2023 F3 Season Roundup: Round One – Bahrain

Roundup of the opening round of 2023 F3 season in Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit.

With 19 rookies on the grid alongside 10 returning drivers from last season plus a returnee who last competed in 2020, F3 this season has the potential to be a classic and the opening round immediately proved a corker as several fresh faces made an instant impact.

Now, here is a roundup of the opening round of the new season in Bahrain.

 

Practice

Jenzer’s Nikita Bedrin was first out on track as soon as the pit exit went green but a brief Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed just three minutes in, yet was withdrawn two minutes later during which many drivers pitted after their installation laps.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Tommy Smith though set the initial benchmark time of 1m 50.804 in the 16th minute, until Bedrin then Taylor Barnard displaced him five minutes later as several cars finally emerged from the pits for some hot laps.

Once everyone had completed their initial opening run of flying laps, it was Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto who led with 1m 48.395, ahead of Gabriele Mini and Paul Aron.

Times though rapidly began to fall across the final 15 minutes of the session but come the checkered flag, it was Bortoleto on top after he posted 1m 47.775 in the 31st minute.

Mini finished second-fastest ahead of pre-season favourite, Gregoire Saucy who headed rookie – Luke Browning and VAR’s Caio Collet.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	1m 47.775
2	Gabriele Mini	Hitech GP	+ 0.072
3	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 0.191
4	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.451
5	Caio Collet	VAR	+ 0.474
6	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	+ 0.528
7	Paul Aron	PREMA	+ 0.643
8	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	+ 0.643
9	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	+ 0.753
10	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	+ 0.681
11	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech GP	+ 0.768
12	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.796
13	Oliver Goethe	Trident	+ 0.800
14	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.814
15	Hugh Barter	Campos	+ 0.871
16	Christian Mansell	Campos	+ 0.919
17	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	+ 0.955
18	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	+ 0.998
19	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	+ 1.151
20	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	+ 1.244
21	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	+ 1.269
22	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer	+ 1.273
23	Ido Cohen	Carlin	+ 1.349
24	Hunter Yeany	Carlin	+ 1.406
25	Tommy Smith	VAR	+ 1.499
26	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	+ 1.572
27	Oliver Gray	Carlin	+ 1.614
28	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	+ 1.668
29	Piotr Wisnicki	PHM Racing	+ 1.802
30	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	+ 2.744

 

Qualifying

New F3 team, PHM Racing – who are competing in partnership with Charouz – were first out of the blocks, as Sophia Floersch and Piotr Wisnicki led the field out for their opening Qualifying runs.

Campos’ Pepe Marti though was the first to set a representative lap time of 1m 48.137 in the seventh minute but his lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, whilst the same fate fell Bortoleto just a further minute later.

Mini consequently found himself fastest after the opening runs from Kaylen Frederick and Sebastian Montoya, although Frederick’s lap time was deleted which promoted Barnard to the top three.

PREMA meanwhile opted to conduct their drivers’ opening runs in the gap which paid off as Zak O’Sullivan went fastest with 1m 47.717 in the 17th minute, although he was then briefly demoted by Marti who again saw his fastest lap deleted for exceeding track limits.

Collet though was able to displace O’Sullivan a minute later as the Brazilian posted 1m 47.670 to go fastest, ahead of the final runs.

As the checkered flag fell, it was Mini who eventually claimed pole position in a rookie front-row lockout alongside Bortoleto.

Saucy qualified third ahead of Oliver Goethe, Hugh Barter, Frederick, Leanardo Fornaroli, Dino Beganovic, Paul Aron, O’Sullivan, Collet and Marti, although O’Sullivan post-session saw his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and dropped to 18th position.

Franco Colapinto consequently was promoted to 12th position and reverse-pole for the Sprint Race.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Gabriele Mini	Hitech GP	1m 47.055
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	+ 0.057
3	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 0.111
4	Oliver Goethe	Trident	+ 0.135
5	Hugh Barter	Campos	+ 0.219
6	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	+ 0.228
7	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	+ 0.235
8	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	+ 0.265
9	Paul Aron	PREMA	+ 0.267
10	Caio Collet	VAR	+ 0.316
11	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.336
12	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	+ 0.343
13	Christian Mansell	Campos	+ 0.396
14	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech GP	+ 0.421
15	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	+ 0.480
16	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	+ 0.538
17	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.639
18	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	+ 0.662
19	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	+ 0.830
20	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.895
21	Oliver Gray	Carlin	+ 1.145
22	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	+ 1.148
23	Piotr Wisnicki	PHM Racing	+ 1.460
24	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	+ 1.604
25	Ido Cohen	Carlin	+ 1.610
26	Hunter Yeany	Carlin	+ 1.630
27	Tommy Smith	VAR	+ 1.632
28	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	+ 2.129
29	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	+ 2.410
30	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer	+ 14.138

 

Sprint Race

Before the race even began, Floersch and Wisnicki were instructed to start from the pit-lane due to a start procedure infringement by their mechanics, whilst Nikola Tsolov and Alejandro Garcia were later handed 10 second stop-go penalties for the same offence.

At lights out, Colapinto made a clean start from pole to retain his lead as Collet jumped Marti for second at Turn 2, whilst Mini stalled from 12th on the grid and slid down to 26th in the order.

The Safety Car though was swiftly out on the second lap after Bortoleto spun VAR’s Rafael Villagomez out on the exit of Turn 4, which earned the Brazilian a 10-second time penalty post-race to drop him to 19th in the final classification.

Colapinto though caused chaos on the restart at end of lap six as he bunched the pack up, which led to Browning getting spun out at Turn 1, whilst Fornaroli cleared Beganovic for fifth before Frederick was hit by Bortoleto on lap eight prior to the Safety Car’s deployment.

The race resumed on lap 12 but Colapinto couldn’t shake off Marti who had passed Collet for second at Turn 4 on the previous restart, and the Spaniard swept round the outside of the Argentinean at Turn 4 on lap 14 to secure victory whilst Collet finished third.

Beganovic meanwhile triumphed in a race-long duel with PREMA teammate, Aron for fourth place after he made the crucial overtake on Lap 17, after the race had been reduced to 19 laps due to running short of time.

Goethe, Saucy, Fornaroli, Jonny Edgar and Montoya rounded out the top ten finishers.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Pepe Marti	Campos	19	43m 09.598
2	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	19	+ 1.805
3	Caio Collet	VAR	19	+ 5.879
4	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	19	+ 9.017
5	Paul Aron	PREMA	19	+ 9.848
6	Oliver Goethe	Trident	19	+ 10.623
7	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	19	+ 11.157
8	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	19	+ 11.737
9	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	19	+ 12.359
10	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech GP	19	+ 12.897
11	Hugh Barter	Campos	19	+ 13.663
12	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	19	+ 14.829
13	Christian Mansell	Campos	19	+ 15.819
14	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer	19	+ 17.461
15	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	19	+ 18.032
16	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	19	+ 19.240
17	Gabriel Mini	Hitech GP	19	+ 19.663
18	Ido Cohen	Carlin	19	+ 23.416
19	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	19	+ 24.110
20	Hunter Yeany	Carlin	19	+ 24.671
21	Oliver Gray	Carlin	19	+ 25.049
22	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	19	+ 25.373
23	Tommy Smith	VAR	19	+ 25.951
24	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	19	+ 38.570
25	Piotr Wisnicki	PHM Racing	19	+ 45.222
26	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	19	+ 47.787
27	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	19	+ 61.777
28	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	19	+ 85.396
RET	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	10	Spin
RET	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	1	Spin

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Mini made a clean start from pole position but Bortoleto managed to seize the inside line into the opening corner to seize the lead, with Saucy following through at Turn 5.

Collet meanwhile stalled on the line but was eventually able to continue, albeit without much prospect of a points finish.

Further back, the British pairing of Browning and O’Sullivan both cleared Colapinto at start of the second lap after squeezing the Argentinean off line through the first three corners.

Mini meanwhile reclaimed second on lap four from Saucy with an outside move round the outside of Turn 4, whilst O’Sullivan recovered from 18th on grid to 10th by lap five.

Proceedings were interrupted by the Safety Car on lap seven after Mari Boya broke his rear suspension spinning Smith around at Turn 8.

Bortoleto resumed the lead at end of lap nine but was passed by Mini at Turn 5 half a lap later, although the Italian was hit with a 5s time penalty for being out of position on the grid.

Browning meanwhile leap from 11th to 9th on the restart and soon carved his way up to sixth by lap 16.

O’Sullivan meanwhile pulled off a bold inside move on Aron at Turn 10 for 10th on Lap 13 but got forced wide at the following corner, as the PREMA teammates collided in an early flashpoint for this season.

Up front, Mini failed to pull a gap but fought off Bortoleto until Smith suffered a second spin on the penultimate lap, this time at Turn 1 which meant a Safety Car finish with Bortoleto taking victory from Trident teammate, Goethe once Mini’s time penalty was applied.

Beganovic’s late move on Saucy just prior to the Safety Car deployment ensured that it was an all-rookie podium.

Saucy, Browning, Marti, Frederick, Mini, Montoya and Colapinto eventually rounded out the top ten, although Colapinto benefitted from a post-race 5s time penalty for Aron due to exceeding track limits.

Aron’s post-race time penalty eventually became a 10s penalty after a further five seconds was added after stewards adjudged him at fault for his collision with O’Sullivan who was promoted to 11th ahead of his teammate in the classification.

Smith meanwhile was handed a pair of three-place grid penalties for the next race after causing contact in two separate incidents, of which the second incident spun himself out.

Bortoleto now leads the championship with 26 points ahead of Goethe by three points with Beganovic, Marti and Saucy rounding out the top five.

F3 will return across the weekend of 31 March – 2 April as the series makes its maiden visit Down Under to Melbourne, Australia.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	22	44m 33.107
2	Oliver Goethe	Trident	22	+ 0.869
3	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	22	+ 1.109
4	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	22	+ 1.324
5	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	22	+ 1.691
6	Pepe Marti	Campos	22	+ 1.848
7	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	22	+ 2.114
8	Gabriele Mini	Hitech GP	22	+ 4.600
9	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech GP	22	+ 6.814
10	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	22	+ 9.834
11	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	22	+ 15.831
12	Paul Aron	PREMA	22	+ 18.181
13	Christian Mansell	Campos	22	+ 18.265
14	Caio Collet	VAR	22	+ 19.202
15	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	22	+ 19.227
16	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer	22	+ 19.602
17	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	22	+ 22.022
18	Ido Cohen	Carlin	22	+ 25.202
19	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	22	+ 25.636
20	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	22	+ 28.433
21	Oliver Gray	Carlin	22	+ 30.088
22	Hunter Yeany	Carlin	22	+ 35.461
23	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	22	+ 36.182
24	Piotr Wisnicki	PHM Racing	22	+ 37.365
25	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	22	+ 45.304
26	Hugh Barter	Campos	22	+ 67.515
27	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	21	Suspension
28	Tommy Smith	VAR	20	Spin
29	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	19	Mechanical
30	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	6	Suspension