In an F3 Feature Race filled with incidents and Safety Cars, Callum Voisin survived three restarts to claim victory at the 2024 Belgian GP.
Not only did the F3 2024 Belgian GP weekend see Voisin’s team Rodin Motorsport end a ten-year victory drought after the Feature race, but there is now a new Championship leader. Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli, who came home in P3, now leads the Drivers Championship, while PREMA Racing have secured the Teams Championship.
However, with the highs come the lows; PREMA’s Arvid Lindblad found himself slipping further down the Championship standings after being taken out by ART’s Christian Mansell, while Mari Boya, Sophia Floersch and Martinius Stenshorne all retired due to on-track incidents. Tuukka Taponen, in his first and only weekend in the 2024 series, found himself in a tangle with Josh Dufek, who was able to recover but left the new driver out of the race.
Looking ahead to Monza, where the title will be decided, it’ll be a showdown to the final chequered flag.
At Lights Out
At lights out, Polesitter Voisin was quick off the line, while Sebastian Montoya and Leonardo Fornaroli took advantage of a poor start from Alex Dunne, who was down from P2 to P4.
After a nightmare Qualifying session on Friday, there was more bad luck in store for Gabriele Minì, who was tagged at the start and sent spinning. The Championship leader was able to keep the car running, but found himself in P29.
Out front, Voisin and Montoya were off-track at off Les Combes in the midst of a fight for the lead. Oliver Goethe was on the radio down to the hairpin to tell the team he had picked up a puncture, as was Cian Shields. DRS was enabled on Lap 2.
Arvid Lindblad was wrongly noted to be involved in the collision with Minì; it turns out it was Goethe in the other Red Bull Academy livery, who was now in the pits for a replacement set of tyres.
Double Incident on Lap 3
The Safety Car was brought out on Lap 3, after both Stenshorne and Taponen were left by the gravel at the hairpin in seperate incidents. While Stenshorne spun due to hitting a damp part of the track, Dufek had tagged the back of Taponen, sending him spinning and hitting the side of the idle car of Stenshorne. Both drivers were still in the car a lap later, having not been cleared to exit the car safely.
Amidst the chaos, there had also been damage to Matías Zagazeta and Kacper Sztuka, who were in the pits for new front wings.
The Safety Car was back into the pits at the end of Lap 6 and Voisin led the pack away down the start/finish straight. The Brit nailed the restart, keeping Montoya 0.6s behind. Dunne was struggling on the straight, and with the help of his teammate ahead, Sami Meguetounif was past the Irishman and up to P4, banking more points for Trident.
More Trouble at the Hairpin
It wasn’t long before the Safety Car was back out on Lap 7. Sophia Floersch and Joseph Loake were off at the Brussels Hairpin. Loake attempted an opportunistic move on Floersch, which didn’t pay off a collected the Alpine Academy driver. While Loake was able to get going again – although suffering damage – Floersch was out. The collision was noted by stewards to be investigated after race.
The Safety Car was once again ending on Lap 9. Voisin led them away at the same corner as last, with Montoya right on his wheel. Alex Dunne, appearing to have an issue, slowed up up round La Source and dropped to P10, immediately on the tail of Santiago Ramos. While Ramos was able to hold him off, the Mexican driver was forced to take a trip across the gravel.
Championship Woes for Lindblad
A third Safety Car stint started a lap later after Lindblad was off off at Brussels, beached in the gravel. Mansell had misjudged his braking on the damp Spa-Francorchamps track and sent Linbdlad spinning. At the same moment, Mari Boya was into the wall at Turn 10. Contact with Charlie Wurz left the Campos with suspension damage, which then sent him off into the wall. Wurz limped back to the pits for another front wing, but also found himself with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane in the process.
The green flag was waved on Lap 13, and Voisin was safely away for third time with two laps to go. The top five drivers were away safely, but Fornaroli was under pressure from Noel León for P3. The Van Amersfoort Racing car was already past the second Trident of Meguetounif and was looking to get ahead of another. Montoya was right on the tail of Voisin once again as the top ten were separated by less than a second.
Celebrations, Championship Wins and Champagne
DRS was enabled again on the last lap, but it would not change the final standings at the front of the field. Ending a ten year drought, Rodin had won the Feature race, with Voisin securing his maiden F3 victory. He was followed by Montoya, and Fornaroli’s P3 finish sees him take the Championship lead. PREMA have also secured the Teams Championship, as their closest rivals ART failed to score points.
Featured image credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
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