FIA Formula 2 & FIA Formula 3 took to the streets of Monaco and delivered entertaining races. A new winner, championship contenders showing up big, and some chaotic accidents. This is the F2 & F3 Monaco Weekend Round Up.
Qualifying is very important in Monaco. The F2 & F3 action on Friday morning showed that once more. Even though qualifying was split up into multiple groups, some incidents occurred. Most notably, in F2, Roman Stanek got a three place grid penalty for a collision with Ralph Boschung. While the penalty on Stanek did seem harsh, it showed the stress of qualifying in Monaco and finding a perfect gap. Another driver who was not amused was Jack Doohan, the Australian driver felt he was impeded and was boiling with rage once out of the car. His father, Motorcycle Racing legend Mick Doohan, tried everything in his might to calm his son down. In F3, Sebastian Montoya tried his best Oliver Bearman impression, and qualified in 3rd, despite hitting the wall.
F2 Sprint: Iwasa claims the sprint race
Isack Hadjar started on reverse grid pole for the F2 sprint race. His launch was good to keep the lead from Ayumu Iwasa. In the midfield, however, Kush Maini and Amaury Cordeel were fighting hard at the exit of the tunnel, resulting in contact and a spin for Maini. Clement Novalak further behind, couldn’t avoid Maini’s car. While Cordeel and Maini escaped with minor damage, Novalak’s race came to an early end. Novalak’s car caused a track blockage at the Nouvelle Chicane, which ended the races of Boschung and Roy Nissany.
The Safety Car was brought out to clean up the track. Hadjar couldn’t enjoy his lead for long, a driveshaft failure gave Iwasa the lead and ended the Frenchman’s race. Iwasa took the lead and never lost it again. Impressively, the Japanese driver controlled the pace at the front and built a nice gap to Jehan Daruvala. Another Safety Car was called late in the race. When Juan Manuel Correa and Cordeel came together, ending the Belgian’s race. Correa got a 10-second time penalty for this action. Once the race got back underway, Iwasa cruised to the win and temporarily took the Formula 2 championship lead. Daruvala and Jak Crawford completed the podium.
F2 Feature: Vesti charges to the win and the Championship lead.
Frederick Vesti claimed pole position on Friday for the Formula 2 feature race and capitalized in a big way. The Danish driver lead every lap en-route to the win and the championship lead. The race was marked by one major accident involving Jack Doohan. The Alpine junior driver, crashed at high speed at Casino, Zane Maloney barely avoided the stranded Invictus Virtuosi. Thankfully, no one got hurt. Once the Australian got out of his car, his wreckage caught fire. Trackside marshals rushed to the scene with fire extinguishers.
The race got red flagged to repair the damage to the barrier and clean up the track. When the race was restarted, Vesti controlled the race. The Danish driver held off championship rival Pourchaire. Behind them, Richard Verschoor desperately tried to get past Maloney, but failed leaving him in fourth.
In the Formula 2 Championship standings, Vesti leads with 89 points, five points ahead of Pourchaire in second. Iwasa sits in third with 69 points.
F3 Sprint: Martí Masterclass
Josep Maria Martí dominated the Formula 3 sprint race, the Spanish driver started from reversed grid pole position and led every lap. Despite an early safety car for an incident with Johnny Edgar at Sainte Devote, the young Spaniard won the sprint by over 8 seconds. Leonardi Fornaroli in second place had more difficulty trying to keep Gregeoire Saucy behind in third. The Swiss driver put Fornaroli under pressure, but the Italian driver stayed focused and faultless. Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto finished in sixth place, though, Sebastian Montoya made his race as difficult as possible, only finishing 0.3s behind.
F3 Feature: Mini scores maiden win
Gabriele Mini took pole position in Formula 3 qualifying on Friday in emphatic fashion. The Italian was 0.8s faster than Paul Aron in Group B and 0.5s faster than Dino Beganovic in Group A. In the race, however, gaps were much closer. Mini held off Beganovic at the start. Behind them, an accident involding Oliver Gray and Ido Cohen saw the latter end up in the barrier. It brought out the only Safety Car of the race. After the restart, Beganovic hounded Mini in every possible way, but Hitech-Pulse-Eight driver kept his cool and drove to the win. His first in the series.
In the battle for third place, Aron was kept Luke Browning behind to complete the podium. In the midfield, battles were intense between Montoya and Caio Collet, this ended in tears when the Columbian driver clipped his front win on the rear wheel of Collet. This resulted in a DNF for Collet. After the race, Montoya was disqualified for having a left tire used on the wrong side of the car. Championship leader Bortoleto finished the race in fifth, just ahead of Franco Colapinto.
In the Formula 3 championship standings, Bortoleto keeps the lead with 73 points. Mini shoots up into second place with 56 points. Saucy sits in third with 47 points, one point ahead of Beganovic.
Looking ahead to next weekend, the drivers and teams only have a couple of days to process the Monaco weekend. A jam packed weekend awaits this weekend in Barcelona, with both F2 & F3 in action at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. All Drivers will look to prove themselves on the track, that everybody can dream.
