2022 F3 Season Roundup: Round Eight – Netherlands

Roundup of the penultimate round of 2022 F3 season as the title fight continued in Zandvoort, Netherlands.

Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar entered this round with a slender lead over PREMA’s Oliver Bearman and ART GP’s Victor Martins, whilst Arthur Leclerc headed up the chasing pack as the top eight drivers in the championship looked to seize the initiative heading into the season finale.

A weekend of twists and turns though saw the title lead change hands as seven drivers emerged from this round as definite mathematical contenders going into the season finale.

Now, here is a full roundup of the eighth round of the 2022 F3 season.

 

Practice

Charouz’s Laszlo Toth, Francesco Pizzi plus the returning David Schumacher – who replaced Christian Mansell – were first out on track on medium tyres which everyone ran this weekend.

Many drivers however only ran one installation lap and pitted again, due to sandy track conditions across the circuit due to its location near Strand/Duinen bij Bloemendaal aan Zee beach.

Schumacher proceeded to set the first benchmark time of 1m 29.898 but found 0.619 seconds on his next flier, only for Pizzi to post 1m 28.014 to go top in the 11th minute before many drivers returned to a now rubbered in track.

Once everyone had completed their opening fliers, Martins sat top with 1m 26.105 from Gregoire Saucy although the latter was displaced by Franco Colapinto and Bearman come the halfway mark of the session.

The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed in the 27th minute after Carlin’s Brad Benavides crashed out of Turn 8 into Turn 9, but was withdrawn three minutes later.

Once green-flag conditions resumed, times quickly tumbled as Martins finished top with 1m 25.688 ahead of Caio Collet, Alexander Smolyar, Jak Crawford and Colapinto at the checkered flag.

A second VSC however was deployed with three minutes left after Reece Ushijima became the second driver to stop at Turn 9, having ran wide at Turn 8, which prevented further improvements.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Victor Martins	ART GP	1m 25.688
2	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	+ 0.392
3	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	+ 0.477
4	Jak Crawford	PREMA	+ 0.502
5	Franco Colapinto	VAR	+ 0.604
6	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 0.618
7	Jonny Edgar	Trident	+ 0.779
8	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 0.799
9	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 0.834
10	William Alatalo	Jenzer	+ 0.866
11	Zane Maloney	Trident	+ 0.899
12	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 0.988
13	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	+ 1.032
14	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	+ 1.101
15	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.237
16	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	+ 1.370
17	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	+ 1.431
18	Brad Benavides	Carlin	+ 1.520
19	David Vidales	Campos	+ 1.533
20	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	+ 1.596
21	Arthur Leclerc	PREMA	+ 1.662
22	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	+ 1.663
23	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 1.673
24	David Schumacher	Charouz	+ 1.688
25	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz	+ 1.714
26	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	+ 1.925
27	Reece Ushijima	VAR	+ 2.109
28	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	+ 2.728
29	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	+ 3.132
30	Nazim Azman	Hitech GP	+ 4.292

 

Qualifying

Hitech GP’s Kaylen Frederick, Hadjar and Nazim Azman were first out on track for Qualifying with Frederick setting the first benchmark time of 1m 26.695 to beat, although that time was swiftly bettered by several drivers as Martins posted 1m 25.152 to head Colapinto and Zane Maloney.

Nobody could improve on their second flying laps on their first set of medium tyres, whilst Pizzi and Schumacher tried to run in the first gap but were caught up in traffic when on their flying laps.

Upon completion of the second round of flying laps, Maloney set the pace with 1m 24.386 ahead of Martins and Roman Stanek.

Crawford meanwhile left it late to snatch third on the grid shortly before the red flag was waved with 44s left to prematurely end the session as Maloney clung onto pole position ahead of Martins.

Crawford, Stanek, Colapinto, Hadjar, F3 debutant – Sebastian Montoya, Jonny Edgar, Collet, Zak O’Sullivan, Saucy and Juan Manuel Correa rounded out the top 12, with Manuel Correa inheriting reverse-pole for the Sprint Race.

PREMA’s Bearman meanwhile qualified 14th after the red flag cruelly denied him a potential top-six grid slot just metres from the start/finish line at the end of his last flying lap, although he started the Sprint Race from 13th due to a grid penalty for Kush Maini.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Zane Maloney	Trident	1m 24.386
2	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.289
3	Jak Crawford	PREMA	+ 0.436
4	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 0.445
5	Franco Colapinto	VAR	+ 0.469
6	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 0.643
7	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	+ 0.652
8	Jonny Edgar	Trident	+ 0.661
9	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	+ 0.786
10	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	+ 0.825
11	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 0.979
12	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	+ 0.990
13	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	+ 1.124
14	Oliver Bearman	Oliver Bearman	+ 1.169
15	Brad Benavides	Carlin	+ 1.209
16	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	+ 1.232
17	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 1.242
18	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	+ 1.251
19	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.282
20	Arthur Leclerc	PREMA	+ 1.298
21	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz	+ 1.376
22	William Alatalo	Jenzer	+ 1.414
23	Reece Ushijima	VAR	+ 1.440
24	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	+ 1.862
25	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	+ 1.865
26	David Vidales	Campos	+ 2.107
27	David Schumacher	Charouz	+ 2.245
28	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	+ 2.249
29	Nazim Azman	Campos	+ 2.780
30	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	+ 4.267

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Manuel Correa retained his lead as Collet blasted his way from fourth on the grid up to second round the outside of Turn One, ahead of O’Sullivan as Edgar further demoted Saucy from second to fifth.

Further down the order, Hadjar sat sixth ahead of French compatriot and title rival, Martins in seventh, whilst Bearman recovered to tenth and Leclerc improved from 20th to 17th at the start.

Up front, Collet relentlessly pressured Manuel Correa throughout the opening laps as his persistance paid off with an inside move at Turn 3 on Lap Five to gain the lead, as the top nine eventually held position to the checkered flag.

Leclerc meanwhile was on a steady charge as he found himself 16th by the start of Lap Six before passing Pizzi and Frederick to move up to 14th by the end of Lap 13.

Bearman meanwhile lost 10th and the final points-paying position to Stanek on Lap 16 after he ran wide out of Turn 4 on the kerb, as the Brit ultimately finished 11th to dent his title hopes.

Just further behind Bearman, Leclerc followed Colapinto through as the pair demoted Alexander Smolyar to 14th position on Lap 20, although the Monegasque eventually beat Colapinto for 12th at the checkered flag.

Up front, Collet comfortably cruised to his second win of the season by 4.057s from Manuel Correa – who made the podium for the first time since his return to F3 in 2021, whilst O’Sullivan picked up his second podium of the season to move up to tenth in the championship.

In the driver standings, Hadjar extended his title lead to three points ahead of Martins who leapfrogged Bearman to second in the standings, with the Brit six points behind in third place ahead of Leclerc and Stanek who round out the top five split by 14 points.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	21	30m 55.183
2	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	21	+ 4.057
3	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	21	+ 4.935
4	Jonny Edgar	Trident	21	+ 5.888
5	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	21	+ 6.628
6	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	21	+ 7.593
7	Victor Martins	ART GP	21	+ 8.184
8	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	21	+ 9.903
9	Jak Crawford	PREMA	21	+ 10.559
10	Roman Stanek	Trident	21	+ 11.028
11	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	21	+ 12.399
12	Arthur Leclerc	PREMA	21	+ 15.688
13	Franco Colapinto	VAR	21	+ 17.290
14	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	21	+ 17.941
15	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	21	+ 19.994
16	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz	21	+ 20.638
17	Zane Maloney	Trident	21	+ 21.116
18	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	21	+ 23.870
19	Pepe Marti	Campos	21	+ 23.930
20	David Schumacher	Charouz	21	+ 24.193
21	David Vidales	Campos	21	+ 24.583
22	Reece Ushijima	VAR	21	+ 27.177
23	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	21	+ 30.780
24	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	21	+ 31.218
25	Nazim Azman	Hitech GP	21	+ 34.656
26	Brad Benavides	Carlin	21	+ 44.181
27	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	21	+ 63.611
28	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	21	+ 65.548
29	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	20	+ 1 Lap
30	William Alatalo	Jenzer	20	+ 1 Lap

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Maloney got jumped on the inside line by Martins who seized the lead as Maloney fought off Crawford for second as Colapinto leapfrogged Stanek to go fourth, whilst Bearman dropped from 14th to 17th after getting squeezed in the opening corner but recovered to 16th.

Leclerc meanwhile recovered to 17th from 20th on the grid by Lap Four as the Safety Car was deployed, following Brad Benavides’ rear-ending of Jenzer’s William Alatalo to eliminate both drivers,, with Benavides consequently awarded a three-place grid penalty for the Italian Sprint Race.

The race resumed on Lap 8 as Crawford locked up at Turn One to slip from third to ninth just behind Edgar who slipped from sixth to eighth at Turn 3.

Bearman meanwhile briefly lost 16th to Frederick on the restart but quickly regained the position and proceeded to steadily charge through to 13th by the end of Lap 17.

Up front, Maloney kept Martins within a second throughout until he got the switchback from outside to inside of Turn 1 on Lap 12, which enabled him to repass the Frenchman to claim the lead he lost at the start.

Crawford meanwhile passed Montoya on Lap 14 for seventh before David Vidales retired at Turn 1 on Lap 17, although the Safety Car was deployed on the following lap after Saucy lost his front nosecone following contact with O’Sullivan.

On the second restart on Lap 21, Bearman made a double overtake on Smolyar and Saucy through Turns 7 and 8 but the Safety Car was again deployed one lap later, following a spin for Rafael Villagomez for which Manuel Correa received a 10s post-race time penalty.

Bearman however had battled his way past O’Sullivan to tenth through Turn 9 albeit with contact just before the Safety Car came out, with stewards post-race adjudging O’Sullivan at fault for their contact which dropped the Brit from 12th to 23rd in the classification with a 10s penalty.

The race eventually resumed on Lap 25 for a two-lap shootout as Maloney fought off Martins for a second Feature Race victory, as Colapinto, Stanek, Hadjar, Crawford, Collet. Montoya, Edgar and Bearman rounded out the top ten.

Bearman however received a 20s time penalty post-race in lieu of a drive-through penalty, due to not maintaining the required distance during the second Safety Car restart.

In the driver standings, Martins replaced Hadjar as the championship leader with a five-point lead going into the final round of the season, with Stanek, Bearman, Maloney, Leclerc and Crawford all mathematically also still in contention.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Zane Maloney	Trident	26	44m 04.515
2	Victor Martins	ART GP	26	+ 1.091
3	France Colapinto	VAR	26	+ 1.417
4	Roman Stanek	Trident	26	+ 2.188
5	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	26	+ 2.750
6	Jak Crawford	PREMA	26	+ 2.978
7	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	26	+ 4.378
8	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	26	+ 5.275
9	Jonny Edgar	Trident	26	+ 5.568
10	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	26	+ 9.368
11	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	26	+ 10.822
12	Arthur Leclerc	PREMA	26	+ 11.222
13	Kaylen Frederick	Hitech GP	26	+ 12.218
14	Pepe Marti	Campos	26	+ 12.930
15	David Schumacher	Charouz	26	+ 13.624
16	Ido Cohen	Jenzer	26	+ 14.797
17	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	26	+ 15.456
18	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz	26	+ 15.607
19	Reece Ushijima	VAR	26	+ 16.075
20	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer	26	+ 16.456
21	Nazim Azman	Hitech GP	26	+ 17.013
22	Laszlo Toth	Charouz	26	+ 17.529
23	Zak O’Sullivan	Carlin	26	+ 20.128
24	Juan Manuel Correa	ART GP	26	+ 24.299
25	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	26	+ 28.495
26	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	26	Damage
27	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	26	Collision
28	David Vidales	Campos	26	Mechanical
29	Brad Benavides	Carlin	26	Collision
30	William Alatalo	Jenzer	26	Collision