted him to the bottom of the timing sheets. But he wasn’t the only one to get caught out by track limits.

    After a lengthy stay in the pits, the field immediately scrambled for track position as they headed out with just 11 minutes left.

    Vesti tried to wrestle provisional pole away from the Alpine junior but couldn’t quite manage it, ending up a tenth down on Martins.

  • F3 – RND 6 – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Gabriel Bortoleto hit the ground running in Spielberg, setting the track record with a 1:19.410 to top the free practice session for Trident.

    The Brazilian driver was 0.148s quicker than Jenzer Motorsport’s Taylor Barnad, while Gabriele Mini left it late to take third for Hitech Pulse-Eight.

    Once the tyre preparation laps were complete, Paul Aron set the initial benchmark to beat with a 1:21.998 on his first effort. The Estonian’s 1:21.205 was three-tenths quicker than PREMA Racing teammate Dino Beganovic, who had a heart-in-mouth moment shortly after.

    With just over 16 minutes remaining the red flags were out after Sebastian Montoya beached his Hitech car in the gravel trap on the outside of Turn 7.

    Once the session resumed with 12 minutes remaining, everyone returned to the track. ART Grand Prix’s Saucy was the first in the queue with prime track position and set a 1:20.306 for the rest to beat.

    Qualifying-

    ART Grand Prix’s Gregoire Saucy secured his first Formula 3 pole position in Spielberg after a dramatic qualifying session around the Red Bull Ring. PREMA Racing’s Paul Aron had ended the session fastest of all but dropped to P4 after exceeding track limits.

    His demotion moved Saucy up into P1 and PREMA teammate Dino Beganovic onto the front row. While Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto secured third place in his Trudent.

    With patches of rain on the weather radars, everyone was out immediately at the green light. Caio Collet led the way as the rest jostled for Track position and the Van Amersfoort driver set the first time to beat.

    With 15 minutes gone, Beganovic headed up Aron, Gabriel Bortoleto, Josep Maria Marti and Gabriele Mini in the top five. After everyone returned to the pits to fit a fresh set of the soft Pirelli tyres, the track was busy once again with under 10 minutes remaining.

    There were improvements throughout the field, but nobody could leap ahead of either PREMA driver prior to the final two minutes of the session.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Saucy, P2: Beganovic, P3: Bortoleto, P4: Aron, P5: Collet, P6: O’Sullivan, P7: Colapinto, P8: Goethe, P9: Frederick and P10: Mansell.

  • F2 – RND 6 – Day 1 & 2

    Day 1-

    Ayumu Iwasa ended a frantic Free Practice session fastest of all as the DAMS man set a 1:22.081 to lead the grid. The Japanese driver got his best lap in prior to the third Red Flag of the incident session.

    Next to him was Victor Martins for ART Grand Prix, whilst Richard Verschoor ended up third for Van Amersfoort Racing but found himself in the barriers in the closing minutes.

    The first Red Flag came early into the session, as we saw contact between Ralph Boschung and Roman Stanek, with both cars having to be recovered.

    The second Red Flag of the session came out with just over 20 minutes remaining after Bearman lost the rear of his PREMA at Turn 8 and nosed into the barriers.

    Day 2-

    With Monte Carlo Qualifying split into two groups of 11, the random ballot allocated the even numbered cars into Group A and odd numbered cars going second in Group B.

    The first 16 minute segment began with several warm-up laps but it was Victor Martins who set the initial benchmark. But it didn’t stay that way for long as Richard Verschoor was next to hit the top spot just before a red flag was waved due to home-hero Arthur Leclerc who tagged the barriers and saw him out of the session.

    With a 1:21.231 to beat, group B headed out for their turn and Dennis Hauger laid down the first effort. His 1:22.979 was bettered by several, but it was Theo Pourchaire who went quickest overall.

    Plenty of personal bests followed but the ART Grand Prix man remained on top with a 1:21.354 ahead of Zane Maloney and Frederik Vesti by a tenth with less than five minutes to go.

    The Dane put in three purple sectors on his following attempt to go top with a 1:21.053 ensuring Group B was fighting for pole. It was enough for pole as on the final attempts, Clement Novalak hit the barriers at Portier to bring out the Red Flags, ending the session early.

  • F3 – RND 4 – Day 1 & 2

    Day 1-

    Gabriele Mini made the most of a drying Monte Carlo circuit to head the field in Formula 3’s first session around the Principality. The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver put his previous experience to good use, clocking in a 1:26.686 in the final jam packed seconds of Free Practice.

    Fellow returnees, Franco Colapinto and Gregoire Saucy benefited from a late switch to the slicks to round out the top three.

    Before the session started, a heavy downpour threw a curveball the drivers’ way, making the challenge of learning the Monaco streets even more difficult. Campos Racing’s Christian Mansell was the first to get a representative time on the board, but they continued to tumble with every lap of the 3.337km circuit.

    Although a dry line had begun to form, there were still plenty of areas to catch the field out. Browning brought the time to beat down to a 1:39.879 before the Red Flag appeared, a spin for Jonny Edgar left the British racer facing the wrong way and in need of recovery.

    Day 2-

    For the Championship’s first appearance in the Principality, the 30 car grid was divided into two groups with 16 minutes each. Group A consists of even-numbered cars and Group B the odd.

    Gabriele Mini put together a masterclass to claim his second pole position of his rookie Formula 3 season. Waiting until the last second of Group B, the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver wrestled pole away from Group A’s Dino Beganovic by over six tenths.

    The full top 10 for Sunday’s Feature race are: P1: Mini, P2: Beganovic, P3: Aron, P4: Browning, P5: Collet, P6: Montoya, P7: Bortoleto, P8: Colapinto, P9: Barnard and P10: Fornaroli.

  • F2 Abu Dhabi- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Ayumu Iwasa, hit the ground running at Yas Marina ending Free Practice being quickest of all, 0.055s ahead of Theo Pourchaire. The DAMS driver strung together his best time early on and nobody could usurp him fro the top spot in the remainging time.

    Perfect conditions were presented to the drivers as the first session of the final weekend in 2022 got underway. Following plenty of installation laps, the times tumbled as the track ramped up and Marcus Armstrong put in the early benchmark with a 1:38.987.

    Juri Vips had been running in the top three but had a lucky escape, avoiding the barriers at Turn 14 after a snap of oversteer almost led him into the barriers.

    A red flag was thrown as the clock ticked underneath 10 minutes to go as Ralph Boschung spun into the barriers between Turns 13 and 14. The session got underway with 3 minutes to go, but nobody could improve over Iwasa’s 1:38.168.

    Qualifying-

    DAMS proved that its never over until the chequered flag in Formula 2, as Ayumu Iwasa stormed to his second pole position of the 2022 season. With his teammate Roy Nissany putting together an unbelievable lap, only 0.036s down on his teammate to bring home his first front row Feature Race. Theo Pourchaire will be starting 3rd.

    Unlike previous visits to the Yas Marina Circuit, the 30 minute session got underway in the blistering mid-afternoon sunshine rather than under the flood lights.

    Seven minutes into qualifying and with only half of the field having put a lap on the board, running came to a brief hault. Virtuosi’s Marino Sato suffered a spin underneath the hotel section between Turns 13 and 14 bringing out the red flag and forcing several drivers to abandon their laps.

    As predicted pre-session, Sector 3 would prove to e the undoing for several attempts.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Iwasa, P2: Nissany, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Drugovich, P5: Doohan, P6: Sargeant, P7: Hauger, P8: Codeel, P9: Lawson and P10: Verschoor.

  • 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.

  • F2 Spa – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Ralph Boschung got his return to the Formula 2 season off to a positive start, as the Campos Racing driver topped Free Practice around Spa-Francorchamps.

    The weather proved to be a major headache with rainfall around the track, catching a few drivers out, but it was the Swiss driver who managed to clock in a 2:01.376 finish ahead of Amaury Cordeel and Ayumu Iwasa.

    Iwasa was the first driver to set a representative time. Flourishing in these conditions the DAMS driver set out to better his by 0.742s after the first two sectors, but it wasn’t to last, fighting the car through Stavelot ended in a huge spin across the gravel to bring out the Red Flag.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Boschung, P2: Cordeel, P3: Iwasa, P4: Armstrong, P5: Zendeli, P6: Sargeant, P7: Daruvala, P8: Beckmann, P9: Sato and P10: Vips.

    Qualifying-

    Championship leader, Felipe Drugovich put in a mighty lap to take pole position for the Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Logan Sargeant.

    His closest rival in the Championship, Theo Pourchaire had to settle for eighth on the grid, meaning that the French driver will line up third on the grid for the Sprint Race.

    Juri Vips was the first to bring out a red flag due to a spin and not being able to keep his engine going. The session then resumed with 23 minutes to go and drivers got on track immediately.

    Ralph Boschung took provisional pole for Campos Racing but it was only for a moment. Jehan Daruvala and then Jack Doohan went quicker with track conditions ramping up in the closing stages.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Drugovich, P2: Fittipaldi, P3: Sargeant, P4: Doohan, P5: Beckmann, P6: Lawson, P7: Verschoor, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Daruvala and P10: Boschung.

  • F2 Budapest- Day 1 & 2

    F2 Budapest- Day 1 & 2

    Day 1-

    Jack Doohan ended Free Practice fastest of all ahead of Qualifying but there was almost nothing splitting him from Ayumu Iwasa, only 0.001s was the gap from the Virtuosi driver and the DAMS in P2. David Beckmann popped up into P3 for Van Amersfoort Racing, with the German driver being the only one to improve in the final 10 minutes.

    Track temperatures were quickly rising as cars took to the track. A brief yellow flag was shown for a hare dashing across the circuit on the main straight but things remained as normal with 38 minutes left.

    Birthday boy, Marcus Armstrong was the first to set a representative time to go fastest early on. That lasted until Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti made it an ART Grand Prix 1-2.

    Ayumu Iwasa left the rest of the Formula 2 in the dust as he stormed his way to his first pole position in the Championship. A blistering quick 1:27.930 set in the final few minutes of qualifying allowed him to better his nearest rival HiTech Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong, by an astonishing 0.381s, while Felipe Drugovich narrowly pipped Theo Pourchaire.

    Few drivers improved on their second runs, as Logan Sargeant opted to peel into off into the pits rather than set a second time. Olli Caldwell was the sole driver to run in the gap. This seemed to be a smart strategy for the Campos driver who leapt up from P16 to P1.

    However, it was Iwasa’s final run on his second set of softs that proved to be the making of his weekend. Whilst Armstrong failed to improve, the Japanese rookie turned the timing screens purple.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Iwasa, P2: Armstrong, P3: Drugovich, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Sargeant, P6: Vips, P7: Vesti, P8: Hauger, P9: Fittipaldi and P10: Doohan.

    Day 2-

    Fittipaldi aced his launch from second to take the lead in the opening metres from Doohan. A huge lock up at Turn 2 though undid his hard work and allowed the Virtusoi Racing driver to snatch the lead back.

    Meanwhile, Dennis Hauger endured a poor getaway and went three wide with Drugovich and Sargeant. Contact between the MP Motorsport and Carlin pair nudged the American into Hauger on the outside, tipping the Norwegian around and out of the race at Turn 1. Sargeant was also out of the race as a result of the contact, retiring from the pits.

    The action resumed heading onto Lap 4, and Doohan bolted early to leave the rest behind. Theo Pourchaire had dropped down to 16th on the opening lap after having to avoid action from the Turn 1 melee around the outside of the corner.

    Jehan Daruvala reported that his front tyres were already gone by lap 11, and the pressure from Marcus Armstrong behind was proof of that. The Hitech Grand Prix dirver shaped for a move into Turn 1, but the PREMA driver slammed the door shut to hold sixth for the time being.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vips, P3: Fittipaldi, P4: Drugovich, P5: Vesti, P6: Lawson, P7: Armstrong, P8: Iwasa, P9: Pourchaire and P10: Caldwell.

  • F3 Budapest- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    F3 action resumed bright and early this morning, and it was Jak Crawford who hit the ground running almost immediately. Entering the weekend off the back of his first victory in the Championship last time out in Spielberg, the PREMA Racing driver left it to the last second to knock Zane Maloney off the top spot by a tenth of a second.

    Ideal conditions greeted the field of 30 at the Hungaroring. The session got underway with the field bolting on their sets of red-walled soft tyres, that they carried over form the previous round, and off the bat Josep Maria Marti got up to speed, laying down a 1:36.144.

    Times continued to tumble as David Vidales, Juan Manuel Correa, Gregoire Saucy and Zak O’Sullivan all took turns at the top of the order before Alexander Smolyar followed by Kush Maini put MP Motorsport up into P1.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Crawford, P2: Maloney, P3: Leclerc, P4: Hadjar, P5: Collet, P6: Smolyar, P7: Edgar, P8: Maini, P9: Stanek and P10: Villagomez.

    Qualifying-

    Alexander Smolyar secured pole position around the Hungaroring, avoiding a hectic conclusion to the session following a late red flag stoppage. Though time remained on the clock following a restart with three minutes to go, Zane Maloney was the closest anyone got to the MP Motorsport driver, ending the session second fastest 0.126s down.

    The track fell quiet with 10 minutes gone, Collet leading from Isack Hadjar and Victor Martins. Debutant, Oliver Goethe climbed up to P6 on his second flying lap for Campos Racing but lost his time for exceeding track limits at Turn 4 dropping him down to P10.

    None of the PREMA drivers had recorded a lap time in the opening half of the session due to deletions because of track limits violations. Purple sectors across the board from Arthur Leclerc which put him in P1 with a 1:32.912, whilst teammate Jak Crawford couldn’t quite match. Bearman meanwhile managed to go better than both to secure a PREMA 1-2-3.

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

  • F2 Silverstone – Day 1

    F2 Silverstone – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Returning to the track where he secured back to back pole positions in Formula 3 in 2020, Logan Sargeant once again laid down the gauntlet for his rivals in the Free Practice session.

    The Carlin driver narrowly leaped ahead of Championship leader Felipe Drugovich setting a 1:40.902 to go 0.037s clear. Jack Doohan was content with third position. However, executing the perfect lap at the British circuit proved to be easier said than done.

    Dennis Hauger, had a few nervous moments of his own with a major spin at Abbey, one of the quickest corners on the track. The PREMA driver managed to save it and avoid the barriers.

    Running ground to a halt with just under 16 minutes remaining of the 45 minute session, as Calan Williams found the barriers at the exit of Copse losing the Tridents rear-end at the mid-corner bringing out the red flag.

    A queue of drivers were eager to get back out as soon as the lights went green with seven minutes to go. An improvement for Sargeant was enough for the American to hold onto the top spot as the session concluded under red flag conditions after Virtuosi’s Marino Sato came to a halt at Luffield with three minutes remaining.

    Qualifying-

    Logan Sargeant made it two from two on Friday, sealing pole position for the Feature Race after topping the earlier Free Practice session. Frederik Vesti outqualified his teammate and ended up P2 with Championship leader Felipe Drugovich securing third place ahead of Pourchaire.

    Drugovich’s first attempt was over as quickly as it started, going deep at village after locking up and subsequently running wide off track. Vesti was quickest after the initial times filtered in a 1:39.611 was the time to beat by the Dane, three-tenths quicker than Jack Doohan in P2.

    Jehan Daruvala had remained on track during the lull in action and lifted himself up to P2 and within two-tenths of Sargeant’s fastest effort. With 12 minutes remaining, drivers filtered back out onto track as the sun breached the cloud cover above the circuit.

    A yellow flag for the stranded Van Amersfoort Racing car of David Beckmann prevented drivers from setting two consecutive fast laps and with under five minutes remaining of the session, there wasn’t enough time left on the clock to relaunch an attack on pole.

  • F2 Baku- Day 1

    F2 Baku- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Juri Vips was the fastest man in the free practice session today, he set a 1:55.924 to end practice ahead of Lawson and teammate Marcus Armstrong.

    Strong winds kept the trees that line the circuit blowing as the drivers took to track for their initial laps. A dusty surface meant times were unrepresentative in the early phases of the session.

    Enzo Fittipaldi was the first to have a brush with the wall, the Charouz racing driver nudged the exit wall at Turn 4 but was able to continue without any visible concerns. Clement Novalak found himself facing the wall soon after in the first sector, bringing out the red flag.

    The session was back to green with 20 minutes, but it didn’t stay that way as Boschung’s joy at the top was short-lived as he was the next to find the wall – the Campos Racing man lost the rear end of his car on downshift and spun backwards into the barrier at Turn 5, bringing out the red flags for the second time.

    The full top were- P1: Vips, P2: Lawson, P3: Armstrong, P4: Doohan, P5: Vesti, P6: Daruvala, P7: Drugovich, P8: Boschung, P9: Verschoor and P10: Hauger.

    Qualifying-

    Mr Juri Vips narrowly missed out on pole position last year, but made amends this year as he stormed to P1 in a highly competitive qualifying session in Baku. The HiTech driver had been stuck down in 10th following his opening run, but a surprise burst of pace was enough to put him 0.163s clear of Lawson as Dennis Hauger made it an all Red Bull junior top three.

    As drivers started to back out with 11 minutes remaining, and the flying laps started they was brought to a hault due to Ayumu Iwasa who was determined to push his car to the limits- he carried to much speed into Turn 4 and collided with the barrier – he looked untouchable earlier on in the session as he was sitting comfortably on provisional pole.

    The Japanese driver’s mistake blew the fight for pole wide open as Richard Verschoor and Hauger both clocked in personal bests. But it was the final minute of the session that showed who had mastered the streets of Baku.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Vips, P2: Lawson, P3: Hauger, P4: Armstrong, P5: Drugovich, P6: Verschoor, P7: Sargeant, P8: Daruvala, P9: Vesti and P10: Hughes.

  • F2 Monaco – Day 1 & 2

    Day 1-

    Championship leader, Felipe Drugovich led the way in the Free Practice session in Monte Carlo, he clocked in a 1:21.589, Drugovich’s effort was just enough to hold off Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung.

    It was HiTech’s Marcus Armstrong, who set the first representative lap of the 45 minute session. However times quickly began to tumble as Boschung topped the sheets with a 1:26.741.

    Traffic once again proved to be a thorn in several drivers’ sides, including Drugovich who was forced to abandon several fast laps after coming across a train of cars at Turn 19.

    Running was constant throughout the session, with only Juri Vips and Marino Sato bringing out yellow flags in Sector 1, with both drivers suffering near-identical front lockups and headed into the run off at Turn 1, before swiftly getting going again.

    Day 2-

    Liam Lawson set the fastest time in qualifying around the streets of Monte Carlo, narrowly beating out Ayumu Iwasa by 0.059s. Championship leader Felipe Drugovich hit the wall on his final effort but remained third quickest in group A. Meanwhile, Theo Pourchaire topped the Group B with a 1:25.535.

    A slow burn in Group B followed, but a red flag in the final minute prevented any last-gasp improvements. A crash for Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes, at the swimming pool chicane ended the session prematurely. It meant that Pourchaire’s penultimate attempt was good enough for the top spot in the second group.

    But, things never stay the same in F2! Liam Lawson, Ayumu Iwasa and Olli Caldwell all got post qualifying penalties.

    Lawson, had been fount guilty of failing to reduce his speed under a single-waved yellow flag. As a result, Lawson’s best time got deleted and as well as receiving a five place grid drop, dropping him down to P11 for tomorrows Sprint Race.

    Iwasa, has been awarded a 10 place grid penalty, after failing to abandon his flying lap whilst under a double waved yellow flag at the end of qualifying. His best lap time has been deleted, demoting him from P2 of his group. Iwasa’s second-best time now sees him classified in P7, and with the penalty applied he’ll start the sprint race from P20.

    Last but not least, Olli Caldwell has been fount guilty of impeding Marino Sato at Turns 2, 3 and 4 during Group B’s qualifying session, the Campos driver failing to let Sato through who was on a fast lap. As a result, Caldwell has been handed a three-place grid drop for his next race.

    The full top 10 for tomorrows sprint race is: P1: Hughes, P2: Hauger, P3: Daruvala, P4: Armstrong, P5: Fittipaldi, P6: Vips, P7: Doohan, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Drugovich and P10: Boschung.

  • F2 Barcelona – Day 1

    F2 Barcelona – Day 1

    Round 4 for Formula 2 this weekend, lets take a look at how the first day went.

    Free Practice-

    Felipe Drugovich led the way in free practice after multiple red flag stoppages. The MP Motorsport driver, was almost a full half-second clear of the pack, with Jehan Daruvala and Logan Sargeant his closest challengers.

    Olli Caldwell and Marcus Armstrong both brought out the red flags during the session, with the Campos Racing driver spinning and hitting the wall at Turn 9. Meanwhile Armstrong became beached in the gravel at Turn 4 as drivers struggled for grip.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Drugovich, P2: Daruvala, P3: Sargeant, P4: Doohan, P5: Lawson, P6: Vips, P7: Iwasa, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Hauger and P10: Williams.

    Qualifying-

    Before we start looking at the qualifying result, Ralph Boschung has withdrawn from this weekend as he is suffering from neck pain and wasn’t able to continue after the practice session.

    Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan, left it last minute as he stormed to his second pole position in Formula 2, the Aussie managed to hold off an extremely late charge from HiTech’s Juri Vips which saw the Estonian driver leap up from last to second and ahead of ART’s Frederik Vesti in third.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vips, P3: Vesti, P4: Daruvala, P5: Sargeant, P6: Iwasa, P7: Pourchaire, P8: Hughes, P9: Williams and P10: Drugovich.

    Drugovich was meant to be starting on pole position for today’s sprint race but, he has a 3 place grid penalty for impeding Theo Pourchaire, so he now will be starting 4th. That promotes Calan Williams to pole position and Jake Hughes onto the front row.

  • F3 Barcelona – Day 1

    F3 Barcelona – Day 1

    We are back at Barcelona for Round 3 of the Formula 3 2022 Championship, lets take a look at how the first day has gone.

    Free Practice-

    For the second round in a row, ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martin set the pace during practice, clocking in a 1:32.196. With the cooler early morning temperatures, it was somewhat leisurely start to running as the 30 car field, turned their focus towards the end of the session.

    Initially, the Carlin trio led the way with the Williams Racing Academy driver, Zak O’Sullivan setting a benchmark of 1:35.420. 15 minutes in and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima leaped to the top of the timesheets, becoming the first driver to break the 1:34s barrier.

    Title contenders Arthur Leclerc and Victor Martins were nip and tuck on track with less than a tenth between them. The PREMA Racing driver went quickest, only for Championship leader Victor Martins to go 0.076s quicker.

    Martins ended the session fastest, ahead of Leclerc. Stanek slotted into third, just over half a second behind the leading time. Jak Crawford was fourth ahead of Imola Sprint Race winner Franco Colapinto and pole-sitter last time out Maloney. Oliver Bearman made it three PREMAs inside the top seven ahead of Kaylen Frederick.

    Qualifying-

    Roman Stanek left it late but secured himself pole position ahead of Victor Martins. The Trident driver had made an early error in the session but rebounded brilliantly to take pole position in the final moments of the day.

    Alex Smolyar followed ahead of Isack Hadjar and Arthur Leclerc, who will have to make up places to fight with his championship rivals ahead. Meanwhile Juan Manuel Correa made it inside the top 10 on his return.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Stanek, P2: Martins, P3: Smolyar, P4: Hadjar, P5: Leclerc, P6: Bearman, P7: Collet, P8L Frederick, P9: Crawford and P10: Correa.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Sprint Race- 10:00am – 10:40am (BST).

  • F2 Imola- Round Up

    F2 Imola- Round Up

    Day 1-

    Free Practice-

    Ralph Boschung ended the free practice session on top, setting a 1:41.996 with a heavily interrupted session with three red flags across the 30 minutes of on track action. Before Practice had even started there was drama, as the session had to be rescheduled from the morning until the circumstances improved.

    Once the session was underway, it wasn’t long until the first red flag was produced as Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong spun and hit the barrier before Turn 11. Once the session resumed, Juri Vips set the initial pace but after this another red flag came out and the action stopped, this time due to Logan Sargeant spinning and not being able to get his car going again.

    Boschung moved to the head of the pack before having a spin of his own in the final minute which brought out the 3rd red flag. Vips was in second and Jehan Daruvala was in third for PREMA.

    Qualifying-

    HiTech’s Juri Vips took his first ever pole position in his Formula 2 career as he mastered the difficult conditions and set a lap time of 1:40.221. More rain hit the track prior to the start of the session, forcing drivers to use the wet tyres.

    Ralpha Boshcung who set the pace in the afternoon practice session, was the first driver to lay down a marker but after the opening round o flaps were completed it was Clement Novalak who was the fastest driver. Jake Hughes then moved to the top of the timesheet before being replaced by Vips.

    Shortly after Vips completed his lap, the one and only red flag of the session was deployed as Olli Caldwell spun off the road in the first sector. As the session resumed, drivers returned to the circuit to prepare for the final push laps, with Boschung setting the benchmark even lower. However, with six minutes left, Vips closed out a lap which would not be beaten, despite several improvements int he top 10.

    Juri in P1 for the feature race, with Ayumu Iwasa in 2nd and 3rd. Sargeant took reverse grid pole as he finished 10th.

    Day 2-

    Sprint Race-

    Carlin’s Logan Sargeant started from pole, but the driver struggled to get off the line, his slow start allowed Armstrong into the lead, with the American driver dropping down to fifth by the end of the opening lap.

    David Beckmann spun on the opening lap, with Clement Novalak unable to avoid the Charouz car and picked up front wing damage, it saw Beckmann retire from the race where he joined Amaury Cordeel on the sidelines as the Belgian racer crashed on his way to the grid.

    Boschung became the latest retirement on Lap 9 as he was forced to pull over at the side with a problem, a virtual safety car was called which allowed Daruvala to close the gap on the leader, Marcus Armstrong.

    In the final few laps, Daruvala couldn’t pass Armstrong for the lead and had to settle for P2, with Hauger in P3, his best finish in Formula 2 so far.

    Day 3-

    Feature Race-

    Juri Vips headed the field from pole position as the lights went out, however it was Roy Nissany who started sixth who led the field into Turn 2. Behind there was instant contact between 2021 Formula 3 title rivals, Dennis Hauger and Jack Doohan, damage was inflicted on both cars and the pair were forced to retire.

    A safety car was called to clean up Haugers stricken car, but no sooner had it disappeared it was called upon again as pole-sitter Juri Vips crashed on the exit of Turn 6 after running wide. When the safety car went in, a series of drivers including Nissany, Boschung, Pourchaire and Fittipaldi peeled into the pit lane to switch to the medium compound tyres.

    As the laps ticked down the battles for position were not over, with Boschung and Sargeant scrapping for what could be second place. Sargeant moved ahead of Boschung, but soon dropped down the order moments after taking the position.

    It was Theo Pourchaire who took the Feature Race win, with Enzo Fittipaldi finishing 2nd, his best ever finish and first Formula 2 podium! Ralph Boschung finished in third.

    The Championship-

    We now have a new championship leader, that being Theo Pourchaire he leads with 52 points. Felipe Drugovich in 2nd with 50 points and then there is quite a gap between 2nd and 3rd. Jehan Daruvala in 3rd with 36 points, Liam Lawson in 4th with 35 points and then Richard Verschoor in 5th with 32 points.

    Looking at the teams, its a lot closer than the drivers… MP Motorsport out in front with 62 points, ART Grand Prix in 2nd with 60 points, we then have HiTech Grand Prix in 3rd with 58 points!

    We are back in a month for round 4 of the season, in Barcelona Spain on the 20th to 22nd of May!

  • F3 Imola- Day 1

    F3 Imola- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Persistent heavy rainfall throughout the preceding night left the circuit drenched but the free practice session managed to begin on time, with the field of 29 eager drivers to check out the tricky conditions.

    Jenzer Motorsport’s Ido Cohen registered the first time, but his bench mark was beaten by HiTechs Kaylen Frederick as the drivers began exploring the limits. His stint though was short-lived as championship leader, Victor Martins move to the front with a time of 1:50.134s.

    Martins remained on top as a sequence of incidents started which caused a quick-fire run of red flags. Cohen spun off into the gravel at Tamburello whilst shortly after the restart David Schumacher who returns to Charouz for this week, slid off at Rivazza 1.

    Once the green flag was waved once more, it was only a couple of minutes before MP Motorsport teammates Caio Collet and Kush Maini suffered separate incidents at the Villeneuve chicane and Acqua Minerale respectively, whilst Campos Racing’ Hunter Yeany returned to the pits with damaged suspension. That caused a third stoppage and the decision was taken not to restart the session.

    PositionDriverLaptime
    1Victor Martins1:50.134
    2Isack Hadjar1:50.168
    3Roman Stanek1:50.959
    4Kaylen Frederick1:51.283
    5Rafael Villagomez1:51.324
    Top 5 Practice Session.

    Qualifying-

    Trident’s Zane Maloney claimed his maiden Formula 3 pole position during a frantic conclusion to Qualifying. On a circuit which was rapidly drying, Maloney vaulted to the front of the pecking order to register a lap that would not be beaten.

    All 29 drivers were eager to lay down a benchmark and the top spot exchanged multiple times with purple and green sector times dominating the timesheets. It all came to a juddering halt following a clash between Enzo Trulli and Arthur Leclerc that left the PREMA driver in the gravel at Rivazza 1. The incident brought out the red flag, which forced the drivers return to the pits with only five minutes on the clock.

    Once it was restarted there was a frantic jostle for track position and immediately lap times tumbled due to the rapidly improving track conditions.

    Qualifying determined the starting order for Sundays Feature Race but the Sprint Race line p is dictated by the top 12 being reversed. That means that the front row of the grid for the Sprint Race will consist of Franco Colapinto and Ido Cohen, who qualified 12th and 11th respectively.

    The Sprint Race is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 9:35am (BST) and the Feature Race on Sunday 7:50am (BST).

    PositionDriverLaptime
    1Zane Maloney1:41.180
    2Roman Stanek1:41.287
    3Jak Crawford1:41.296
    4Gregiore Saucy1:41.297
    5Oliver Bearman1:41.589
    Top 5 Qualifying.
  • F2 Jeddah- Day 1

    F2 Jeddah- Day 1

    Round 2 in Saudi Arabia has started, let’s take a look at the first day.

    Free Practice-

    Felipe Drugovich set the pace in a disrupted practice session, he posted a 1:44.100 with Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong following the Brazilian driver.

    It was Van Amersfoort first appearance at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and they was the first team to get on track.

    There was a lengthy stoppage due to Cem Bolukbasi went into the barriers, once it was cleared their was 13 minutes on the clock.

    Lawson came close to taking the top spot but was still 0.150 of the benchmark.

    The second red flag of the session stopped the running completely as there was 8 minutes to go. Theo Pourchaire lost control of his car at the exit of 22 and collided with the wall.

    Qualifying-

    A late showing from the fastest man from this morning, Felipe Drugovich, snatched pole position in the final minute of qualifying with a 1:40.422. The Brazilian finished ahead of Richard Verschoor and last weeks pole sitter, Jack Doohan.

    Hughes broke the 1m 42s barrier for the first time, Hughes sat in P1 before Theo Pourchaire pulled to a stop on track and made the first red flag of the session as he had smoke coming from his ART Grand Prix.

    The time to beat when the session resumed when 1:41.538, the resumption was short-lived though as Logan Sargeant crashed bringing out the second red flag.

    It’s Jake Hughes who is on pole position for tomorrow’s Sprint Race as the top 10 switch round. Where as for Sunday it’s Felipe Drugovich!

    Times for rest of weekend-

    Saturday: Sprint Race: 12:30pm – 13:15pm (GMT)

    Sunday: Feature Race: 13:35pm (GMT).

  • F2 Bahrain- Day 1

    F2 Bahrain- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Novalak had initially set the first laptime of the new Formula 2 season, with the Frenchman setting a 1:48.044. He then improved with his second tour of the track but it was Jake Hughes who jumped up to take P1 and setting a 1:45.294.

    Lawson’s first attempt at a flying lap put him second- half a second of Hughes, Marcus Armstrong briefly jumped ahead of him but the Carlin driver’s second attempt put him in first.

    PREMA’s Daruvala pushed Lawson down to second before Armstrong jumped ahead of him too, slotting into 2nd. MP Motorsport then bumped Daruvala down to third as Drugovich went first ahead of Novalak. With less than three minutes left, DAMS were able to break the MP pair up.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:44.484
    2Ayumu IwasaDAMS1:44.679
    3Roy NissanyDAMS1:44.754
    4Clement NovalakMP Motorsport1:44.769
    5Marcus ArmstrongHiTech Grand Prix1:44.833
    Top 5 Free Practice

    Qualifying-

    All 22 cars took to the track when the lights went green but the session was red-flagged due to Iwasa’s DAMS came to a halt. Once the car was off the track, the session then resumed, Jake Hughes and Amaury Cordeel the Van Amersfoort pair led the session.

    Hughes was sat in P1 after the first flying laps ended with a 1:41.469. The British driver kept on to the position as his second fast lap was enough to beat Felipe Drugovich to the top spot.

    But it was Jack Doohan who put himself on pole position for Sunday’s feature race, with Theo Pourchaire in P2 and Juri Vips in P3. Felipe Drugovich will start Saturday’s Sprint race in P1, with Verschoor lining up next to him and Jake Hughes in P3.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Jack DoohanVirtuosi Racing1:40.542
    2Theo PourchaireART Grand Prix1:40.683
    3Juri VipsHiTech Grand Prix1:40.755
    4Logan SargeantCarlin1:40.760
    5Ralph BoschungCampos Racing1:41.000
    6Liam LawsonCarlin1:41.100
    7Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing1:41.115
    8Jake HughesVan Amersfoort Racing1:41.121
    9Richard VerschoorTrident1:41.178
    10Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:41.210
    Top 10 Qualifying
  • F3 Bahrain- Day 1

    F3 Bahrain- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    With the teams already having some track action here for the pre-season test, the field of 30 drivers took to track so set themselves up for hopfeully a competitive weekend.

    After the light went green and a few flurry of laps, it was MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet who set the fastest, however his effort was still some way of the true pace.

    The times began to tumber, as the drivers gathered further experience at the Bahrain International Circuit. But it was the reigning team champions, Trident who got off to a strong start this weekend, as Roman Stanek ended Free Practice on top with a 1:48.012.

    PREMA’s Arthur Leclerc moved himself up into second place, in which he was less than a tenth of a second behind Stanek. With Rookie, Gregoire Saucy launching himself into 3rd.

    In the final 10 minute, there was a brief yellow flag due to Reece Ushijiam coming to a stop in sector one but was able to get his car moving again.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Roman StanekTrident1:48.012
    2Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing1:48.090
    3Gregoire SaucyART Grand Prix1:48.099
    4Izack HadjarHiTech Grand Prix1:48.285
    5Caio ColletMP Motorsport1:48.402
    Top 5 Free Practice

    Qualifying-

    Gregoire Saucy was the first to jump to the top of the timesheets, placing himself just over one-tenth of a second in front of Roman Stanek. Most of the drivers, then returned to the pit lane as the qualifying session hit the halfway point.

    With 10 minutes to go, a lot of the drivers came out of the pitlane and set their minds to some more push laps. Colapinto set a fire laptime, which saw no-one be able to replace him at the top spot.

    The top 12 switch round for tomorrows sprint race, so we will have Rookie, Zak O’Sullivan on pole position, lined up next to another rookie and FDA driver, Ollie Bearman with David Vidales rounding out the top 3 for tomorrows starting grid.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Franco ColapintoVan Amersfoort Racing1:46.249
    2Roman StanekTrident1:46.314
    3Kush MainiMP Motorsport1:46.322
    4Gregoire SaucyART Grand Prix1:46.410
    5Victor MartinsART Grand Prix1:46.412
    6Juan Manuel CorreaART Grand Prix1:46.600
    7Zane MaloneyTrident1:46.622
    8Alexander SmolyarMP Motorsport1:46.642
    9Isack HadjarHiTech Grand Prix1:46.649
    10David VidalesCampos Racing1:46.707
    11Ollie BearmanPREMA Racing1:46.843
    12Zak O’SullivanCarlin1:46.860
    Top 12 Qualifying

  • Pre-Season Barcelona

    The F1 2022 cars have finally hit the track as pre-season running in Barcelona started on Wednesday lets take a look on what has happened across the 3 days.

    Day 1-

    Morning Session-

    Leclerc set the early benchmark and then later improved, the conditions warming up after a chilly start to set the quickest lap of 1m 20,165s, the Ferrari driver went on to tally up near 80 laps and ended up three-tenths ahead of Lando Norris- the McLaren driver having improved to P2.

    The Mercedes of George Russell was therefore bumped to P3 as the 1pm deadline approached but completed 75 laps, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel in fourth. The reigning champ, enjoyed the highest lap count (8) as he finished sith behind Yuki Tsunoda in P5.

    Afternoon Session-

    Lando Norris set the fastest overall time in the opening pre-season session, Leclerc’s morning time of 1m 20.165s put him top before Norris improved to 1m 19.568s by the end of Day 1, that bumped Leclerc down to P2 and his teammate down to third.

    Every team bar Alfa Romeo and Haas completed a century of laps on the opening day.

    PositionDriverTimeLaps
    1Lando Norris1:19.951102
    2Charles Leclerc1:20.16580
    3Carlos Sainz1:20.41673
    4George Russell1:20.78477
    5Lewis Hamilton1:20.92950
    6Sebastian Vettel1:21.27652
    7Yuki Tsunoda1:21.638121
    8Fernando Alonso1:21.746127
    9Max Verstappen1:22.246147
    10Valtteri Bottas1:22.57223
    Top 10 from Day 1

    Day 2-

    Morning Session-

    Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time of the morning on Day 2, with the benchmark being 1m 20.355s with 10 minutes remaining, eclipsing Carlos Sainz’s existing benchmark by two tenths of a second.

    Perez brought out the first red flag, having coasted to a halt at Turn 12, half an hour before lunch break, the stoppage was lifted with 15 minutes left, but Perez did not re-emerge to complete the morning session.

    Afternoon Session-

    Charles Leclerc topped the leader board on the afternoon session with a 1m 19.698s with Gasly taking P2 in which dropped McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo to P3.

    There was a second red flag of the day but first of the afternoon session, this time being Nikita Mazepin as he stopped with a damage fuel pump which caused a 15 minute stop. Sergio Perez’s afternoon was quite short as he didn’t emerge until late in the day.

    PositionDriverTimeLaps
    1Charles Leclerc1:19.68979
    2Pierre Gasly1:19.918147
    3Daniel Ricciardo1:20.288126
    4George Russell1:20.53766
    5Carlos Sainz1:20.54671
    6Sebastian Vettel1:20.78474
    7Sergio Perez1:21.43078
    8Nikita Mazepin1:21.51242
    9Alexander Albon1:21.53147
    10Guanyu Zhou1:21.88571
    Top 10 from Day 2

    Day 3-

    Morning Session-

    Mercedes topped the third morning session as George Russel led the leaderboard, with Max Verstappen in 2nd and Sebastian Vettel in 3rd, but five red flags, punctuated proceedings. All 10 cars emerged on a chilly Barcelona morning but the session was red-flagged before the hour mark when Alpine’s Alonso stopped with smoke emerging from the back of his car. Alpine then stated they would not be running again due to hydraulics issue.

    Gasly brought out the second pause when he crashed at Turn 5, causing front wing and suspension damage. Guanyu Zhou stopped in the gravel at Turn 10 after Gasly’s incident, but the session was once again stopped when he crawled to a halt on the main straight. The fifth red flag was when Vettel stopped with 5 minutes left

    Afternoon Session-

    Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the week with a 1m 19.138s as Pirelli conducted a wet weather tyre test. His team-mate then dropped with P2, with Sergio Perez jumped up the order to round of top 3.

    A few teams run into problem in which they was not able to run in the afternoon sessionWe are back in two weeks for the official pre-season test on March 10th to 12th, then set to return a week after that for the first round.

    PositionDriverTimeLaps
    1Lewis Hamilton1:19.13894
    2George Russell1:19.23366
    3Sergio Perez1:19.55674
    4Max Verstappen1:19.75659
    5Sebastian Vettel1:19.82448
    6Charles Leclerc1:19.83144
    7Carlos Sainz1:20.07292
    8Alex Albon1:20.31894
    9Nicholas Latifi1:20.69913
    10Daniel Ricciardo1:20.75086
    Top 10 from Day 3

  • F3 Post-Season Test Day 1

    Today we had the first day of post-season testing for Formula 3, it took place in Valencia. Testing takes place over three days, with an overall of 18 hours in total. Lets take a look on how things have ended today.

    Morning-

    To start the day off, we started in wet conditions with everyone being forced to head out on wet tyres, but it soon switched to blue skies.

    Rookie Franco Colapinto set the early pace with MP Motorsport lapping a 1:35.044 just ahead of team-mate Caio Collet. P1 then kept switching between the rookie duo, Zane Maloney and Grégoire Saucy before Jonny Edgar took the time below 1:30’s and took the lead.

    Then a switch to the slicks with an hour left on the clock produced some better lap times under 1m 26s. Caio Collet broke the 1m 24s barrier with only 15 minutes left, just before Doohan put the Dutch-based team, Van Amersfoort Racing in first.

    The top 10 from the morning session is as follows:

    DriverTeamLaptime
    1Jack DoohanVan Amersfoort Racing1:23.349
    2Victor MartinsART Grand Prix1:23.541
    3Kaylen FrederickHiTech Grand Prix1:23.546
    4Roman StanekTrident1:23.580
    5Jak CrawfordPREMA Racing1:23.668
    6Oliver RasmussenCharouz Racing System1:23.747
    7Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing1:23.765
    8Caio ColletMP Motorsport1:23.838
    9Franco ColapintoMP Motorsport1:23.847
    10Zane MaloneyTrident1:23.863

    Afternoon-

    For the afternoon session things warmed up, as MP Motorsport set the pace with Collet leading Colapinto with a lap time of 1:23.125. Kaylen Frederick then briefly replaced Colapinto in P2 before Martins drove into P1 being the first driver to break the 1m 23s today.

    With less than an hour to go on the clock, Doohan broke into the top two but still remained a hundredth of Martins time. During the final stages he managed to push Martins down to P2 after putting a 1:22.402 on the board.

    Saucy and Maloney led the rookies this afternoon where they placed third and fourth, ahead of Stanek. Rasmussen put in the most laps of the afternoon completing 60.

    The top 10 of afternoon session is as follows:

    DriverTeamLaptime
    1Jack DoohanVan Amersfoort Racing1:22.402
    2Victor MartinsART Grand Prix1:22.533
    3Grégoire SaucyART Grand Prix1:22.684
    4Zane MaloneyTrident1:22.708
    5Roman StanekTrident1:22.739
    6Lorenzo ColomboCharouz Racing System1:22.846
    7Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing1:22.893
    8Jak CrawfordPREMA Racing1:22.967
    9Oliver RasmussenCharouz Racing System1:23.071
    10Franco ColapintoMP Motorsport1:23.072