Caio Collet took his maiden win in Formula 3 after a dominant sprint race in Hungary, he was joined on the podium by Franco Colapinto in P2 and his team mate Kush Maini in P3.
Collet excelled at managing the changing conditions as the track transitioned from wet to dry, in a race that caught out many of the championship contenders. Starting in P4 the Brazilian had climbed his way up to P2 by lap 4, taking advantage of pole-sitter Oliver Goethe struggling down the field. Collet then made multiple hard challenges on then-leader Franco Colapinto though it wasn’t until lap 10, when Colapinto went wide, that he secured the lead of the race.
“I think [I feel a sense of] relief. Obviously, I’m really happy. We didn’t win a race last year, I think we had pretty good races and pretty good weekends, but we were never close enough. This year, I think we were a bit unlucky sometimes, but now I’m just really happy that we finally got the win. I am a bit more relaxed.”
Caio Collet in the post-race press conference
“I’m happy with second place. I think we maximised what we had today and I’m happy for that, happy for the nine points as well. We are looking to be much more consistent this last weekend. That is really positive as well. So looking forward to tomorrow, we’re starting within the pack, but I think we can get a few good points. That would be really nice for the Championship as well.”
Franco Colapinto in the post-race press conference
Adding to the celebrations at MP Motorsport, 21-year-old Kush Maini had a brilliant sprint race improving from P7 to P3. Maini kept out of trouble, adapting to the changeable conditions and steadily worked his way through the field. He challenged second-placed Franco Colapinto towards the end of the race though was unable to complete the move and held on to P3 – the sprint race marked the Indian’s maiden podium in Formula 3.
“I think MP has had a really good call all year. We struggled a couple of times but in Bahrain, Silverstone and Imola we’ve all been up there. There were just a couple of things not coming together, and I think this weekend, they came together. So honestly, I’m happy isn’t the right word. I’m more relieved because I feel like this result should have come a lot earlier. But better late than never!”
Kush Maini in the post-race press conference
Post-race penalties
In the final lap of the sprint Arthur Leclerc tried to overtake teammate Jak Crawford, however the Monegasque didn’t execute the move, missed the apex and made contact with Crawford. The stewards viewed Leclerc to be solely responsible for the incident and was given a 5 place grid penalty for Sunday’s feature race. The PREMA driver had qualified P4 but will now start in P9.
Similarly, Brad Benavides was found wholly responsible for making contact with Ido Cohen in a turn 1 failed overtake manoeuvre. The Carlin driver also receives a 5 place grid penalty and will start Sunday’s feature race from the back of the grid.
How the championships stand
With Caio Collet and Kush Maini both finishing in the top three for MP Motorsport, the team have overtaken Trident and jumped up to P4 in the constructors’ championship. ART Grand Prix stretched their lead in P2 from the nearest team of Hitech Grand Prix – the gap stands at just 13 points.
The drivers’ championship just keeps getting closer and closer. Isack Hadjar has taken the lead of the drivers’ championship from Victor Martins as the two finished in P4 and P6 respectively in Saturday’s sprint race – they are separated by a single point. A P9 finish for Roman Stanek also saw him move to a single point behind Jak Crawford who finished P20.