Roundup of the second round of the 2024 F3 season as teams headed Down Under to Melbourne, Australia.
Luke Browning entered the round as the championship leader but this weekend proved to be a rebound ground for many of his expected title challengers, as the title race began to take shape.
Now, here is a full roundup of all the action across the second round of the 2024 F3 season in Australia.
Practice
Campos’ Oliver Goethe was first out on track ahead of his teammates followed by the MP Motorsport trio, although it was PREMA’s Dino Beganovic who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 59.944 before he headed his teammate – Gabriele Mini on the first representative laps.
The red flags however were out in the 14th minute just after Mini went fastest with 1m 34.874, as Hitech GP’s Cian Shields spun out at the final corner.
Stewards resumed the session nine minutes later and MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne soon went quickest by 0.056 seconds, only for Beganovic to displace him briefly before Mini responded with 1m 33.847, which he lowered to 1m 33.225 with 14 minutes left in the session.
Leonardo Fornaroli and Beganovic rounded out the top three ahead of Arvid Lindblad and Luke Browning, after the session ended three minutes early due to a red flag caused by Nikola Tsolov recklessly colliding with Alex Dunne.
Stewards however only deemed Tsolov’s misbehaviour as only worthy of a three-place grid drop for the Sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 1m 33.225 |
| 2 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 0.345 |
| 3 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 0.655 |
| 4 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | + 0.659 |
| 5 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.660 |
| 6 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 0.667 |
| 7 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | + 0.735 |
| 8 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | + 0.866 |
| 9 | Noel Leon | VAR | + 1.004 |
| 10 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 1.069 |
| 11 | Mari Boya | Campos | + 1.106 |
| 12 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | + 1.109 |
| 13 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | + 1.269 |
| 14 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | + 1.281 |
| 15 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | + 1.283 |
| 16 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | + 1.444 |
| 17 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | + 1.468 |
| 18 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | + 1.501 |
| 19 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | + 1.558 |
| 20 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | + 1.624 |
| 21 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | + 1.741 |
| 22 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | + 2.071 |
| 23 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | + 2.12o |
| 24 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | + 2.320 |
| 25 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvask | PHM Racing | + 2.430 |
| 26 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | + 2.576 |
| 27 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | + 3.015 |
| 28 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 3.130 |
| 29 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | + 4.004 |
| 30 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | + 4.472 |
Qualifying
Goethe again was first out on track ahead of his teammates and after setting an initial 1m 59.629, he set 1m 36.270 as the representative flier, but Fornaroli posted 1m 33.882 to head the field after the opening laps.
Mini managed to get within 0.020s of his Italian compatriot by the halfway mark, and managed to go fastest on the first fliers of the second run as he posted 1m 33.505 just before the red flags came out following Meguetounif’s crash at the final corner.
The session resumed after a 13 minute delay with four minutes and 33s on the clock, which led to a frantic finish as Fornaroli claimed his second Feature Race pole in F3, ahead of Mini by 0.019s.
Beganovic qualified third ahead of Bedrin, Browning, Boya, Tsolov, Lindblad, Goethe, Mansell, Stenshorne and Van Hoepen who took reverse pole for the Sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 1m 33.044 |
| 2 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.019 |
| 3 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 0.300 |
| 4 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | + 0.345 |
| 5 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.391 |
| 6 | Mari Boya | Campos | + 0.527 |
| 7 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 0.540 |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | + 0.672 |
| 9 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | + 0.723 |
| 10 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | + 0.925 |
| 11 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | + 1.051 |
| 12 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | + 1.064 |
| 13 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | + 1.243 |
| 14 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | + 1.268 |
| 15 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | + 1.279 |
| 16 | Noel Leon | VAR | + 1.314 |
| 17 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | + 1.377 |
| 18 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | + 1.420 |
| 19 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | + 1.441 |
| 20 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | + 1.443 |
| 21 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | + 1.473 |
| 22 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | + 1.483 |
| 23 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | + 1.729 |
| 24 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvask | PHM Racing | + 1.821 |
| 25 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | + 1.858 |
| 26 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 2.018 |
| 27 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | + 2.369 |
| 28 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | + 2.475 |
| 29 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | + 2.656 |
| 30 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 3.755 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Van Hoepen enjoyed a clean start as he fought off Stenshorne in an otherwise quiet but clean start.
Stenshorne however refused to be quietened and made a sweeping move on Van Hoepen round the outside of Turn 9 on Lap 3, only to run deep and hand back the lead but the pair exchanged the lead at Turns 1 and 10 on the next lap.
Stenshorne ultimately refused to concede and seized the lead into the first corner on Lap 5 and sprinted away to a well-managed victory.
Lindblad meanwhile mounted a quiet drive in the opening phase once he cleared Goethe on Lap 3 for fourth, before he caught and passed Mansell at Turn 9 on Lap 6 for third as the Aussie soon began to slip down the order due to a left-rear tyre issue.
Van Hoepen meanwhile settled into second but lacked the pace to fend off Lindblad who secured second on Lap 9, but kept the Brit under pressure to the checkered flag.
Boya meanwhile led Goethe home as the Campos pair finished fourth and fifth ahead of Mini and Dunne – who had driven from 17th on the grid to seventh at the flag, whilst Montoya, Fornaroli and Mansell rounded out the top ten.
Beganovic had finished sixth on the road but he was adjudged to had passed Montoya off-track and a five-second penalty dropped him to 13th in the classification.
Bedrin had also committed a similar offence against Montoya and received a ten-second time penalty, which dropped him down to 21st position from eighth in the initial classification.
Max Esterson was demoted from 19th to 26th after he was handed a 5s time penalty for having exceeded track limits on four occasions.
On Lap 14, Tommy Smith spun out Tasanapol Inthraphuvask which caused the safety car to be deployed for two laps, and the Australian received a 10s time penalty post-race for causing the collision which dropped him to 27th in the order.
Despite failing to score points, Browning’s title lead was cut to two points by Lindblad whilst Tramnitz sit third, ahead of Mansell, Fornaroli, van Hoepen and Mini as the top-seven were split by eight points in the drivers’ standings.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 20 | 35m 32.870 |
| 2 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | 20 | + 1.673 |
| 3 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | 20 | + 1.958 |
| 4 | Mari Boya | Campos | 20 | + 3.165 |
| 5 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | 20 | + 4.152 |
| 6 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 20 | + 5.158 |
| 7 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 6.485 |
| 8 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | 20 | + 7.122 |
| 9 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 20 | + 7.311 |
| 10 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | 20 | + 7.747 |
| 11 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | 20 | + 8.234 |
| 12 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 8.628 |
| 13 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | 20 | + 9.735 |
| 14 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | 20 | + 10.834 |
| 15 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | 20 | + 11.288 |
| 16 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 11.967 |
| 17 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 20 | + 13.233 |
| 18 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | 20 | + 13.744 |
| 19 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | 20 | + 14.623 |
| 20 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | 20 | + 15.214 |
| 21 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | 20 | + 15.474 |
| 22 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | 20 | + 15.640 |
| 23 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | 20 | + 16.893 |
| 24 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | 20 | + 17.443 |
| 25 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | 20 | + 18.250 |
| 26 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | 20 | + 19.095 |
| 27 | Tommy Smith | VAR | 20 | + 27.347 |
| 28 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 19 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Tasanapol Inthraphuvask | PHM Racing | 13 | Crash |
| RET | Noel Leon | VAR | 12 | Driveshaft |
Feature Race
At lights out, Fornaroli led from Mini and Beganovic whilst Bedrin fought off Browning for fourth as Lindblad climbed to sixth.
A crash at Turn 1 for Inthraphuvask plus collision between Tommy Smith and Joseph Loake saw the safety car deployed until the end of Lap 5.
Upon the restart, Browning and Lindblad swiftly cleared Bedrin for fourth and fifth whilst the Russian was left to fend off Boya and Goethe who repeatedly scrapped over seventh throughout the race.
Up front, Fornaroli kept Mini and Beganovic at bay until Beganovic cleared his teammate on Lap 12 for second round the outside of Turn 9, before Fornaroli waved the Swede through on the inside two laps later for the lead.
Beganovic however couldn’t shake Fornaroli who instead stalked the Ferrari junior throughout the remainder of the race, yet he clung on for the win from Fornaroli whilst Browning passed Mini for third on Lap 13 but was repassed on the penultimate lap.
Wurz meanwhile quietly carved his way to a fifth-placed finish ahead of Montoya, Boya, Bedrin, Goethe and Mansell.
Browning now sits top of the drivers’ standings on countback by virtue of his win in Bahrain from Fornaroli on 37 points apiece, whilst Mini and Beganovic found themselves sat third and fourth ahead of their PREMA teammate – Arvid Lindblad.
F3 will next be in action from 17-19 May at Imola, Emilia Romagna, Italy for the third round of the season.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | 23 | 41m 23.816 |
| 2 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 23 | + 1.682 |
| 3 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 23 | + 3.221 |
| 4 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 23 | + 4.050 |
| 5 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | 23 | + 16.958 |
| 6 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | 23 | + 21.230 |
| 7 | Mari Boya | Campos | 23 | + 21.492 |
| 8 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | 23 | + 25.610 |
| 9 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | 23 | + 26.530 |
| 10 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | 23 | + 26.785 |
| 11 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | 23 | + 27.009 |
| 12 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 23 | + 29.437 |
| 13 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | 23 | + 29.512 |
| 14 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | 23 | + 30.441 |
| 15 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 33.023 |
| 16 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 33.577 |
| 17 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | 23 | + 34.067 |
| 18 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 37.812 |
| 19 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | 23 | + 38.222 |
| 20 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | 23 | + 42.693 |
| 21 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | 23 | + 44.080 |
| 22 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | 23 | + 52.748 |
| 23 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | 23 | + 61.595 |
| 24 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | 23 | + 69.926 |
| 25 | Noel Leon | VAR | 23 | + 70.635 |
| 26 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 23 | + 74.235 |
| RET | Sophia Floersch | VAR | 1 | Damage |
| RET | Joseph Loake | Rodin | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Tommy Smith | VAR | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Tasanapol Inthraphuvask | PHM Racing | 0 | Spin |
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