2023 F3 Season Roundup: Round Six – Great Britain

Roundup of the sixth round of 2023 F3 season at Silverstone, Great Britain.

Title leader, Gabriel Bortoleto entered this round with a 36 point lead over his nearest challenger, Pepe Marti who found himself leading a tight chasing pack who were looking to put a huge dent into the Brazilian’s title ambitions.

A crazy weekend impacted by a tight Qualifying session and weather-affected races however saw the Brazilian slightly extend his title lead, as Marti emerged as his nearest challenger heading into the final three rounds of the season.

Now, here is a full roundup of all the action across Round Six of 2023 F3 season at Silverstone.

 

Practice

Sebastian Montoya was first out on track once the pit exit light turned green and the Red Bull junior proceeded to set a benchmark time of 1m 48.957 in the eighth minute, only to be swiftly beaten as Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli went 0.207 seconds faster.

Franco Colapinto lowered the benchmark time in the 11th minute to 1m 47.099 but got displaced by Christian Mansell and Luke Browning six minutes later, as Browning went fastest with 1m 46.493 ahead of Colapinto.

Home hero, Zak O’Sullivan saw his weekend get off to a bad start as he got spun around by a recklessly braking Kaylen Frederick in the 20th minute, although he escaped with minimal damage unlike Frederick who had front suspension damage.

Marti meanwhile found himself top in the 21st minute on 1m 46.125, ahead of championship leader – Bortoleto by 0.080s.

Browning responded in the 25th minute with 1m 45.946 to go top before the Virtual Safety Car was briefly deployed, in order to remove debris from Fredrick’s incident with O’Sullivan.

Browning ultimately lowered the fastest lap time of Practice to 1m 45.794 in the 37th minute ahead of Bortoleto and Beganovic.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	1m 45.794
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	+ 0.182
3	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	+ 0.296
4	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	+ 0.314
5	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.331
6	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 0.396
7	Paul Aron	PREMA	+ 0.414
8	Gabriele Mini	Hitech GP	+ 0.429
9	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	+ 0.446
10	Max Esterson	Carlin	+ 0.460
11	Christian Mansell	Campos	+ 0.576
12	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	+ 0.660
13	McKenzy Cresswell	PHM Racing	+ 0.661
14	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	+ 0.663
15	Taylor Barnard	PHM Racing	+ 0.679
16	Oliver Goethe	Trident	+ 0.777
17	Caio Collet	VAR	+ 0.796
18	Hugh Barter	Campos	+ 0.859
19	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech GP	+ 0.894
20	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	+ 0.955
21	Tommy Smith	VAR	+ 1.014
22	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	+ 1.016
23	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	+ 1.151
24	Oliver Gray	Carlin	+ 1.264
25	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	+ 1.332
26	Ido Cohen	Carlin	+ 1.369
27	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.429
28	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	+ 1.485
29	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	+ 2.113
30	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	+ 2.143

 

Qualifying

Like in Practice, Montoya was first out on track but it was Mini who set the benchmark time of 1m 46.619 in the seventh minute, but Browning immediately went 0.369s faster.

Beganovic meanwhile pitted with an engine issue which prevented him from participating in the remainder of the session, which meant that he started both races from last spot on the grid.

After completion of opening runs, Browning headed Bortoleto and Goethe with Frederick sat 12th and at that point, destined for reverse-pole in the Sprint.

Aron though found time on his second flier to go top in the 12th minute with 1m 46.191 but Fornaroli five minutes later stole the fastest lap with 1m 45.717 in the 17th minute ahead of Colapinto.

Nobody eventually could better Fornaroli’s pole time as he lowered the benchmark to 1m 45.520 at the checkered flag, which resulted in a Trident front row alongside second-placed Goethe as Marti and Mansell locked out the second row ahead of Bortoleto to deny Trident a one-two-three.

Aron qualified sixth ahead of Mini, Browning, Colapinto, Barnard. Edgar and Montoya, as the Colombian inherited reverse-pole for the Sprint.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	1m 45.520
2	Oliver Goethe	Trident	+ 0.126
3	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.354
4	Christian Mansell	Campos	+ 0.389
5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	+ 0.390
6	Paul Aron	PREMA	+ 0.425
7	Gabriele Mini	Hitech GP	+ 0.520
8	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.526
9	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	+ 0.544
10	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer	+ 0.635
11	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	+ 0.649
12	Sebatian Montoya	Hitech GP	+ 0.729
13	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	+ 0.750
14	Hugh Barter	Campos	+ 0. 757
15	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	+ 0.812
16	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	+ 0.826
17	Caio Collet	VAR	+ 0.948
18	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	+ 1.100
19	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	+ 1.212
20	McKenzy Cresswell	PHM Racing	+ 1.386
21	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.451
22	Tommy Smith	VAR	+ 1.517
23	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	+ 1.534
24	Max Esterson	Carlin	+ 1.587
25	Oliver Gray	Carlin	+ 1.750
26	Ido Cohen	Carlin	+ 1.927
27	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	+ 2.040
28	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	+ 2.093
29	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	+ 2.908
30	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	No Time

 

Sprint Race

Unexpected arrival of light rainfall shortly before the formation lap caused the start to be delayed ten minutes but conditions quickly settled, with everyone but Saucy opting to stay on slick tyres as the ART GP driver gambled on wet tyres on a track which still largely suited dry tyres.

At lights out, Montoya got a clean getaway to head the field as Barnard swept round the outside of Edgar into Turn 1 to take second, only for Colapinto to get the position into the Loop but Barnard repassed the Argentinean through Becketts.

Mini meanwhile demoted Edgar to fifth at Club and the Brit continued to freefall down the order, whilst Smith spun at Maggots after contract with Faria at the back of the field.

Up front, Montoya fought off Barnard whilst Fornaroli cleared Marti for eighth on Lap 5 on the inside line into Stowe, whilst Bortoleto cleared Mini into Vale a lap later as rain began to sweep in.

Conditions eventually became too wet on Lap 8 and the DRS was disabled just before the Safety Car was deployed to manage conditions, during which Beganovic led a stream of 20 cars who pitted under the Safety Car for wet tyres.

The race resumed at the end of Lap 12 with those on wet tyres initially seizing the advantage on a wet track with Beganovic sat 11th on the restart – having started plum last, which led the Swede to work his way up to fifth in the following two laps.

Montoya meanwhile got rear-ended into a spin by Barnard on the restart into Abbey which dropped both drivers down the order, as Colapinto swept through on the inside into the lead.

Track conditions however rapidly dried and swung back towards those who stayed out on the wet tyres with Colapinto cruising to victory from Bortoleto, as Mansell fought off Collet for his maiden F3 podium and Mini rounded out the top five.

Barter and Fornaroli finished sixth and seventh ahead of Montoya who recovered to eighth after his spin as Cohen finished ninth, whilst Marti clung on to the final point and tenth by just 0.090s from Garcia.

In the drivers’ standings, Bortoleto extended his title lead over second-placed Pepe Marti to 44 points as Beganovic and O’Sullivan remained third and fourth ahead of Mini, and Colapinto who climbed to sixth with his win.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	18	37m 17.100
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	18	+ 3.370
3	Christian Mansell	Campos	18	+ 5.840
4	Caio Collet	VAR	18	+ 6.243
5	Gabriele Mini	Hitech GP	18	+ 14.554
6	Hugh Barter	Campos	18	+ 17.495
7	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	18	+ 19.601
8	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech GP	18	+ 23.634
9	Ido Cohen	Carlin	18	+ 42.079
10	Pepe Marti	Campos	18	+ 52.727
11	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	18	+ 52.817
12	Paul Aron	PREMA	18	+ 53.389
13	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	18	+ 54.288
14	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	18	+ 54.842
15	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	18	+ 55.953
16	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	18	+ 57.494
17	Oliver Goethe	Trident	18	+ 58.394
18	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	18	+ 61.489
19	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	18	+ 67.775
20	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	18	+ 68.865
21	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	18	+ 71.791
22	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	18	+ 73.999
23	McKenzy Cresswell	PHM Racing	18	+ 74.957
24	Max Esterson	Carlin	18	+ 76.445
25	Oliver Gray	Carlin	18	+ 76.642
26	Tommy Smith	VAR	18	+ 91.965
27	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	18	+ 92.004
28	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	18	+ 103.046
29	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	18	+ 106.077
30	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer	18	+ 120.622

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Fornaroli made a clean start ahead of Goethe who lost second to Marti into the Loop but quickly recovered position, whilst Bortoleto improved to fourth but got jumped by Aron who jumped him and Mansell at Brooklands with the Australian following through.

Browning meanwhile got punted wide by Barter out of Club which sent him spinning out onto the start-finish straight, which triggered a Safety Car.

Edgar just moments earlier saw his race effectively end at Vale after he suffered race-ending damage in a collision with Collet, although he was able to crawl back to the pits but stewards adjudged him at fault for the incident and handed him a three-place grid drop for the Hungarian Sprint.

Racing resumed on Lap 7 with everyone in the top 15 holding position but O’Sullivan’s hopes of a top-ten finish ended with a spin at Luffield, having been harshly shunted wide onto the gravel by Frederick in their third collision of the weekend after colliding on the opening lap too.

Up front, Fornaroli led the chasing pack as the top six managed to stay within three seconds of each other, whilst Mini cleared Colapinto into Stowe on Lap 11 and Saucy passed Barnard a lap later for tenth position.

Fornaroli’s tyres however struggled to last and the Italian driver tactically opted to let Goethe through into the lead at Brooklands, as he set about trying to utilise DRS from his teammate until the Safety Car was again deployed on Lap 17 after Faria spun off at Luffield in a collision.

Despite the propsect of rain having looked unlikely at the start, the weather suddenly began to turn wet on Lap 16 and continued moderately until the end of the race, as only Smith gambled on wet tyres.

Racing resumed on Lap 21 with Goethe cruising to a maiden F3 victory in a Trident one-two from Fornaroli as Marti, Aron, Mansell, Bortoleto, Mini and Colapinto rounded out the top eight, as Collet made a late charge to ninth ahead of Saucy.

Smith’s tyre gamble meanwhile almost paid off as he carved his way up to 11th but missed out on a maiden points finish by just 0.174s.

Stewards however handed Smith a 15 second time penalty in total which dropped him to 25th in the classification, as he picked up a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits on four occasions, which was completed by a 10s time penalty for exceeding track limits on a fifth occasion.

Collet meanwhile dropped from ninth to 15th position after he was handed a five-second time penalty for forcing Cohen off track during an early-race battle, which gifted Montoya the final point and 10th position in the classification.

In the drivers’ standings, Bortoleto’s title lead over Marti was cut to 37 points as Mini moved up to third on 77 points, albeit on countback from Aron, with Beganovic, Colapinto and O’Sullivan not far behind.

F3 now heads to Budapest, Hungary across weekend of 21-23 July as Bortoleto looks to move closer towards the title.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Oliver Goethe	Trident	22	47m 40.009
2	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	22	+ 1.720
3	Pepe Marti	Campos	22	+ 2.128
4	Paul Aron	PREMA	22	+ 4.384
5	Christian Mansell	Campos	22	+ 5.968
6	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	22	+ 7.334
7	Gabriele Mini	Hitech GP	22	+ 7.997
8	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	22	+ 8.529
9	Gregoire Saucy	ART GP	22	+ 10.018
10	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech GP	22	+ 11.758
11	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	22	+ 12.148
12	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	22	+ 12.700
13	Hugh Barter	Campos	22	+ 113.169
14	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	22	+ 14.075
15	Caio Collet	VAR	22	+ 14.680
16	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	22	+ 14.767
17	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer	22	+ 15.496
18	Zak O’Sullivan	PREMA	22	+ 15.808
19	Kaylen Frederick	ART GP	22	+ 16.481
20	Oliver Gray	Carlin	22	+ 18.067
21	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer	22	+ 18.914
22	McKenzy Cresswell	PHM Racing	22	+ 20.308
23	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing	22	+ 20.723
24	Ido Cohen	Carlin	22	+ 22.913
25	Tommy Smith	VAR	22	+ 25.192
26	Alejandro Garcia	Jenzer	22	+ 26.901
RET	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing	16	Collision
RET	Max Esterson	Carlin	14	Mechanical
RET	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	11	Collision
RET	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	0	Collision