A dominant race saw MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet take victory in Zandvoort marking a home race win for the team alongside Juan Manuel Correa in P2 and Zak O’Sullivan in P3.
A P4 start proved no match for Collet as after battling it out with Correa on lap 5, Collet came out on top and took the lead of the race. The MP Motorsport driver retained the lead and dominated his way to his second F3 win of the season a massive 4.057s ahead of the field. The Brazilian enjoyed racing with 23-year-old Correa and they were quick to praise each other’s hard but fair racing in the post-race press conference:
‘It’s always nice to race against him, we had a few battles this year. He’s fair, to be honest, it’s tough racing… It’s really nice. I mean, it’s tough racing but I enjoyed it.’
Caio Collet
‘We know each other quite well and we’ve had some good battles. It is hard racing. I was not going to give away the first position easily and he knows that, but it was always within the limits.”
Juan Manuel Correa
Saturday’s P2 saw Juan Manuel Correa return to the podium for the first time since his accident in 2019 involving Anthoine Hubert. Starting on reverse grid pole, he had a great start holding off Collet from behind however a battle on lap 5 saw him drop to P2, a position he securely retained for the remainder of the race even with a DRS train threatening from behind. After 3 years of rehab and recovery, Correa’s long awaited return to the podium was met with emotion, as he says on team radio:
‘First podium since the accident…oh this one means a lot guys, it’s been a long time coming, thank you. Allez allez!’
Making his way to the podium for the first time since Silverstone, Zak O’Sullivan led a mature race to take P3. At the front of the DRS train, the Williams’ academy driver was stuck unable to pass Correa and defending from Jonny Edgar. The track proved difficult to execute an overtake on for all drivers and O’Sullivan was quick to comment on the difficulties faced on track in the post-race interview:
‘I really think that the first kind of first four laps was the place and the time you had to make the move. After that, it gets a bit tricky, when you get into the dirty air.’
Zak O’Sullivan
How the championships stand
The constructors’ championship remains largely the same however things are getting closer. MP Motorsport and ART Grand Prix sit in P3 and P4 respectively, separated by just 6 points after Collet’s win and Correa’s P2 – PREMA remain the team to beat at 78 points clear of the rest.
Whilst Isack Hadjar has held onto the lead of the drivers’ championship, there has been plenty of change further down. Victor Martins and Oliver Bearman have now switched places and stand P2 and P3 respectively – the top four remain separated by just 10 points. Saturday’s podium also allowed Caio Collet to take P8 from Alex Smolyar and welcomed Zak O’Sullivan into the top 10.