2022 F3 Season Roundup: Round Seven – Belgium

Roundup of the seventh round of 2022 FIA F3 season at Circuit Spa Francorchamps, Belgium.

Isack Hadjar entered the round as championship leader but a series of dramatic events across the weekend saw the title fight blew wide open, as two outsiders hurled themselves right into the title mix at a track where weather ultimately played its part.

Now, here is a full roundup of the seventh round of the 2022 F3 season, which marked the first in a triple-headed season finale.

 

Practice

Practice began under cloudy conditions as Jenzer’s William Alatalo led the field out onto the track but it was Charouz’s Laszlo Toth who set the early benchmark time of 2m 22.105 in the eighth minute.

Times however began to soon tumble with Alatalo, Brad Benavides, Pepe Marti and Zak O’Sullivan all spending moments as the fastest driver on track in the following six minutes, until Trident’s Roman Stanek went quickest but soon displaced by Victor Martins.

As the halfway mark of the session arrived, it however was PREMA’s Oliver Bearman who led the timesheets with 2m 06.798 ahead of Arthur Leclerc and Juan Manuel Correa.

Championship leader, Hadjar waited until the 41st minute before he went top with 2m 06.639 but times again soon tumbled, with VAR’s Reece Ushijima ultimately emerging quickest at the checkered flag ahead of Campos’ Oliver Goethe and David Vidales.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Reece Ushijima	VAR	2m 05.172
2	Oliver Goethe	Campos	+ 1.016
3	David Vidales	Campos	+ 1.023
4	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 1.123
5	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	+ 1.131
6	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 1.373
7	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 1.377
8	Zane Maloney	Trident	+ 1.481
9	Jonny Edgar	Trident	+ 1.602
10	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 1.701
11	Arthur Leclerc	PREMA	+ 1.768
12	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	+ 1.768
13	Nazim Azman	Hitech GP	+ 1.773
14	William Alatalo	Jenzer	+ 1.790
15	Jak Crawford	PREMA	+ 1.815
16	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	+ 1.891
17	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	+ 2.006
18	Christian Mansell	Charouz	+ 2.043
19	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	+ 2.069
20	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 2.072
21	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	+ 2.156
22	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	+ 2.198
23	Brad Benavides	Carlin	+ 2.219
24	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 2.231
25	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	+ 2.295
26	Franco Colapinto	VAR	+ 2.386
27	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	+ 2.610
28	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 2.908
29	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz	+ 3.130
30	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	+ 3.589

 

Qualifying

Qualifying began in wet conditions due to showers having swept in during the preceding F1 FP1 session, as Jenzer’s trio of Ido Cohen, Federico Malvestiti and William Alatalo led the field out onto the damp track.

Bearman however emerged quickest once the opening set of flying laps were completed with 2m 22.931 as the red flag came out in the 11th minute, following a spin for Bearman’s teammate – Jak Crawford at Campus.

The session resumed nine minutes later with a mixture of drivers opting to gamble early on slicks whilst others initially stuck to wet tyres, of which the latter decision paid off as those on slick tyres struggled to turn their dry compound on during their early fliers.

Times though constantly tumbled in the closing ten minutes as Martins, Caio Collet and Stanek all went quickest, with the latter pair soon exchanging fastest laps in the closing minutes.

Collet however clung on at the checkered flag to clinch his maiden F3 pole position ahead of Zane Maloney, Francesco Pizzi, Goethe, Stanek, Jonny Edgar, Alexander Smolyar, Bearman, Colapinto, Benavides, Manuel Correa and O’Sullivan who claimed reverse-pole for the Sprint Race.

Out of the then top-four in the standings, Leclerc qualified highest in 20th with Hadjar and Martins placed 23rd and 24th on grid, whilst Crawford qualified 30th and last after his session-ending spin.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	2m 11.289
2	Zane Maloney	Trident	+ 0.262
3	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz	+ 0.699
4	Oliver Goethe	Campos	+ 0.832
5	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 0.846
6	Jonny Edgar	Trident	+ 0.846
7	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	+ 0.860
8	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 0.915
9	Franco Colapinto	VAR	+ 0.946
10	Brad Benavides	Carlin	+ 0.962
11	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	+ 0.966
12	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	+ 1.165
13	William Alatalo	Jenzer	+ 1.205
14	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	+ 1.383
15	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	+ 1.398
16	Reece Ushijima	VAR	+ 1.427
17	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 1.437
18	David Vidales	Campos	+ 1.666
19	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 1.851
20	Arthur Leclerc	PREMA	+ 1.902
21	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	+ 2.356
22	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	+ 2.632
23	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 2.681
24	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 3.068
25	Christian Mansell	Charouz	+ 3.096
26	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	+ 3.388
27	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 3.999
28	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	+ 4.722
29	Nazim Azman	Hitech GP	+ 4.931
30	Jak Crawford	PREMA	No Time Set

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, O’Sullivan made a clean getaway to lead Manuel Correa who in return passed him on the Kemmel Straight, although the pair collided on entry to Les Combes with Manuel Correa suffering a puncture whilst O’Sullivan’s front wing was damaged.

Bearman and Benavides consequently scrapped for the lead as further mayhem reigned at Les Combes with cars running wide, whilst Colapinto suffered a spin mid-corner.

Benavides ultimately won out to lead at end of the opening lap but Bearman hit back on the run to Les Combes to take the lead, which then saw the Safety Car deployed after Rafael Villagomez nudged Christian Mansell into the barriers mid-corner and was hit with a 10 second time penalty.

Once racing resumed on Lap Six, Benavides was demoted to third by Edgar whilst Stanek passed Goethe into Blanchimont for fifth, which led to the latter colliding with Maloney and the latter flipping over as he rebounded off the tyre barriers.

Luckily both drivers walked away unharmed as the Safety Car was immediately deployed, only for the race to be red flagged on Lap Eight, in order to allow for tyre barrier repair to take place whilst Leclerc, Martins, Hadjar and Crawford had recovered to 10th, 13th, 15th and 16th positions.

The race resumed on Lap Nine behind the Safety Car for one lap before Bearman led everyone back racing a lap later, with Leclerc benefitting from a mistake by Alatalo at La Source to claim ninth, which became eighth following a lunge on Collet at the final corner.

Smolyar meanwhile snatched third from Benavides on Lap 11 with Stanek following through at Pouhon, as the American driver eventually dropped down the order, as he struggled with tyre temperature issues but clung on to eighth at the checkered flag.

Stanek then passed Smolyar on Lap 13 which eventually became second once a 5s time penalty for Edgar who spun Colapinto on the opening lap was applied post-race, which meant that Bearman ultimately won from Stanek and Smolyar with Edgar classified fourth with the fastest lap point to boot.

Leclerc meanwhile recovered to fifth ahead of Alatalo, Vidales, Benavides, Hadjar, Collet and Crawford who recovered from 30th on the grid to round out the top eleven

Carlin’s Enzo Trulli finished 16th but was disqualified post-race after his team conducted unauthorised work on his rear wing during the red flag period, in turn breaching Article 42.4 of FIA Sporting Regulations

In the driver championship, Hadjar opened up a two-point lead over Martins who finished 21st after getting penalised for a jump-start, with Leclerc now five points off the title lead as Bearman moved up to fourth and 17 points away from Hadjar.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	15	1h 07m 07.734
2	Roman Stanek	Trident	15	+ 4.762
3	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	15	+ 5.689
4	Jonny Edgar	Trident	15	+ 6.339
5	Charles Leclerc	PREMA	15	+ 7.586
6	William Alatalo	Jenzer	15	+ 10.609
7	David Vidales	Campos	15	+ 12.294
8	Brad Benavides	Carlin	15	+ 12.326
9	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	15	+ 12.538
10	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	15	+ 13.231
11	Jak Crawford	PREMA	15	+ 14.118
12	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	15	+ 14.266
13	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	15	+ 14.670
14	Reece Ushijima	VAR	15	+ 16.969
15	Franco Colapinto	VAR	15	+ 17.887
16	Nazim Azman	Hitech GP	15	+ 19.147
17	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	15	+ 20.061
18	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	15	+ 20.876
19	Francesco Pizzi	Jenzer	15	+ 21.857
20	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	15	+ 26.173
21	Victor Martins	ART GP	15	+ 27.345
22	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	15	+ 28.710
23	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	15	+ 32.465
24	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	13	Mechanical
DSQ	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	15	Rear Wing
RET	Pepe Marti	Campos	11	Oil
RET	Oliver Goethe	Campos	5	Collision
RET	Zane Maloney	Trident	5	Collision
RET	Christian Mansell	Charouz	1	Collision
RET	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	1	Mechanical

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Collet led Maloney and Pizzi but he and Maloney ran wide at Les Combes with the latter taking the lead, whilst Collet forced Pizzi onto the gravel trap and consequently was handed a 5s time penalty for re-joining the track unsafely.

At the Bus Stop chicane, Kush Maini hit the turn-in too hard and spun Pizzi before collecting Martins and Cohen in the ensuring chaos, which triggered a Safety Car as a consequence of stricken cars and debris.

Goethe however had snuck into the lead after Maloney tried to give the position back to Collet on Lap Two with the Trident driver demoted to fourth in the process by his teammate – Stanek, just moments before the Safety Car had been deployed.

Once the racing resumed on Lap Six, Goethe immediately lost the lead on the Kemmel Straight to Collet and Maloney, whilst Leclerc was highest out of the three main title challengers in 16th on the restart.

The Safety Car however was deployed again a lap later after Saucy had crashed on exit of Les Combes after contact with Campos’ Pepe Marti.

Racing resumed on Lap 11 with Collet leading the field back racing but Maloney got the slipstream out of Eau Rouge/Raidillon and passed the Brazilian for the lead, which he held to the flag as Stanek demoted Collet to third on Lap 14.

Bearman meanwhile had managed his tyres across much of the race after quickly climbing to sixth at the start, and was able to clear Edgar and Goethe in the closing laps to secure third once Collet’s penalty had been applied.

Maloney meanwhile survived a late charge from Stanek to secure his maiden F3 win and a one-two finish for Trident, with Bearman, Goethe, Edgar and Collet rounding out the top six, ahead of; Vidales, Alatalo, Smolyar and Ushijima.

In the driver standings, Hadjar still leads the championship despite only finishing 15th but Bearman has now leapt up to second and a single point off the Frenchman, as Martins, Leclerc and Stanek round out the top five split by just ten points with two rounds left.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Zane Maloney	Trident	18	45m 33.153
2	Roman Stanek	Trident	18	+ 1.046
3	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	18	+ 5.684
4	Oliver Goethe	Campos	18	+ 6.737
5	Jonny Edgar	Trident	18	+ 7.433
6	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	18	+ 9.297
7	David Vidales	Campos	18	+ 10.831
8	William Alatalo	Jenzer	18	+ 10.879
9	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	18	+ 11.665
10	Reece Ushijima	VAR	18	+ 13.360
11	Arthur Leclerc	PREMA	18	+ 13.608
12	Franco Colapinto	VAR	18	+ 14.855
13	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	18	+ 15.784
14	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	18	+ 16.423
15	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	18	+ 16.909
16	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	18	+ 17.952
17	Jak Crawford	PREMA	18	+ 18.311
18	Brad Benavides	Carlin	18	+ 20.101
19	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	18	+ 20.610
20	Nazim Azman	Hitech GP	18	+ 20.940
21	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz	18	+ 21.568
22	Pepe Marti	Campos	18	+ 23.753
23	Christian Mansell	Charouz	18	+ 24.691
24	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	18	+ 24.908
25	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	18	+ 25.404
26	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	18	+ 73.968
RET	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	6	Collision
RET	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	1	Collision
RET	Victor Martins	ART GP	1	Collision
RET	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	0	Collision