Gabriele Minì avoided the chaos of the F3 Hungarian Sprint Race to claim his second F3 victory, holding onto the lead despite a late Safety Car appearance.
Gabriele Minì secured his second victory of this rookie Formula 3 campaign at the F3 Hungarian Sprint Race, keeping an eye on his tyres and avoiding any drama in the closing stages. After staring on reverse grid pole, the Hitech Pulse-Eight rookie initially lost out to Nikita Bedrin at lights-out but clawed his way back to take P1.
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Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto stayed patient, pushing through from fourth to second, while Nikita Bedrin had P2 snatched away coming out of the penultimate corner, settling for P3 after great defence on well-worn tyres. Nevertheless, his P3 is his and Jenzer Motorsport’s first podium of the season, and Bedrin’s first front row start in Formula 3.
As it Happened
Bedrin’s great getaway at lights out saw him get the run he needed to overtake Minì and snatch the lead out of Turn 1, while Bortoleto tried and failed to make the same move on Christian Mansell for third. Further down the field, Feature Race polesitter Zak O’Sullivan had a great start off the line, making up three places to P9.
Further back, Tommy Smith and Sebastián Montoya tangled in the opening lap and made contact, sending Smith into the air and across the gravel. They both returned to the pits for repairs alongside Hugh Barter and Ido Cohen. Cohen retired at the end of Lap 1.
On Lap 3, Colapinto put the pressure on Tsolov for seventh, forcing the ART Grand Prix driver into a mistake to get the switchback done through Turn 2.
Patience paid off for Bortoleto by lap 7 as he overtook Mansell for third. With the help of DRS, Bortoleto cruised past from a long way back down the inside into turn 1. The same move didn’t work out quite as well for Paul Aron two laps later. He had a great run out of the final corner but couldn’t make the move stick and ran wide.
Back at the front of the field, Minì found himself unable to shake Bedrin from his tail. He lost the lead on the approach to turn one on lap eight. O’Sullivan, down in ninth, found himself back in the pits with front wing damage after locking up while attempting to take eighth from Tsolov.
Safety Car Changes the Landscape
The battle at the front saw Minì in jeopardy by lap 13. Minì’s advantage over Bedrin and the seven second gap to Bortoleto was decimated with a safety car. Sebastián Montoya came to a stop between Turns 12 and 13 triggering a Virtual Safety Car. It was soon converted into a full Safety Car.
Racing resumed on Lap 17, seeing a three-lap sprint to the flag. Aron immediately forced Mansell onto the defensive for fourth, getting past around the outside of Turn 3. Oliver Goethe followed suit, also overtaking Mansell.
Josep María Martí’s efforts to take some points were decimated at the restart. Tsolov tagged him from behind, seeing them both spin out of the top ten and triggering a brief VSC appearance.
The racing came down to the wire as the last lap rolled round. Bortoleto fought hard to take second from Bedrin as he struggled with his rear tyres. Bedrin made sure to keep Bortoleto at bay for as long as possible but in the end, the Trident driver claimed second. After a bad run out of the penultimate corner, he left the door open. Bortoleto seized the opportunity and snatched second place.
Minì reached the chequered flag an impressive 4.2 seconds clear of Bortoleto and Bedrin. Aron came home fourth ahead of Goethe. Mansell settled for sixth, Colapinto seventh and Jonny Edgar eighth, benefitting from the late restart. Grėgoire Saucy and Dino Beganovic also made the best of the restart, claiming the last points in ninth and 10th.
Gabriel Minì said his tyres played a huge part of his victory;
“Just finished the Sprint Race in P1. It was a really good race, just tried to save the tyres from the beginning and then once I overtook Nikita (Bedrin), I started managing the tyres and happy to have kept my position to the end.”
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Featured image by Rudy Carezzevoli – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images