Roundup of round seven of 2023 F3 season which saw the grid head to Hungary, as the season began to hit its home straight.
Championship leader, Gabriel Bortoleto entered this round looking to protect his title lead whilst Pepe Marti headed the chasing pack, who were hoping for a miracle to snatch the title from Bortoleto’s grasp as the season began to approach its conclusion.
Now, here is a full roundup of all the action across the seventh round of 2023 F3 season.
Practice
MP Motorsport’s trio of Franco Colapinto, Mari Boya and Jonny Edgar were first out on track in a quiet start which saw Carlin’s Oliver Gray set a benchmark time of 1m 34.712, although the Brit’s effort was quickly deleted after he exceeded track limits.
His teammate, Max Esterson consequently sat top with 1m 35.804 until Gray responded on his next flying lap with 1m 35.174, only for Luke Browning to go 1.448s quicker than his compatriot in the 11th minute with 1m 33.726 which wasn’t beaten at the halfway mark, as many drivers opted against early runs.
Everyone who had held back eventually ventured out just over 20 minutes into the session with first flying laps often proving crucial due to tyre degradation, as PREMA’s Zak O’Sullivan posted the fastest overall lap of 1m 32.701 in the 25th minute on his first competitive lap.
Boya finished second after he set his fastest lap in the 30th minute as Paul Aron, Pepe Marti and Dino Beganovic rounded out the top five, ahead of Rafael Villagomez who spun out at Turn 11 with six minutes left to cause a red flag which prematurely ended the session.
Championship leader, Bortoleto meanwhile could only set the 12th fastest lap time in Practice whilst PHM Racing rookie, Woohyun Shin was 29th quickest in his debut session in F3.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Zak O’Sullivan | PREMA | 1m 32.701 |
| 2 | Mari Boya | MP Motorsport | + 0.385 |
| 3 | Paul Aron | PREMA | + 0.479 |
| 4 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 0.482 |
| 5 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 0.485 |
| 6 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 0.610 |
| 7 | Oliver Goethe | Trident | + 0.618 |
| 8 | Gregoire Saucy | ART GP | + 0.727 |
| 9 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.909 |
| 10 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 1.025 |
| 11 | Kaylen Frederick | ART GP | + 1.056 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Trident | + 1.080 |
| 13 | Taylor Barnard | Jenzer | + 1.082 |
| 14 | Nikita Bedrin | Jenzer | + 1.087 |
| 15 | Jonny Edgar | MP Motorsport | + 1.112 |
| 16 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 1.134 |
| 17 | Caio Collet | VAR | + 1.289 |
| 18 | Hugh Barter | Campos | + 1.294 |
| 19 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 1.400 |
| 20 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | + 1.495 |
| 21 | Christian Mansell | Campos | + 1.550 |
| 22 | Sebastian Montoya | Hitech GP | + 1.757 |
| 23 | Sophia Floersch | PHM Racing | + 1.864 |
| 24 | Oliver Gray | Carlin | + 2.473 |
| 25 | Max Esterson | Carlin | + 3.103 |
| 26 | Roberto Faria | PHM Racing | + 3.195 |
| 27 | Alejandro Garcia | Jenzer | + 3.344 |
| 28 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 4.479 |
| 29 | Woohyun Shin | PHM Racing | + 4.511 |
| 30 | Gabriele Mini | Hitech GP | + 19.859 |
Qualifying
Like in Practice, MP Motorsport’s trio of Colapinto, Boya and Edgar were first out on track as majority of drivers opted for slicks whilst Fornaroli and Bortoleto opted for the wet tyres on a damp track – owing to rain showers which disrupted F1’s FP1 session.
Fornaroli proceeded to set the benchmark time of 1m 50.354 in the fifth minute but track conditions soon afterwards swung towards those on slick tyres, as Collet went fastest with 1m 45.726 whilst Bortoleto’s lap time was deleted due to exceeding track limits.
The session however was red flagged in the eighth minute after Gray spun out on the exit of Turn 3, although he recovered to the pits under his own power with 22 minutes and 10 seconds left on the clock.
Once the session resumed four minutes later, times quickly began to fall as Colapinto twice plus Goethe, Boya, Marti, Fornaroli and Bortoleto soon lowered the benchmark to 1m 34.340, until O’Sullivan in the 16th minute delivered 1m 34.150 to go onto provisional pole.
O’Sullivan however was displaced barely one minute later by Marti who went 0.006s faster with 1m 34.144 to head the Brit ahead of the final runs, where track evolution was expected to result in a dramatic finish.
Alas that anticipation came to nothing as O’Sullivan produced 1m 31.091 to snatch pole position in the 27th minute ahead of Beganovic, Fornaroli, Colapinto, Goethe, Aron, Tsolov, Edgar. Bortoleto, Mansell, Bedrin and Mini – who will start the Sprint from reverse-pole.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Zak O’Sullivan | PREMA | 1m 31.091 |
| 2 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 0.403 |
| 3 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 0.506 |
| 4 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.535 |
| 5 | Oliver Goethe | Trident | + 0.615 |
| 6 | Paul Aron | PREMA | + 0.653 |
| 7 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 0.718 |
| 8 | Jonny Edgar | MP Motorsport | + 0.766 |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Trident | + 0.785 |
| 10 | Christian Mansell | Campos | + 0.789 |
| 11 | Nikita Bedrin | Jenzer | + 1.030 |
| 12 | Gabriele Mini | Hitech GP | + 1.072 |
| 13 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.082 |
| 14 | Gregoire Saucy | ART GP | + 1.091 |
| 15 | Mari Boya | MP Motorsport | + 1.096 |
| 16 | Kaylen Frederick | ART GP | + 1.177 |
| 17 | Taylor Barnard | Jenzer | + 1.224 |
| 18 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 1.234 |
| 19 | Caio Collet | VAR | + 1.372 |
| 20 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.633 |
| 21 | Sebastian Montoya | Hitech GP | + 1.687 |
| 22 | Hugh Barter | Campos | + 1.814 |
| 23 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | + 2.077 |
| 24 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 2.503 |
| 25 | Max Esterson | Carlin | + 2.806 |
| 26 | Alejandro Garcia | Jenzer | + 3.324 |
| 27 | Woohyun Shin | PHM Racing | + 3.432 |
| 28 | Sophia Floersch | PHM Racing | + 3.675 |
| 29 | Roberto Faria | PHM Racing | + 3.876 |
| 30 | Oliver Gray | Carlin | No Time |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Mini made a clean start as he cut across Bedrin who however got momentum round outside of the opening corner, which enabled the Jenzer driver to take the lead for the first time in F3 as Mini tucked in behind him.
O’Sullivan meanwhile recovered three positions to ninth place on the start whilst chaos reigned at the back as Barter and Faria plus Montoya and Smith made contact in separate incidents out of Turn 6, which saw Cohen unintentionally caught up in the mess which damaged his car beyond repair.
Up front, Bedrin held off Mini whilst Bortoleto made a calculated move up the inside of Mansell into Turn 1 on Lap 5 to take fourth, two laps after Colapinto had cleared Tsolov into Turn 2 on the inside line for seventh.
Mini eventually fought his way past Bedrin at the start of Lap 8 after having bided his time behind the 17 year-old, before maximising his slipstream and DRS to make the overtake for the lead whilst other drivers were in the tyre management phase.
O’Sullivan’s hopes of a top-eight finish were cruelly ended on Lap 12 as he tried an inside move on Tsolov into Turn 1, only for the Alpine junior to abruptly cut back across and demolish the left side of his front wing, which forced the Brit to pit for a new front wing.
Montoya however grinded to a halt out of Turn 12 on that same lap which initially caused a Virtual Safety Car (VSC), before the actual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 14 for two laps.
Racing resumed at the end of Lap 16 with Mini sprinting away to victory as Bedrin held off Bortoleto until the very final corner, when the Brazilian swept round the outside upon entry to snatch second from Bedrin as Aron, Goethe, Mansell and Colapinto rounded out the top seven.
Tsolov meanwhile was again up to his dirty Turn 1 tricks upon the restart as he spun Marti down the order whilst ending his own race, which promoted Edgar, Saucy and Beganovic to the final three points-paying positions in the top ten.
Post-race, stewards dished out various penalty starting with all three VAR drivers, Collet, Smith and Villagomez after the team were found to had still worked on the cars beyond the specified time to return to parc ferme, meaning that the trio were all handed five-place penalties for the Feature Race.
Tsolov’s collision with Marti resulted in the ART GP driver receiving a five-second time penalty, which was converted into a three-place grid drop after he failed to finish the race.
Collet meanwhile was handed a 10s time penalty after stewards adjudged him at fault for the collision which eliminated Cohen, dropping the Brazilian to 23rd in the classification.
Browning received a five-second time penalty after he gained a position by cutting Turn 7 and failed to allow Gray back through, which dropped the Hitech driver to 16th in the classification.
Shin received a 10s time penalty for exceeding track limits on four occasions but remained 26th in the classification regardless.
In the title race, Bortoleto extended his lead over Marti to 46 points whilst Mini stayed third but moved within five points of the Spaniard, as Aron remained fourth ahead of Colapinto who leapfrogged Beganovic and O’Sullivan into fifth position in the standings.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Gabriele Mini | Hitech GP | 19 | 33m 38.243 |
| 2 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Trident | 19 | + 4.292 |
| 3 | Nikita Bedrin | Jenzer | 19 | + 4.961 |
| 4 | Paul Aron | PREMA | 19 | + 5.105 |
| 5 | Oliver Goethe | Trident | 19 | + 8.239 |
| 6 | Christian Mansell | Campos | 19 | + 8.862 |
| 7 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 9.942 |
| 8 | Jonny Edgar | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 10.194 |
| 9 | Gregoire Saucy | ART GP | 19 | + 10.367 |
| 10 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | 19 | + 11.087 |
| 11 | Taylor Barnard | Jenzer | 19 | + 13.579 |
| 12 | Kaylen Frederick | ART GP | 19 | + 13.838 |
| 13 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 19 | + 16.142 |
| 14 | Oliver Gray | Carlin | 19 | + 16.844 |
| 15 | Sophia Floersch | PHM Racing | 19 | + 17.021 |
| 16 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 19 | + 17.051 |
| 17 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 19 | + 17.626 |
| 18 | Max Esterson | Carlin | 19 | + 18.008 |
| 19 | Roberto Faria | PHM Racing | 19 | + 18.525 |
| 20 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 19 | + 18.891 |
| 21 | Mari Boya | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 21.936 |
| 22 | Zak O’Sullivan | PREMA | 19 | + 22.832 |
| 23 | Caio Collet | VAR | 19 | + 23.990 |
| 24 | Tommy Smith | VAR | 19 | + 49.820 |
| 25 | Hugh Barter | Campos | 19 | + 60.361 |
| 26 | Woohyun Shin | PHM Racing | 18 | + 1 Lap |
| 27 | Alejandro Garcia | Jenzer | 18 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | 16 | Collision |
| RET | Sebastian Montoya | Hitech GP | 19 | Spin |
| RET | Ido Cohen | Carlin | 19 | Spin |
Feature Race
Prior to the start of the race, stewards opted to reduce the race to 19 laps for safety reasons after high degradation in the Sprint
At lights out, O’Sullivan made a clean start to lead Beganovic and Fornaroli as the top ten held position, whilst Marti recovered two positions to 11th in an otherwise quiet start.
Despite various scraps further back during which Esterson punted Montoya wide at Turn 12, the top ten remained in order until Bortoleto passed Edgar for seventh into Turn 1 on Lap 6 and the Brit then lost eighth to Marti two laps later.
Up front, O’Sullivan controlled the race from Beganovic but Fornaroli struggled for pace and maturely allowed Colapinto through into third on Lap 9, before conceding fourth to Goethe a lap later as he eventually faded to ninth at the checkered flag.
Marti meanwhile wasn’t hanging around as he attempted a late-braking overtake on Bortoleto into Turn 1 on Lap 12 but outbraked himself, only to successfully make the overtake a lap later for seventh and eventually finished sixth with a pass on Fornaroli on Lap 14.
As the checkered flag fell, O’Sullivan comfortably clung onto victory from Beganovic and Colapinto, as Goethe, Aron, Marti, Bortoleto, Edgar, Fornaroli and Boya rounded out the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Bortoleto remains top but his title lead has been trimmed to 43 points as O’Sullivan jumped up to second ahead of Marti with two rounds left in the season.
F3 now heads to Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, across the weekend of 28-30 July for the penultimate round of the season, where Bortoleto will look to wrap up the title with a round to spare.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Zak O’Sullivan | PREMA | 19 | 31m 27.596 |
| 2 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | 19 | + 2.320 |
| 3 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 6.471 |
| 4 | Oliver Goethe | Trident | 19 | + 13.276 |
| 5 | Paul Aron | PREMA | 19 | + 19.068 |
| 6 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 19 | + 20.272 |
| 7 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Trident | 19 | + 27.734 |
| 8 | Jonny Edgar | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 27.844 |
| 9 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 19 | + 29.855 |
| 10 | Mari Boya | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 30.585 |
| 11 | Christian Mansell | Campos | 19 | + 35.615 |
| 12 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 19 | + 36.764 |
| 13 | Hugh Barter | Campos | 19 | + 36.948 |
| 14 | Taylor Barnard | Jenzer | 19 | + 37.161 |
| 15 | Gregoire Saucy | ART GP | 19 | + 37.681 |
| 16 | Gabriele Mini | Hitech GP | 19 | + 37.987 |
| 17 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 19 | + 49.097 |
| 18 | Sophia Floersch | PHM Racing | 19 | + 54.344 |
| 19 | Caio Collet | VAR | 19 | + 55.451 |
| 20 | Roberto Faria | PHM Racing | 19 | + 57.491 |
| 21 | Max Esterson | Carlin | 19 | + 58.661 |
| 22 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | 19 | + 64.788 |
| 23 | Nikita Bedrin | Jenzer | 19 | + 65.415 |
| 24 | Sebastian Montoya | Hitech GP | 19 | + 69.357 |
| 25 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | 19 | + 70.950 |
| 26 | Alejandro Garcia | Jenzer | 19 | + 72.726 |
| 27 | Oliver Gray | Carlin | 19 | + 74.245 |
| 28 | Woohyun Shin | PHM Racing | 19 | + 79.452 |
| 29 | Tommy Smith | VAR | 19 | + 84.896 |
| RET | Kaylen Frederick | ART GP | 10 | Seat |
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