Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Round 6

  • F3 – Spielberg – Round-Up

    Practice-

    Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov set the fastest time of Friday morning’s Free Practice session, leading the way ahead of Trident’s Rafael Camara and Noah Stromsted.

    The Bulgarian’s 1:22.018 proved to be the lap to beat, leading his Championship rival by 0.158s, as Stromsted rounded out the top three, over four-tenths behind.

    The session started with most of the grid biding their time in the pitlane, although DAMS Lucas Oil debutant Nikita Johnson was getting up to speed, setting an early time of 1:25.165.

    However, with just over 10 minutes gone in the session, Stromsted made his way onto the track and completed a 1:24.311.

    As the Danish rookie finished his first flying attempt, the majority of the grid made their way on to the circuit.
    PREMA’s Noel Leon then went to P2 on 1:24.001. However, there was bad news for his teammate Brando Badoer, who wound up in the gravel at Turn 8, bringing out the Red Flags.

    Action resumed with just over 18 minutes left in the session, but a Red Flag was soon signalled with Hitech TGR’s Gerrard Xie having stopped on track at Turn 3.

    10 minutes remained on the clock when the green flags were waved, and there were plenty of changes on the timing screens as Tsolov’s 1:22.018 put him on top.

    The Campos driver was 1.098s clear of Taponen in second when the Red Flags were back out, with AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides having found the gravel at Turn 4.

    Three minutes were left on the clock when green flag running resumed and the drivers were able to improve as Camara went to P2, with Stromsted 0.483s off Tsolov, in P3.

    Qualifying-

    Nikola Tsolov was in supreme form on Friday afternoon in Speilberg as the Campos Racing driver took the Aramco Pole Position Award with a dominant qualifying effort.

    The Bulgarian led after each lap and took P1 with a 1:20.743 ahead of AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides and Trident’s Noah Stromsted, as Championship leader Rafael Camara finished seventh.

    Tsolov got off to a fine start by putting in a 1:21.598 on his first flying lap, with his Campos teammate Mari Boya in second, but over half a second behind after the first set of times.

    The Bulgarian improved on his next attempt to a 1:21.282 as MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz went up to second, 0.064s behind, while Camara rounded out the top three.

    Several drivers chose to push on for a third flying lap, and Alessandro Giusti was one of a few able to eke out more performance. The MP driver went up to third, just behind teammate Tramnitz, and 0.097s off top spot.

    After returning to the pit lane for a second set of soft tyres, the drivers were back out on track with just over 10 minutes to go.

    Camara led the pack away and went fastest on a 1:21.011, but the Brazilian was quickly beaten by Tsolov, who went top by 0.084s with a 1:20.927.

    The Red Bull Junior continued on to improve and on his next attempt, completed a 1:20.743 to seal his second pole position of the season.

    Benavides then went to second place on his final lap for AIX, finishing 0.176s off Tsolov’s time, with Noah Stromsted going to third for Trident.

    Sprint Race-

    It was a strong getaway from pole for Wharton, but it was the same for his fellow front row starter Giusti, although the ART rookie kept his rival at bay on the opening lap.

    Behind them, Charlie Wurz was struggling to keep hold of P3 from Ugochukwu. But the PREMA rookie ended up losing a place at Turn 7 to his teammate Brando Badoer, dropping him to fifth.

    As Lap 2 ended there was a multi-car collision in the midfield between Christian Ho, Louis Sharp and Tuukka Taponen at Turn 4, ending all three drivers’ race.
    Ho brought his DAMS Lucas Oil machinery back to the pitlane, but Sharp and Taponen’s cars needed to be cleared from the track bringing out the Safety Car.

    Action resumed at the start of Lap 5 of 21, and Nikola Tsolov was on the move, diving to the inside of Callum Voisin at Turn 1 to take P7, as Wharton kept the lead ahead of Giusti.

    At the start of Lap 6, Badoer ran wide at Turn 1, allowing Ugochukwu to take P4.
    Rafael Camara looked to have overtaken the PREMA rookie, but the Italian fought back at Turn 3 to keep fifth.

    In the battle for ninth, Bruno del Pino and Brad Benavides collided at Turn 3, with both drivers forced to pit with damage, before coming back out, although the latter later retired.

    Lap 9 and Camara looked to go round the outside of Badoer at Turn 4. However, a bad run on corner exit allowed Championship rival Tsolov to get past for P6 at the exit of Turn 6.

    The two drivers continued to battle on the next lap, but as they went side-by-side through Turn 4 once again, Camara dipped a wheel in the gravel, dropping him down to P9.

    Lap 12 of 21 kicked off with Giusti half a second behind Wharton, and the MP driver looked to make a move to the inside at the popular Turn 4 but again found no way through.

    The battle for the podium places continued on the next lap as Badoer looked to dive to the inside of Ugochukwu at Turn 3. However, the PREMA driver braked too late and went into the rear of Wurz in P3, sending both into a spin.

    The Safety Car was deployed moments later with Wurz’s Trident on the side of the road, while Badoer came into the pitlane to change his front wing before coming back out.

    Racing resumed on Lap 18 of 21, and Wharton had another good restart, as did Giusti.
    But Ugochukwu, now in third, was coming under pressure from Tsolov and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

    However, the Campos pair started to battled, allowing Ugochukwu to keep the position.

    As Wharton crossed the line to start Lap 20, the Australian rookie had built a lead of 1.1s to Giusti, while Ugochukwu was 2.2s behind the race leader, while fighting to keep Tsolov behind.

    Onto the final lap and Giusti has closed to within DRS range of Wharton, but could not get ahead of the ART driver, who crossed the line to take his first win in FIA Formula 3,

    Giusti achieved his second consecutive podium finish in second, while it was a maiden trip to the rostrum for Ugochukwu, who held off the challenge from Tsolov to finish P3.

    Feature Race-

    It was a great start for pole-sitter Tsolov, who kept the lead ahead of fellow front row starter Brad Benavides, with Noah Stromsted staying in third.

    However, on Lap 2, Benavides locked up into Turn 3, putting Stromsted right on the back of the AIX Racing car.
    The American held on, but this battle meant that Tsolov was 1.9s clear out in front.

    The Trident driver eventually took second place with a move to the outside at Turn 3, and fellow rookie Ugo Ugochukwu followed him through to go to P3.

    Benavides’ day got worse on Lap 4, with Rafael Camara, Callum Voisin and Brando Badoer all passing him, dropping him to P7.

    Onto Lap 6, and Ugochukwu was slowly closing the gap to Tsolov out in front, although the PREMA driver was coming under pressure from Camara, who had passed teammate Stromsted into Turn 4 for P3.

    The Championship’s leader fightback continued on the next lap, as he battled past Ugochukwu to get to second, with his targets set on chasing down title rival Tsolov.

    Stromsted was then next to make a move on lap 9, getting past Ugochukwu into Turn 4 to take P3.
    Martinius Stenshorne was making his way through the field after starting in P15 and with an overtake on Voisin, was up to fifth by the end of Lap 11.

    The Rodin Motorsport driver was soon down to P10 on Lap 13 however, losing four places to Tim Tramnitz, Mari Boya, Theophile Nael and Charlie Wurz.

    Back in the battle for the podium places, Stromsted was struggling to keep Ugochukwu behind, but in trying to make a move at Turn 3, the PREMA Racing rookie lost out to Stenshorne.

    Tramnitz’s fight back also continued the following lap, braving it around the outside of Ugochukwu at turn 7 to take fifth place on Lap 16.

    Out in front, Tsolov was 4.6s clear of Camara at the start of Lap 18, but the Brazilian was not in comfortable second place, as Stenshorne closed to within DRS range of the Trident.

    The McLaren backed driver took second place on the next lap at Turn 1, while Tramnitz took advantage of Stromsted running wide at the final corner to take P4 down the main straight.

    Boya kicked off Lap 21 of 26 having just set the fastest lap of the race and dived to the inside of Ugochukwu at Turn 3 to take fifth place.

    Wurz was the next to get past Stromsted, going around the outside of his TRIDENT teammate at Turn 7 to take P7 on Lap 22.

    The fight for the final spot on the podium then heated up on Lap 24, as Tramnitz closed to within DRS range of Camara for third. The MP driver dived to the inside of the Brazilian to take P3.

    Camara’s stuggles continued a few corners later as Boya made an audacious move at Turn 9, relegating him to fifth. Ugochukwu was next to get past the Trident driver, this time at Turn 5.

    But out in front, Tsolov had built a lead of over six second to Stenshorne and crossed the line to take his sixth F3 victory of the 2025 season, closing to within one point of Championship leader, Camara.

    However, the FIA have found that Nikola Tsolov has been in breach of the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Technical Regulations, resulting in disqualification from the results.

    So the new full top 10 are- P1: Stenshorne, P2: Tramnitz, P3: Boya, P4: Ugochukwu, P5: Camara, P6: Wurz, P7: Stromsted, P8: Voisin, P9: Benadvides and P10: Nael.

  • RND 6 – Monaco E-Prix

    Nissan’s Oliver Rowland picked his way through a frenetic closing third of the 2025 Monaco E-Prix Round 6, to drive to a comfortable win over Mahindra Racing’s Nyck de Vries and Andretti’s Jake Dennis.

    The Yorkshireman secured a first win around the inimitable streets of Monte Carlo and a third victory in six races of the 2024/25 season so far to extend his standings lead.

    Barnard led Rowland and the rest of the field away two wide through Sainte Devote with de Vries jumping Ticktum for third.
    The early throes saw the pack bide their time with PIT BOOST to come.

    On Lap 6, Ticktum skipped across the chicane, with race control deeming him to have gained an advantage as he was squeezed on the outside of de Vries.
    The CUPRA Kiro driver had to give up fourth to Wehrlein as a result.

    Cassidy found himself sixth once he used his first ATTACK MODE, with good progress from 19th on the grid.
    Meanwhile, Ticktum, on Lap 8 had dropped to eighth after that trip over the chicane a couple of laps prior.

    Lap 9 saw a full course yellow with da Costa into the wall at Anthony Nogues as he misjudged a lunge up the inside of Mortara’s Mahindra.
    Three laps later and we were green once again, as de Vries got caught napping, giving third to Dennis and fourth to Wehrlein before Rowland tried a dive up the inside of leader Barnard through the second half of the swimming pool.

    A lap later, Rowland managed to make a move on the McLaren driver stick – outdoing him into the chicane for the lead with Barnard forced to give up the spot having jumped the kerbs.

    On Lap 15, it was another full course yellow for Evans as he had a technical issue which brought his race to a premature end.
    A lap later, and we was back underway with Barnard heading Rowland and Dennis – with the man in second having taken ATTACK, which he used to hit the front over the start/finish as Lap 17 began.

    At the end of the same lap, Barnard and Dennis jumped into the pits for their PIT BOOST, with Rowland, de Vries and Wehrlein able to stride away as the then-top three.

    Mueller, who pitted early to repair a puncture, looked to be the man in the box seat – with the Andretti driver having taken PIT BOOST while having eight minutes and two activations of his Attack Mode power advantage in hand. He hit the net race lead on Lap 20 as Beckmann and Hughes headed for Pit Boost.
    Once the order began to shake out on Lap 22, Mueller had the lead from Cassidy – with both down on energy to third-placed Rowland.

    Rowland crept by Cassidy on Lap 23 at the chicane, and Mueller, down on energy but still at the front, now had just three seconds in his pocket over Rowland.

    The start of lap 25 saw de Vries pinch second from Rowland at Sainte Devote, with just two seconds between P1 and P7.
    The concertina effect spat Barnard out into the wall at Fairmont as the pole sitter skittled all the way down the order.

    Mahindra’s de Vries followed up on his move for second with a strike for the lead at the chicane in the melee – shuffling Mueller to second, and then third behind teammate Dennis.

    De Vries held fast but it was now Rowland the one to watch as the Nissan driver became the last of the leaders to jump through the Attack mode activation loop.
    He swooped by the Andretti’s on Lap 27 through Sector 1 and set about de Vries before dispatching the Mahindra driver through the tunnel for the lead with what looked like the decisive move.

    The standings leader was able to stride to a 2.5 second lead and rounded the final few laps for a comfortable win in the end.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Rowland, P2: De Vries, P3: Dennis, P4: Mortara, P5: Mueller, P6: Wehrlein, P7: Ticktum, P8: Frijns, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Guenther.

  • R6 – Miami

    Oscar Piastri has strengthened his lead in the World Championship by clinching his fourth victory of the season at the Miami Grand Prix, the Australian leading home team mate Lando Norris making it a 1-2 for McLaren.

    While Max Verstappen initially led away from pole, a battle with Norris saw the Briton run wide and drop down the order – letting Kimi Antonelli and Piastri through in the process.
    But as the laps ticked down – and Piastri overtook the Mercedes – Verstappen soon found himself under increasing pressure from the championship leader.

    After Piastri eventually found a way past, a recovering Norris subsequently followed through into second, allowing the papaya cars to build up a sizeable gap at the front.

    The full top 10 are – P1: Piastri, P2: Norris, P3: Russell, P4: Verstappen, P5: Albon, P6: Antonelli, P7: Leclerc, P8: Hamilton, P9: Sainz and P10: Tsunoda.

    What a result for McLaren! A 1-2 for the papaya team, which is what they would’ve been aiming for, maybe not the order they expected but you’d rather it be your teammate than a rival.
    But one thing I will say is that Piastri has got pace this season, he is unstoppable at the moment, and if he carries on producing these results he will be a championship contender.

    P3 for Russell! What a great result for the Mercedes driver, especially after his struggles this weekend, he came through the other side and managed to get the podium finish.
    As for Antonelli, he finished 6th, expected a little more from him to be honest, but still a very good weekend for the young driver.

    P4 for Verstappen, a good result, however I did expect a podium from the Dutch driver, he was close to grabbing third from Russell towards the end of the race but it just wasn’t enough.
    As for Tsunoda, he finished the race in 10th, a point for Japanese driver, I did expect more from him to be fair and it’s a shame he wasn’t higher up in the points.

    Now onto Williams, P5 for Albon! Beating a Mercedes, two Ferrari’s and a Red Bull! WOW, what a points haul aswell for Williams, it really is great to see them on the up.

    A bit of a tough race for Ferrari, P7 for Leclerc and P8 for Hamilton, the latter having a somewhat disagreement on the radio with team orders, and in the end I think both drivers lost out on securing more points for the team.

    Now onto the next race weekend, we have another weeks break and then we have another triple header where our first stop will be Italy for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix!

  • RND 6 – Miami Qualifying

    Max Verstappen delivered an incredible performance to clinch pole position in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix.
    The reigning world champion going fastest from Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli despite a slight error on his final run.

    After Verstappen claimed provisional pole during the early runs of Q3 but just 0.003s from Norris, the Dutchman’s prospects during his closing effort looked to be at risk after a wobble in the first corner.
    The Red Bull man still went fastest on a 1m 26.204s, six-hundredths clear of Norris who apologised to his team for taking too much kerb on his lap.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Antonelli, P4: Piastri, P5: Russell, P6: Sainz, P7: Albon, P8: Leclerc, P9: Ocon and P10: Tsunoda.

    What a result for the Dutchman! Just what he would’ve wanted going into the weekend, he will be looking to grab the win later on today and close in on the drivers’ championship.
    As for his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda finished qualifying in 10th. A lot better than the Sprint Qualifying, but still needs to do some work to be closer to his teammate.

    A good result for Norris P2, it seems like his last lap really cost him, it’s still a good result, but I know he’d be kicking himself for the mistake. His teammate qualified fourth, a good result too. They will both be aiming for podiums / potential wins today.

    Now onto Antonelli! The Italian is on fire this weekend, he has qualified third for the Grand Prix. He seems to have found really good form this weekend and its great to see.
    As for Russell, he seems to be struggling a lot this weekend, he still qualified 5th which isn’t too bad but it will be interesting to see how the race goes for him.

    P6 for Carlos Sainz and P7 for Alex Albon, what a performance from the Williams boys! They have seemed to excel this weekend and it is great to see. Hopefully with a good strategy they can score some decent points.

    P8 for Leclerc, not the best result for the Ferrari driver, and as for his teammate Hamilton qualified 12th. Poor performance from the team, but hopefully they have some strategies for both drivers to help them move up to grab those all important points.

  • R6 – Miami Sprint Qualifying

    Kimi Antonelli has clinched his debut pole position after delivering a stunning lap during Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix, the Italian holding off the challenge from both McLaren’s to become the youngest polesitter ever – in any race format – in F1.

    A thrilling conclusion to SQ3 saw the name at the top of the timesheets change more than once, with Max Verstappen initially beating George Russell’s benchmark – only for Antonelli to surge through with an effort of 1m 26.482s at the wheel of the Mercedes.

    Oscar Piastri fell short by just 0.045s in second, while fellow McLaren driver Lando Norris had to settle for third.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Antonelli, P2: Piastri, P3: Norris, P4: Verstappen, P5: Russell, P6: Leclerc, P7: Hamilton, P8: Albon, P9: Hadjar and P10: Alonso.

    What a result from Antonelli! First ever pole position and what a way to do it! A great result for the Italian and a promising start to the weekend! Hopefully he can turn it into a Sprint win.
    As for his teammate, Russell qualified 5th, not a bad result as it was very close between the top 6.

    A good result for McLaren P2 and P3. They’ve got a good opportunity for the sprint race, this should boost Norris’s confidence a bit more now, as he has seem to struggled this season.

    A decent result for Verstappen, P4 for the four time world champion! As for his teammate Tsunoda was out in SQ1 after failing to make it to the line to start a lap, very unfortunate for him.

    A decent result for Ferrari, 6th for Leclerc and 7th for Hamilton, a good result for the team and potential for some points today in the sprint race.

    A good result for Albon, P8! I think this is now just the normal for Williams, a familiar face in the top 10’s now.

    P10 for Alonso, nice to see him making an appearance in the top 10, he will be looking to see if the Aston Martin car can get into the points.

  • R6 – Tyre Selection

    Formula 1 moves from shore to shore, from the Red Seas to the Atlantic Ocean, from the Asian continent to North America and from Saudi Arabia to the United States.

    The Miami Grand Prix is the first of three to be held in the United States this year, as has been the case since 2023, with the Floridian round joining the calendar in 2022.
    The race is held on a track around the Hard Rock Stadium, home to Miami Dolphins NFL team and one of nine ATP Masters venues.

    The compounds chosen by Pirelli is the same as that used a fortnight ago in Saudi Arabia. C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft), just as in Jeddah, this is a step softer than last season.

    The surface of the track that runs around the stadium is very smooth, exposing the tyres to moderate longitudinal and lateral forces.
    Thermal degradation will be a major factor, as temperatures are expected to be very high, given that last year’s track temperature exceeded 55°C.

    The surface was relaid in 2023, as with the other temporary Grand Prix circuits, grip levels will increase significantly the more the track rubbers-in across the weekend.

    The Miami International Autodrome is 5.412 kilometres long, the race being run over 57 laps.
    The layout incorporates parking lots, service roads and some public roads with a total of 19 corners, seven to the right and 12 to the left.

    So far, the Miami Grand Prix has been a one-stop race, including last year’s.
    The medium tyre was the tyre of choice for the opening stint for 15 of the 20 drivers, before a switch mainly to the hard, with just a couple of drivers opting for the soft tyre, which actually displayed relatively low degradation.

  • F1 Academy – RND 6 Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-
    Qualifying-

    Mercedes backed Doriane Pin secured double pole in qualifying, meaning she will start first in both races across the penultimate 2024 F1 Academy weekend.

    Alongside her on both front rows will be her PREMA Racing teammate, Ferrari’s Maya Weug, with Alpine’s Abbi Pulling have to settle for third across the two events as she chases down the Drivers’ title.

    After a delayed start to the session due to barrier repairs from an earlier event, Qualifying got underway with just 23 minutes available.

    Pin who was quickest in both Free Practice sessions on Friday, set the first representative time of the session to go top of the timesheets with a 1:55.998.
    However, it didn’t take long for Weug to beat that with a 1:55.779 with the two PREMA teammates going back and forth with the fastest times.

    As Pin found herself quickest once again, Standings’ leader Pulling tried to add to her tally of seven pole positions this season.

    Several drivers found themselves testing the limits of the circuit layout, with the likes of Haas’ Chloe Chambers driving through the gravel traps, Bianca Bustamante losing the rear of her McLaren into Turns 13 and 14 and Block experienced a spin.

    However in the end it was Pin who finished on top as she set a blistering final lap of 1:55.267, going purple in the first sector and improving on her own best time.

    Race 1-

    Abbi Pulling has secured the 2024 F1 Academy title in Qatar, despite Mercedes’ Doriane Pin claiming a dominant victory from pole position in Race 1.

    Pin had been unstoppable so far this weekend, topping every session before delivering a brilliant win in the desert in an attempt to keep her own title hopes alive.
    However, it wasn’t enough to stop Pulling from claiming the Drivers’ title with the Briton’s second place putting it out of mathematical reach.

    Pole-sitter Pin managed to hold her lead over the pack behind on the approach into Turn 1. Behind her, there was a brilliant battle for second place unfolding between Maya Weug and Pulling, as the Alpine racer managed to find a space past.

    Hamda Al Qubaisi was also on a charge at the start and made up a position from fifth, while F1 Academy Wild Card Alisha Palmowski also moved up a spot on her race debut.

    By the start of the third lap, Pin had pulled out a 1.5s gap to Pulling and continued to extend her lead lap by lap, whilst Weug dropped further off the Brit’s tail in third.

    Bustamante had an eventful outing with the McLaren driver finding the gravel on multiple occasions during the race, including at Turn 12 at the start with two big snaps of oversteer.
    She would also bring out some brief yellow flags during the final few laps as she spun out after getting her wheels in the gravel between Turn 4 and 5.

    Meanwhile attentions turned to the front as the race entered its final laps. “You have a four second gap behind so just bring it home” Pulling was told by her Rodin Motorsport team, as Pin drove off into the distance.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Pin, P2: Pulling, P3: Weug, P4: H Al Qubaisi, P5: Palmowski, P6: Block, P7: Edgar, P8: Marti, P9: Nobels and P10: De Heus.

    Day 3-

    Due to extended barrier repairs at the Lusail International Circuit, the race was cancelled.

    As a result, no points will be awarded for the race. However, Doriane Pin will receive the two points for pole position.

  • 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.

  • F3 – RND 6 Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Pole sitter, Stenshorne tried to cover off Mansell from lights out but the Australian was able to get alongside him into Turn 1 to take the lead.
    The Hitech driver tried a re-pass into Turn 3 but was left running off the track, giving Tsolov momentum to take second position into Turn 4, making it an ART 1-2.

    Dino Beganovic was a spinner at Turn 1 falling from inside the top 10 down to 25th. Kacper Sztuka was an early retirement and was stranded on the circuit which required the Safety Car to neutralise things.

    Racing then resumed on lap 5 and Mansell was able to retain the advantage in front. Luke Browning was on the move after his grip penalty left him from starting 15th, going three-wide into Turn 4 to pass Nikita Bedrin and Arvid Lindblad to move into 11th.

    With DRS, Tsolov was able to get alongside Mansell into Turn 4 and rounded the Australian on the outside to take the lead on lap 7.

    Browning moved himself into the points-paying positions at the expense of Tim Tramnitz, moving down the inside at Turn 3 on lap 10 to secure 10th from the MP driver.

    Lap 12, and Fornaroli put a brave move on Bedrin to move up to 14th, passing the AIX Racing driver around the outside of Turn 6.

    Lap 16, was a busy one as Montoya looked to make a move on Alex Dunne at Turn 1, but the MP driver resisted the pressure to hold onto the position.

    Up further ahead, Mansell got a move at Turn 4 to stick on Tsolov, able to take the lead from his ART teammate and remain ahead.
    Gabriele Mini got brave and rounded Oliver Goethe on the outside at Turn 6 to secure sixth position.

    Contact with Trident’s Sami Meguetounif at the end of the lap for Lindblad left the PREMA Racing rookie with a puncture and dropped him out of the points fight.

    On lap 17, the fight for the lead continued with Tsolov getting back through on Mansell at Turn 4, a slow corner exit for the Australian allowed Stenshorne a run through Turn 5, putting the Norwegian up to second.

    The fight for the top five places continued just behind the trio but after a heated battle Montoya made contact with Dunne and was left spinning at Turn 4. The Colombian driver out of his car and ok, but the crash required another Safety Car.

    The Safety Car was withdrawn with one lap to go, setting up a final lap sprint to the finish. Tsolov got the restart he needed to put some distance between himself and Stenshorne, and the Bulgarian earned his second sprint race victory of the year ahead of the Hitech driver.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Tsolov, P2: Stenshorne, P3: Mansell, P4: Dunne, P5: Van Hoepen, P6: Mini, P7: Goethe, P8: Tramnitz, P9: Leon and P10: Meguetounif.

    Day 3-

    Browning launched into a clear lead at the first corner while PREMA Racing teammates Lindblad, Mini and Beganovic followed in second through to fourth as Tim Tramnitz dropped down to seventh.
    Lindblad and Mini battled on the exit of Turn 4 which allowed Beganovic the run into Turn 6 to take third from the Italian.

    That became second for the Swede on lap 2, as he dived down the inside of his teammate into Turn 3. Noel Leon was on the move too further back, taking sixth from Sebastian Montoya as he continued his charge from 13th.

    Lindblad was dropping through the pack on lap 8 after brief contact with Alex Dunne into Turn 3 as the MP Motorsport driver passed Goethe.
    Leon, Dunne and Goethe were able to clear the Brit on the run to Turn 4 to relegate the Red Bull Junior Team driver to seventh.

    Contact at Turn 3 between Mari Boya in the Campos and AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin brought out a Virtual Safety Cat on lap 11 while marshals retrieved the latter’s car.

    Back to racing conditions and Goethe was on the attack against Leon for fourth. The slightest of touches resulted in a puncture for the Van Amersfoort Racing driver, ending his charge through the pack and tumbling down the order.

    10 laps to go, everyone behind leader, Browning had DRS down to ninth-placed Tramnitz as the fight for points ebbed and flowed.

    Christian Mansell made his way into sixth position with a pass around the outside of Lindblad at Turn 4 on lap 19.
    That became fourth for the Australian with five laps to go, diving down the inside of Goethe at Turn 4.

    Mini made an attempt on Beganovic for second at Turn 3 on the following lap, but it was Mansell that went surging around the outside of the Italian at the following corner to take third. That was until Mini pulled off his own audacious pass to re-take P3 at Turn 6.

    Onto the penultimate lap and the battling behind allowed Browning to break out of DRS range to Beganovic, who was under attack from teammate Mini at Turn 4, with the Alpine Academy driver securing second a Turn 6.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Browning, P2: Mini, P3: Beganovic, P4: Mansell, P5: Goethe, P6: Tsolov, P7: Lindblad, P8: Vans Hoepen, P9: Fornaroli and P10: Dunne.

  • F3 – RND 6 Day 1

    Practice-

    Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz ended up quickest of all in the opening session.
    The Austrian saved his best effort for the final five minutes to go top on a 1:21.182, while Trident’s Santiago Ramos got closest to him, just half a tenth back in second.

    Joshua Dufek set the early pace for AIX Racing, though it was beaten shortly afterwards by ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen, as he set a 1:22.409 to lead after 10 minutes of running.

    Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon then moved to the top of the timing screens, lowering the fastest effort to a 1:22.387 to narrowly head up the field. Sami Meguetounif then put Trident in P1, going quicker still onto a 1:22.325.

    After a minor lock-up on his first flying lap, Luke Browning went quickest of all approaching the halfway stage on a 1:21.781. Teammate Martininius Stenshorne made it a one-two for Hitech Pule Eight.

    Fornaroli took back over at the top with 16 minutes to go of the session, lowering the benchmark to a 1:21.663 to lead the way.

    After a lull in action, and return to the pits, cars ventured back out onto the circuit with under 10 minutes to go for the final laps.

    Charlie Wurz for Jenzer Motorsport was the first to go quickest of all, deposing Fornaroli and then going quicker still, putting in a 1:21.182 to go almost half a second quicker than anyone else.

    Santiago Ramos closed the gap down to just 0.054s with under two minutes remaining to go second.

    Qualifying-

    Luke Browning earned his first pole position in FIA Formula 3, opting to run without a tow on the final runs to take the top spot around the Red Bull Ring.

    The Hitech Pulse Eight driver was at the head of the train going into the final few laps and was able to record a 1:20.222 without a slipstream to lead PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad and MP Motorsport driver Tim Tramnitz.

    In the opening stages, Noel Leon set the pace before being deposed by Nikola Tsolov, then Oliver Goethe and finally Gabriele Mini, with the PREMA driver’s 1:21.013 the time to beat.

    The Van Amersfoort Racing driver repositioned himself in P1 with his next effort, just over a tenth quicker than Mini, before the Alpine Academy driver responded to go quickest by just 0.005s.

    A return to the pits and switch to a fresh set of tyres, the field was back out onto the circuit.
    After trying unsuccessfully to not lead the field across the line to gain a tow, Browning led the line for the final flying laps without a slipstream and set a 1:20.222 for provisional pole.

    Lindblad got closest to him, moving into second just 0.048s off that effort, while Tramnitz was another late improvement for MP.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Browning, P2: Lindblad, P3: Tramnitz, P4: Mini, P5: Beganovic, P6: Goethe, P7: Van Hoepen, P8: Montoya, P9: Dunne and P10: Tsolov.

  • F2 – RND 6 Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Maini suffered wheelspin off the line from pole and dropped to fourth while Martins profited to take the lead on the run to the first corner.
    Ritomo Miyata swept around the outside at Turn 1 to go from fourth to second, ahead of Correa and Maini.

    On lap 2 and Maini made a late dive to the inside of Correa at the opening corner to recover one position. Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto followed him through at Turn 4.

    In the battle for seventh, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar fought hard early on, though the Campos Racing driver was unable to find a route through on the PREMA Racing talent.

    By lap 10, Martins was able to escape from DRS range of Miyata behind and led by 1.5s, while the Japanese driver held a 1.1s advantage over Maini in the podium places.

    Antonelli had dropped out of DRS range to Paul Aron ahead and after a long time of trying, Hadjar finally cleared the PREMA driver into Turn 1 on lap 12.

    With 10 laps to go, track limits became a problem for Miyata, and the Rodin driver was assigned a five-second penalty for one too many breaches.
    He earned a second time penalty in his struggle to remain ahead of Maini to bring that total up to 10 second with five laps remaining.

    Further back, Hadjar lost seventh to Crawford as both DAMS cars looked to be taking better care of the tyres than those ahead. Correa was pressuring Bortoleto for the final podium place, but the Brazilian was able to fend him off to maintain position.

    Onto the penultimate lap and a sizeable lock-up into Turn 5 was evidence of how hard Bortoleto was pushing to keep Correa behind. However, it gave the American a run into Turn 10 and after diving to the inside, he claimed fourth on the road.

    Aron was next to clear Bortoleto, rounding the Invicta driver at Turn 3 on the final lap to take P5, as two corners later Crawford followed through to take sixth from him.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Martins, P2: Maini, P3: Aron, P4: Crawford, P5: Bortoleto, P6: Hadjar, P7: Miyata, P8: Correa, P9: O’Sullivan and P10: Durksen.

    Day 3-

    Pole sitter Paul Aron got the perfect launch to lead into Turn 1 ahead of Crawford and Colapinto.
    Further back, contact sent Victor Martins and Dennis Hauger spinning into the gravel at Turn 2 leaving both out of the race.

    Isack Hadjar was the biggest winner, moving up from 11th to fifth in the opening half lap prior to the Safety Car deployed for Hauger and Martins’.

    Racing resumed on lap 4 and Aron retained the lead, escaping over a second clear to move out of DRS range to Crawford behind.

    Lap 8 and the hard compound runners began to benefit over those on softs, with Joshua Duersken taking fifth from Hadjar into Turn 1.
    Crawford was in from second at the end of the lap, with Ritomo Miyata and Zak O’Sullivan following the DAMS driver in from inside the top 10.

    Gabriel Bortoleto pitted on lap 11 for Invicta Racing, filtering back out in P14 behind Crawford but with warm tyres, O’Sullivan was able to pass him on the outlap to take the position.

    Leader Aron was called into the pits and Colapinto followed him in on lap 12. The Hitech rejoined ahead of Crawford but with the DAMS driver on his rear wing.
    Through turn 3, the American driver took ninth from Aron, while Colapinto retained position over Bortoleto.

    Duerksen had been the leader and yet to pit on the alternative strategy but on lap 18, he slowed to a half in the middle sector to bring out another Virtual Safety Car.
    His stoppage handed the lead over to Juan Manuel Correa, who was also yet to pit.

    Racing resumed on lap 20, and Colapinto put Bortoleto under immediate pressure, with the Invicta driver getting his elbows out to keep the place.
    Just behind them, Aron got the slipstream to take 10th from O’Sullivan at Turn 2. One lap later and Hadjar eased by the ART driver at Turn 1.

    With 10 laps to go, Correa pitted from the race lead for the soft compound, filtering back out onto the track in P9 just as Aron made a brave dive on Bortoleto into Turn 1 to take fifth.

    As Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Amaury Cordeel pitted, Crawford retook the lead with Colapinto his closest rival for the win 3.6s behind in P2.

    Onto lap 34, and Hadjar desposed Bortoelto for fifth while Invicta teammate Kush Maini gained seventh at the expense of Maloney on the run into Turn 1.

    The Invicta teammate were nose to tail on the final lap and going wheel-to-wheel into the first corner collided with one another, leaving Bortoleto with front wing damage and Maini ahead in sixth.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Crawford, P2: Colapinto, P3: Correa, P4: Aron, P5: Hadjar, P6: Maini, P7: Maloney, P8: Cordeel, P9: Marti and P10: Bortoleto.

  • F2 – RND 6 Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Paul Aron started the Barcelona weekend in good form, topping the Free Practice session for Hitech Pulse-Eight.
    The Estonian set a 1:26.922 to head the pack ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi in the Van Amersfoort Racing car and MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto.

    AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen set the initial pace, a 1:27.742 putting him on top early with the majority waiting to venture out onto the circuit.

    That was bettered by Ritomo Miyata in the Rodin Motorsport, lowering the time to beat to a 1:27.639.
    As the clocked ticked to under 30 minutes remaining, the track filled up and the times kept flowing.

    Championship leader, Paul Aron was the first to break into the 1:26s, setting the fastest time of 1:26.922 with just over 20 minutes left of the session.
    Fittipaldi filtered through in second, 0.136s down with Colapinto third for MP.

    Qualifying-

    Paul Aron continued the way he left free practice, setting the fastest time in Qualifying for his maiden Formula 2 pole position in an incredibly close session.

    DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford ended up just 0.002s back in second, with Franco Colapinto third for MP Motorsport, 0.006s behind Aron.

    After ending up fastest in practice, Aron set the first time to beat on a 1:25.385. MP teammates Dennis Hauger and Colapinto filed through in second and third places respectively.

    The red flag was then thrown after AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard went off at Turn 9 and into the barriers. He was out of the car and ok, but his car needed recovering.

    Running resumed with 23 minutes left on the clock but there were no threats to Aron’s provisional pole time until Isack Hadjar ventured out for his first flying lap.
    The Frenchman put his Campos at the top of the times, setting a 1:25.205.

    PREMA Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli was able to move up to second place, just 0.141s down on Hadjar’s effort.

    After a brief spell of quiet in the pitlane, everyone was fitted with fresh soft tyres and took to the track once again with under 10 minutes to go.

    Aron was able to find further improvements to retake the top spot with a 1:24.766 before Ritomo Miyata put himself up to P2 for Rodin, 0.182s behind.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Aron, P2: Crawford, P3: Colapinto, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Antonelli, P6: Miyata, P7: Durksen, P8: Correa, P9: Martins and P10: Maini.

  • RW 6 – Miami

    WOW… What a race we had in Miami for Round 6 out of 24! We had a first time winner in F1, and some drama along the way, so let’s take a look at it…

    McLaren driver, Lando Norris has now added his name to the list of Formula 1 race WINNERS with a sensational driver for victory in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.

    Joining him in the top three is Max Verstappen in 2nd, and in third is Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc!

    Norris ran sixth in the early stages of the race, with fast-starting team mate Oscar Piastri the McLaren man who initially looked most likely to cause an upset, however… A safety car at the midway point played perfectly into the Briton’s hands after he extended his opening stint.
    Norris emerged from the pits in the lead, with Verstappen in second after stopping under normal racing conditions, and despite an initial attack from the latter at the restart.
    A cool, calm and collected performance thereafter and balance problems for Verstappen, meant there was no stopping Norris.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Norris, P2: Verstappen, P3: Leclerc, P4: Perez, P5: Sainz, P6: Hamilton, P7: Tsunoda, P8: Russell, P9: Alonso and P10: Ocon.

    What a result for Mr Lando Norris… I honestly can’t believe it and I bet he can’t either!! Lando had a lovely drive, he kept it cool and calm. I’m so happy for him and the team.
    His teammate, was doing so well, he was running in P2 for a while at the beginning of the race, until he had a collision with Carlos Sainz where he needed to pit for a new front wing which saw the Australian drop all the way down to the bottom of the grid.

    A decent result for Red Bull, obviously Max in P2 and Checo in P4, a nice points haul for the team and keeping their lead in the constructors!

    Ferrari had a very good result aswell, P3 for Leclerc and P5 for Sainz the team will be happy with that result aswell.

    Esteban Ocon has scored his first point this season which is also Alpine’s first point this season as well! It’s just what the team needs, which hopefully will set them onto a better path.

    An unlucky driver was Logan Sargeant, Magnussen was attempting a move on Sargeant through the Turn 2 flick, where contact sent the American into the barriers and the Dane back to the pits for repairs, with the American sustaining terminal damage upon impact which was a disappointing end to the first of three home Grand Prix he is set to take part in.
    Magnussen got given a 10 second time penalty for the clash.

    Now we have a little wait till the next race, we head to Italy for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix which is round 7, on the weekend of 17th to 19th May.

  • RW 6 – Miami Qualifying

    Max Verstappen has claimed his seventh consecutive pole position by taking P1 on the grid for the Miami Grand Prix, despite failing to improve during his final flying lap.

    The Dutchman had provisionally put himself into pole in the first runs of Q3 having set a time of 1m 27.241s and this proved to be enough to maintain the position. Charles Leclerc will join the red bull driver on the front row, with his teammate Carlos Sainz rounding out the top three.

    The full top 10 is – P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Sainz, P4: Perez, P5: Norris, P6: Piastri, P7: Russell, P8: Hamilton, P9: Hulkenberg and P10: Tsunoda.

    A good result for Max once again, it was just a copy and paste for him! Perez one position down than compared to sprint qualifying, but it’s not the end of the world for the Mexican.

    A very good result from Ferrari, I can see them challenging for the win as they have had quite good pace this weekend. If not they will want to try their hand at a double podium.

    A good result from McLaren P5 and P6, Lando will be wanting to make up for a disappointing sprint where he DNF’ed. The McLaren’s have brought some upgrades this weekend and they seem to be working, so they have got pace this weekend which could see some potential for a podium…

    A much better result for Mercedes, both cars in the top 10, P7 for Russell and P8 for Hamilton. They will be wanting to capitalise on that as much as they can.

    Hulkenberg and Tsunoda had a good qualifying both in the top 10, both drivers will be wanting to score once again in the race.

    A bit of a shocker qualifying for Aston Martin. Both drivers not in the top 10, Stroll starts P11, which is okay but his in the middle of the pack which isn’t the best place. And Alonso starts P15 which is not good at all.

    Ricciardo had a bit of a bad qualifying, a bit of a different one to the sprint qualifying… He starts P18, he needs to have a really good drive and do some lovely overtakes to make up for the qualifying position.

  • RW 6 – Miami Sprint Race

    Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory during Saturday’s Sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix, leading home Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez at the end of an action packed encounter.

    The Dutchman defended his lead at the start and overcame an early Safety Car before building up a comfortable advantage at the head of the field.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Ricciardo, P5: Sainz, P6: Piastri, P7: Hulkenberg, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Gasly and P10: Sargeant.

    A great result for Red Bull as usual! It’s not surprising at all, especially Perez he is being really consistent at the moment.

    A nice result from Ferrari, P2 and P5, some more points on the board which will mean everything when it comes to the closing stages of the season!

    Now, we are talking about him again. Mr Daniel Ricciardo, P4! It was looking like P3 at one point during the Sprint but P4 is a very good result for the Aussie and the team. And for his teammate got in the points aswell, so double points!

    A nice result from Piastri, a few points on the board for the team. Not a very good race for Norris, he was involved in a lap one incident where he was tipped into a spin at the first corner, where he had terminal damage after contact between Hamilton, Alonso and Stroll.

    Not a very good sprint for both Mercedes, which was partly due to a bad qualifying but the race wasn’t much better. Hamilton was obviously involved in the lap 1 incident. And Russell ended up dropping back at the start and then had a few troubles getting past other drivers.

    Hulkenberg in P7 aswell, a great result for Haas and a couple points for the team in their home grand prix. His teammate, Kevin Magnussen played a big part in this, helping to stop other drivers come past so his teammate can score some points.

  • RW 6 – Miami Sprint Qualifying

    Max Verstappen will be starting from pole for the Sprint in Miami after storming to P1, while an earlier challenge from McLaren seemed to fall away.

    With every driver opting for just one flying lap in SQ3, Verstappen went quickest of all with a 1m 27.641s. The Red Bull driver will be joined on the front row by Leclerc, who was only 0.108s away. Rounding out the top three is Sergio Perez.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Ricciardo, P5: Sainz, P6: Piastri, P7: Stroll, P8: Alonso, P9: Norris and P10: Hulkenberg.

    A great result from Red Bull both drivers, Max on pole, even though he didn’t have a very good lap… and also a very good performance from Perez aswell.

    A very good result from Leclerc, P2 especially after him not running in FP1 as he caused a red flag to recover his Ferrari after getting stuck on the track. So considering not much running for the Monegasque its a decent result.

    Now the standout for me, Mr Daniel Ricciardo, P4!! In an RB aswell, he will be wanting to capitalise on this result as much as he can. And the team will be wanting him to do that aswell. But this is what the Australian driver needed to prove he deserves a seat next season whether its in the Red Bull or the RB car…

    A decent result for Aston Martin both cars in the top 10, just what the team wants, but especially for Lance Stroll, whose had some up and down performances.

    A shock in sprint qualifying was both Mercedes out in SQ2, not at all what the team wants. They had some decent pace in free practice and made a few little changes but they were not the right ones clearly. They have three more chances this weekend so hopefully something will go right.

  • RW 6 – Tyre Selection

    The Miami Grand Prix is the sixth round of the season and the first of three to be held in the United States of America.
    The temporary street circuit flows around the Hard Rock Stadium, a multipurpose venue which is home to the Miami Dolphins.

    The 5.412 kilometre long track, which the drivers will tackle 57 times on Sunday, which features 19 corners, three straights, three DRS zones and top speeds can exceed 340 km/h.
    There are some elevation changes, the main one being between turns 13 and 16, with the track rising and falling as it goes over an exit ramp and under various overpasses.

    The three sectors are each different in character, making for a lap which has a bit of everything. The first boasts a run of eight high speed corners, while the second sector has a long straight and a few low speed turns. The final run to the finish line consists of a straight and three flowing corners.

    The three dry tyre compounds chosen by Pirelli are: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft). The track was resurfaced before last year’s race and is very smooth, therefore offering quite low grip.
    This leads to a very significant track evolution and graining could put in appearance, particularly with the medium and soft tyres.

    In terms of strategy, the Miami Grand Prixx is a classic one-stop race, with hard and medium compounds the outright favourites. Last year, Verstappen started from ninth on the grid on Hard tyres before switching ti Mediums, while the other two drivers who made it to the podium, Perez and Alonso, went the other way (medium then hard).

    This is also the second sprint of the year, therefore with only one hour of free practice the teams and drivers have to find the best set-up as well as evaluating tyre behaviour.

  • RND 6 – Misano E-Prix

    FP1-

    The DS PENSKE duo of Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne dominated the timesheets in first and second positions during the championship’s first visit to Misano.

    After lending out their cars for the Rookie Free Practice earlier in the afternoon our Season 10 grid made their way out onto the Misano circuit for their first in-car experience of the weekend.

    The session was filled with drivers exploring the limits, as they prepare for the double-header of Round 6 and 7.
    But there was troubles down at Mahindra Racing which saw home hero, Edoardo Mortara unable to set a single lap. With Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther facing problems during the first practice aswell.

    FP2-

    DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne made it two for two, topping the second Free Practice session of the weekend in Misano. The two-time Formula E Champion went quicker than his time in FP1, setting a benchmark of 1:17.482.

    NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes finished just 0.020s behind Vergne to claim second, with Sebastien Buemi in third.

    The session was impacted by a red flag for the ERT of Sergio Sette Camara who came to a stop on track. Not only this, it ended with a big incident for championship contender Nick Cassidy of Jaguar TCS Racing.
    Cassidy ran off the track, through a gravel trap and ended his session in a tyre barrier to avoid the NEOM McLaren of Sam Bird.

    Track limits have been a popular topic of discussion this weekend, with 24 lap times being deleted over yesterday’s first free practice. One driver who appears to be finding it tough is Reigning World Champion Jake Dennis, the Andretti driver had eight track limit violations yesterday, and things didn’t look better this morning.

    Qualifying-

    Jean-Eric Vergne continued his strong run of form, as he topped another session in Misano. Joining JEV in the Duels was the TAG Heuer Porsche Pascal Wehrlein who ended the session second, with Oliver Rowland and Maximilian Guenther being the fastest four in the group.

    In Group B, with NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes going quickest of 11 drivers. Hughes has experience racing round Misano in junior categories, and was 0.163s ahead of Mitch Evans in second.
    Hughes’ teammate Sam Bird also flew into the Duels in third and ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller making it to the Duels, a third consecutive appearance.

    First up in the quarters was Nissan’s Oliver Rowland and Tag Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein. Rowland has taken pole on both occasions he has reached the Duels stage this year. But it was Wehrlein who managed to finish ahead, with Rowland making a few small mistakes on his way to missing out on the Semi’s.
    Next it was Vergne and Guenther, with JEV continuing his streak of topping every session of the weekend, which continued as Guenther made an error on his lap.

    But it was Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans who scored pole, which is his seventh Julius Baer Pole Position, in which he took on the DS PENSKE of Jean-Eric Vergne in an intense finale.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Vergne, P3: Wehrlein, P4: Muller, P5: Rowland, P6: Bird, P7: Guenther, P8: Cassidy, P9: Frijns and P10: Buemi.

    Round 6-

    Antonio Felix da Costa qualified 13th and timed his push to perfection to take the race lead for the definitive time with three laps to go, from form man Oliver Rowland.
    From there, he was able to hold off the advances of Rowland to the chequered flag while Reigning Champion Jake Dennis clambered from a lowly 17th on the grid to complete the podium.

    As early as Lap 5, da Costa had made his way through the tightest of pack – with all 22 cars split by less than five seconds for much of the encounter – to the podium positions, trailing teammate Wehrlein on Lap 5.

    At a circuit like Misano, energy was always going to be on the drivers’ and engineers’ minds with cars starting the encounter with between 60 and 70% of the usable energy needed to finish the race – the rest recovered by regenerative braking.

    The concertinaing field always looked like it would catch driver out, as five wide through Turn 1 proving too much to handle with an early leader in Sam Bird, Nick Cassidy and Wehrlein among those suffering damage – race ending damage for the former pair.

    With eight laps remaining, Da Costa inherited the lead again but Rowland wouldn’t back off – as the Nissan driver jumped the Porsche on lap 23 for P1.
    From there, the race was a straight contest to the finish with drivers bolting for the chequered flag – energy calculations measured to the tenth of a percentage point opening up a flat out finish.
    On the outside of Turn 5, with three laps to go, da Costa swooped by Rowland for first while Jean-Eric Vergne, Dennis and Guenther battled in behind.

    It was Da Costa who led Rowland home for his first win of the season, and Jake Dennis pipped Vergne for third.

    However, Formula E isn’t Formula E without someone being penalised… Antonio Felix da Costa has been disqualified from the Misano E-Prix Round 6 as the throttle damper spring on his car was not found in conformity with one of the three optional declared items.

    As a result, the cars beneath da Costa in the original race classification move up a slot, meaning Nissan’s Oliver Rowland inherits the race win.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Rowland, P2: Dennis, P3: Guenther, P4: Ticktum, P5: Evans, P6: Vergne, P7: Nato, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Fenestraz and P10: Di Grassi.

  • 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.

  • F1 cancels Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

    Formula 1, the FIA and organisers of the 2023 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix have agreed to cancel the race which was scheduled for this weekend, due to severe flooding in the Italian region.

    The decision has been taken because it is not possible to safely hold the event for our fans, the teams and our personnel and it is the right and responsible thing to do given the situation faced by the towns and cities is the region. It would not be right to put further pressure on the local authorities and emergency services at this difficult time.

    F1 instructed paddock personnel setting up garages and hospitality units to leave the circuit on Tuesday afternoon as a precaution amid a threat of flooding from the adjacent Santerno river.

    They were also instructed not to return to the venue at all on Wednesday. Meanwhile, some teams opted to relocated staff members to different hotels.

    Italian deputy prime minister and transport minister, Matteo Salvini had called to postpone the race in order to “dedicate ourselves to relief work”. It is thought very unlikely that the Emilia Romagna GP will be rescheduled for later in the year due to the congested calendar.

    It means the schedule for 2023 has been reduced by two rounds following the widely expected cancellation for the Chinese GP, which was set for 16th April but lost due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in the country, which created the four week gap between the Australian and Azerbaijan rounds.

    It is such a tragedy to see what has happened to Imola and Emilia-Romagna, the town and region that I grew up in, and my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the flooding and the families and communities affected. I want to express my gratitude and admiration for the incredible emergency services who are working tirelessly to help those who need help and alleviate the situation – they are heroes and the whole of Italy is proud of them. The decision that has been taken is the right one for everyone in the local communities and the F1 family as we need to ensure safety and not create extra burden for the authorities while they deal with this very awful situation.

    Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1.

  • Imola Tyre Selection

    The tyre selection has been chosen for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix this weekend.

    Pirelli has opted to bring its softer range of compounds, which means the C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft), will be made available to the teams throughout the weekend. Imola is only the second race on the 2023 calendar after Baku to feature the three softest tyre compounds.

    The greater softness of the compounds could open up more racing strategies. Imola traditionally is a one-stop race but with a trio of tyres that are likely to degrade less than those used in the past, the teams will have more alternatives.

    The Autodrom Enzo and Dino Ferrari celebrated its 70th birthday this year. Having been completed in 1953, Imola is an “old-school” track, narrower than many modern ones. For this reason, overtaking is also particularly challenging but at the same time more spectacular.

    A new qualifying format will be tested during the Imola weekend. In each of the three qualifying sessions, teams will be required to use only one type of compound:

    • Q1 the hards
    • Q2 the mediums
    • Q3 the softs.

    The so-called “Alternative Tyre Allocation” (ATA) will make it possible to reduce the number of sets of dry-weather tyres supplied by Pirelli to 11, compared to the 13 per car on race weekends where an F1 Sprint is not held.

    These will be divided into three hard, four medium and four soft. The number of sets of wet tyres remains unchanged: four sets of intermediate and three sets of full wet.

    Each driver will have a total of seven sets of tyres available for Sunday’s race, including at least one of each of the mandatory compounds: hard and medium, as usual. Of the remaining four sets available, one will be returned after FP1, one after FP2, and two after FP3.

    The first round of the 2023 season in Europe will feature two important innovations in terms of tyres, both aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of our sport. 
    The first centres around qualifying: at Imola we will be testing a new regulation that requires teams to use a different type of compound for each of the three sessions, with the hards fitted for Q1, the mediums for Q2, and the softs for Q3. This means a reduction – from 13 to 11 – of the sets of dry tyres that each driver has available for the entire event, therefore decreasing the environmental impact generated by the production and transport of the tyres. 
    Then, with the same aim, starting from this grand prix, a new compound of full wet tyre will be introduced which will not require the use of tyre warmers beforehand. Track tests have shown even better performance than the previous Cinturato Blue full wet, even without the electric heating of the tyre. The result of studies carried out by Pirelli, it is the first concrete step towards the use of dry tyres without preheating. 
    Finally, we have chosen to bring our range of softer compounds (C3, C4, and C5) to Imola, which could offer the teams a wider range of strategic options ahead of the race.

    Mario Isola, Motorsport Director.

  • Round 6 – Sao Paulo E-Prix

    Round 6 is now complete, lets take a look at what happened during the first ever Sao Paulo E-Prix weekend.

    FP1-

    Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi managed to top the timesheets for the first practice session with a 1m 12.341s, as speeds hit more than 266km/h down the Sambadrome straight.

    Behind Buemi, is the Nissan of Sacha Fenestraz, Formula E’s latest polesitter and holder of Formula E’s fastest ever competitive lap. NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum rounded out the top three, just 0.123s off the time of Buemi.

    All 22 drivers, quickly locked in laps on the new 2.933km circuit. A few brief yellow flags were issued as the grid found the limits of the bumpy track surfaces.

    Robin Frijns of ABT CUPRA returned to the track after he fractured his wrist during the first race of the season. The Dutchman was getting in as much practice as possible and trying to stay out of trouble.

    FP2-

    Nine different teams made the top 10 in Free Practice 2, with Antonio Felix da Costa topping the timesheets with a 1m 11.496s.

    Just behind him, was the Maserati MSG Racing of Maximilian Guenther. And Norman Nato rounded out the top three and was just 0.001s slower than Guenther.

    All drivers were on their best behaviour with the bumpy track, as they didn’t want to waste any time. But several had issues with track limits, with many going off at Turn 1 and Turn 6.

    Qualifying-

    DS Penske achieved their first Julius Baer Pole Position since 2016, as reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne became the ninth different pole sitter in nine races ahead of the inaugural Julius Baer Sao Paulo E-Prix.

    Vandoorne beat the TAG Heuer Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa to lock in his first pole since Rome in Season 8. The Belgian driver also topped Group A, which continues a crazy coincidence that the fastest driver in the group has gone on to take pole in the last four consecutive races.

    Standings leader, Pascal Wehrlein finds himself down in 18th having failed to make it to the groups. Home heroes Lucas di Grassi and Sergio Sette Camara also struggled and will be starting at the back of the grid – the former hit a wall, pushing a bit too hard and the latter a bump which forced a reboot car.

    Round 6-

    Mitch Evans led home a first one-two-three for the Jaguar powertrain, with Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) and Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) crossing the line together – with the trio just half a second apart.

    The New Zealander took the initiative and the race lead from his compatriot Cassidy as the race headed into four TAG Heuer Added Laps. His move on Lap 32 proved to be decisive, with neither Cassidy nor Evans’ teammate Bird able to undo the leader’s defensive driving.

    Polesitter, Stoffel Vandoorne had led the way early on, fending off Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa during the first round of Attack Mode activations until the race reached its half-way stage, with the lead impossible to keep track of on Lap 14 0 three or four changes over that tour alone and Cassidy came out on top.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Evans, P2: Cassidy, P3: Bird, P4: Da Costa, P5: Vergne, P6: Vandoorne, P7: Wehrelin, P8: Hughes, P9: Rast and P10: Buemi.

  • Sao Paulo Preview

    The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is all set to make it a hat-trick of all new events with the series’ “dream” first outing in motorsport crazy Brazil as we head to Sao Paulo for Round 6 of Season 9.

    Hometown hero and former champion Lucas di Grassi hails from the city and will be joined by compatriot Sergio Sette Camara as Formula E sets for its debut in South America.

    With three long straights connected by tricky chicanes, sweeping corners and tight turns, the circuit is expected to be a challenging affair for the pack, with high speeds anticipated.

    Starting on the main straight that’s usually reserved for carnival floats and revelry, there will be a different type of dancing as the drivers put their toe tapping to use on the brake pedals into the series of sharp turns, that feed to a looping hairpin that fires the field down the straight.

    This straight is broken up with another challenging right-left series of corners to another long straight. The final sector sees more passing opportunities in the run to the finish line.

    circuit-map-saopaulo

    The Championship-

    Looking at the drivers standings, Wherlein still leads the championship by 18 points, and Dennis stays in P2 on 62 points, with Jean-Eric Vergne in third on 50 points.

    If we were looking at a closer battle, you’d be looking at, 4th/5th/6th/7th which is between Da Costa, Cassidy, Buemi and Rast who are all seperated by 7 points.

    Now looking at the teams, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team leads on a 126 points, Envision are in second on 84 points and Avalanche Andretti are in third on 80 points.

    Looking at 4th and 5th, Neom McLaren are on 66 points, 1 points behind Avalanche Andretti. Now looking at 5th DS Penske are on 61 points, 5 points between them and McLaren.

    Weekend Schedule-

    Friday 24th-

    • Free Practice 1- 19:25pm – 20:15pm (GMT)

    Saturday 25th-

    • Free Practice 2- 10:25am – 11:15am
    • Qualifying- 12:40pm – 13:55pm
    • Round 6- 17:03pm -18:30pm.

  • F3 Budapest- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Caio Collet, brought home his first win in Formula 3 in an impressive fassion mastering the wet to drying conditions in a race of attrition that caught several of the title contenders out.

    Starting fourth, the MP Motorsport driver made his presence known, slicing his way through the field and up into the lead before driving off into the distance to finish 8.7s clear of second place Franco Colapinto.

    The celebrations continued for MP, as Kush Maini made it at a double podium for the Dutch team having carved his way up from P7 to P3 at the chequered flag.

    As the spray faded and the tyres waned, the race turn into survival of the fittest as the field attempted to conserve their wet Pirelli compounds to the chequered flag with five laps remaining. Nobody seemed to be immune – Leclerc’s moment of oversteer saw him take a hefty whack over the red and white kerbs at Turn 4.

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

    Day 3-

    Maloney got a great launch but was immediately covered off by pole sitter. The Trident driver tried a move around the outside at Turn 1 but was unsuccessful. It allowed Bearman to get a great driver on the corner exit to make it three-wide into Turn 2.

    Behind that trio, Maini climbed up to fourth but was closely watched by Crawford after the pair had cleared Gregoire Saucy off the line. The red and white PREMA claimed P4 on the run to Turn 4 whilst Reece Ushijima was on the move too, rising up to ninth after Lap 1 from P19 on the grid.

    Championship leader heading into the Feature Race, Isack Hadjar meanwhile was going backwards. He dropped down to 18th after being forced to take avoiding action at Turn 2 on the outside of the corner.

    Towards the end of the race, Correa was flying on his slick tyres and lapping seconds quicker than the race leaders. Edgar displayed just how much quicker the dry tyres were by unlapping himself from Maloney, Bearman and Crawford as they fought for second.

    O’Sullivan was another to have swapped the wets for dry tyres down in 17th and was 10 seconds quicker than race leader Smolyar on Lap 22. He passed the ART Grand Prix car of Correa to be the highest placed driver on the slick tyres.

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

    Now we have the summer break, but when we are back we have a triple header, which means the Formula 3 2022 season is coming to an end!

  • 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.

  • Campos confirm Goethe to replace Yeany

    Campos Racing has announced that Oliver Goethe will replace Hunter Yeany for the sixth round of the 2022 FIA Formula 3 season in Budapest this weekend.

    Yeany was forced to withdraw from the previous round in Spielberg after sustaining a broken wrist in the Sprint Race. The American rookie still managed to finish the race but pulled out of the Feature Race the following day.

    Seizing the opportunity, Goethe is determined to gain lots of knowledge and an understanding about the car at a track he is fairly familiar with.

    After beginning his single-seater career in Spanish F4 in 2019, Goethe made the step up to Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2021. Earlier this year he competed in the Formula Regional Asian Championship and won on his debut in the 24H GT Series, taking victory in his GT4 class at the Dubai 24H.

    Currently, the Danish-German driver, who is racing under a Monegasque licence, sits at the top of the Euroformula Open Championship standing, with eight wins and four podiums to his name across the first five rounds including a victory in the Hungarian capital earlier this month.

    I’m extremely excited to make my FIA F3 debut this weekend with Campos! I can’t wait to try out the car and compete amongst the best! It’ll be a great learning experience and I will make the most of it.

    Oliver Goethe on racing this weekend
  • F2 Baku- Day 2 & 3

    F2 Baku- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Speaking ahead of the Sprint Race, Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti believed it would be decided on the final lap around Baku, but I don’t think he even could predict what happened. Throwing caution to the wind late on, the ART Grand Prix driver charged his way to the front and to his first victory in Formula 2.

    Having led the majority of the race, Jehan Daurvala had to settle for second after three safety cars in the second half of the race wiped away his advantage. Whilst Liam Lawson, demonstrated Baku’s overtaking capabilities as he carved his way through from P9 to get the final podium spot.

    Hauger was the first to bring out the safety car as he tried to make a move past Pourchaire into Turn 3, but went straight into the barrier after locking up. Once we was racing again, it didn’t last long as Vips HiTech was cut off by Enzo Fittipaldi and was unable to turn left, sending the duo into the run off area at Turn 2.

    Leaving it late on the restart, Daruvala locked up leaving the door wide open for Vesti to storm past the PREMA and up into the lead. Lawson then made his way past Drugovich, and set his sights on Verschoor ahead for P3, unfortunately for the Trident driver he went in to deep at Turn 7 and planted himself in the barriers bringing out the Safety Car.

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

    Day 3-

    Dennis Hauger claimed his first F2 Feature Race win after a tense battle with Juri Vips, which saw the Estonian driver crash out of the race. The pair were battling sector by sector in the closing stages and with just over five minuted remaining, the Hitech GP man clipped the wall in the castle section.

    Logan Sargeant completed a measured drive to take second, whilst our Championship leader, Felipe Drugovich extended his points advantage finishing third.

    Contact between Amaury Cordeel and Olli Caldwell at Turn 4 brought out the Safety Car early on. Racing then resumed on Lap 5, and Marcus Armstrong was immediately on the attack for P2.

    The Safety car was then back out on Lap 12 following an incident between Roy Nissany and Cem Bolukbasi – the Charouz Racing driver went into Turn 2 but on the exit the pair made wheel to wheel contact which saw both drivers go into the wall.

    Back to back fastest laps for Vips on Lap 19 and 20 but couldn’t quite break Hauger’s pursuit. Vips then clipped the wall with 5 minutes remaining and the frustration was clear on the Estonian’s face when he got out the car. The race finished under the Safety Car due to the HiTech car still being on track and debris.

    The top 10 were: P1: Hauger, P2: Sargeant, P3: Drugovich, P4: Daruvala, P5: Verschoor, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Vesti, P8: Sato, P9: Boschung and P10: Hughes.

    We haven’t got that long to wait until we see F2 cars back on track, we have just under 3 weeks and we will be at Silverstone for Round 7 which marks the halfway mark in the championship!

  • 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.

  • Round 6- Spanish GP

    Round 6- Spanish GP

    WOW! A chaotic race in Spain, saw us with a new championship leader… A race which is normally a two stop turned into a 3 stop, and there was a risk of a 4 stop also.

    Max Verstappen WINS the Spanish GP, he now moves into the lead of the Championship, his teammate comes home to make it a 1-2, with team orders taking a play which Perez wasn’t very happy about… But the final podium spot goes to George Russell, the new minister of defence!

    The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Russell, P4: Sainz, P5: Hamilton, P6: Bottas, P7: Ocon, P8: Norris, P9: Alonso and P10: Tsunoda.

    A mixed day for Ferrari, Carlos spun and went into the gravel trap earlier on, which saw him drop down out of the top 10. But Leclerc looked like he wrapped up the race from early on, but it never stays that way in F1, as he lost power which saw his race come to an end as he retired in the pits.

    A great day for the Mercedes team, especially Lewis, he had contact on the first lap which saw him drop down to the bottom and then pit for new tyres as he had a slow puncture, he then fought his way up to the top five! Mr George Russell aswell, round of applause for him, mostly fought the Red Bulls today and held of Max for a long time! Safe to say the Mercedes upgrades have worked.

    What a drive from Fernando Alonso, started P20 and finished in P9, great damage limitation from him. And his teammate finishing in P7, a good points haul for Alpine.

    A mixed day again for Alfa Romeo, mechanical issues again for Guanyu Zhou, his race ending earlier than usual, but for VB a big points haul in P6.

    The Championship-

    Max, now leads the championship by 6 points! Everybody in the top 10, apart from Max and Charles, have stayed in the same position. Perez now has 85 points in third, Russell sat behind him in 74 points, and Carlos Sainz has 65 points and he rounds out the top 5.

    Red Bull lead the Constructors, with 195 points and Ferrari are in 2nd with 169 points. Mercedes sit comfortably in third with 120 points a 70 point gap between them and McLaren who are in 4th. Alfa Romeo are in fifth with 39 points, slowly catching the papaya tomorrow.

    We will be back next week for the second race of our double header, Round 7 in Monaco, the home Grand Prix of Charles Leclerc.