2024 F3 Season: Round Six – Austria

Roundup of the sixth round of the 2024 F3 season at Red Bull Ring, Austria, which saw huge developments in the title fight.

Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli arrived at the Red Bull Ring as the championship leader but a tough weekend saw the Italian lose control of the title lead as his rivals managed to close the gap, whilst two drivers seized control of the title race.

Now, here is a roundup of all the action across the sixth round of the 2024 F3 season in Spielberg, Austria.

 

Practice

Rodin trio of Callum Voisin, Piotr Wisnicki and Joseph Loake were first out on track but it was Trident’s Sami Meguetounif who set the pace on 1m 22.325 to go top from Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Noel Leon by 0.062 seconds.

At the halfway mark of the session, Hitech GP’s Luke Browning found himself fastest with 1m 21.781 from teammate – Martinius Stenshorne.

Fornaroli however displaced the Brit in the 29th minute with 1m 21.663 before a brief lull in proceedings ahead of final runs, during which Jenzer’s Charlie Wurz surprisingly twice lowered the benchmark to an eventual 1m 21.182 to top the session.

Trident’s Santiago Ramos and Fornaroli were second and third respectively, but Fornaroli stopped on track post-session due to a fuel issue which saw him disqualified from the classification.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Charlie Wurz	Jenzer	1m 21.182
2	Santiago Ramos	Trident	+ 0.054
3	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.599
4	Tommy Smith	VAR	+ 0.669
5	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 0.676
6	Oliver Goethe	Campos	+ 0.693
7	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.722
8	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 0.866
9	Noel Leon	VAR	+ 0.892
10	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	+ 0.933
11	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 0.949
12	Alex Dunne	MP Motorsport	+ 0.951
13	Christian Mansell	ART GP	+ 0.986
14	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	+ 0.997
15	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 1.014
16	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	+ 1.024
17	Arvid Lindblad	PREMA	+ 1.044
18	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 1.087
19	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	AIX Racing	+ 1.144
20	Joshua Dufek	AIX Racing	+ 1.179
21	Sophia Floersch	VAR	+ 1.213
22	Matias Zagazeta	Jenzer	+ 1.396
23	Cian Shields	Hitech GP	+ 1.416
24	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 1.472
25	Max Esterson	Jenzer	+ 1.584
26	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	+ 1.645
27	Kacper Sztuka	MP Motorsport	+ 1.675
28	Piotr Wisnicki	Rodin	+ 1.889
29	Joseph Loake	Rodin	+ 2.035
DSQ	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	No Time

 

Qualifying

Voisin and Loake were first out on track and Voisin proceeded to set a benchmark time of 1m 22.567 as the first representative lap time in the seventh minute, but the Brit’s effort was comfortably beaten by several drivers as Mini went top with 1m 21.013 from Goethe and Dunne.

The Italian on his second flier found 0.144s to go even quicker but Leon managed to go even faster with 1m 20.804, which left the VAR driver top at the half-way mark of the session.

A lull followed as everyone opted for an one-lap flier on their final runs, which saw Browning claim his first F3 pole in the penultimate minute with a lap time of 1m 20.222, ahead of his British compatriot – Lindblad who fell 0.084s shy.

Tramnitz produced a strong lap to qualify third ahead of Mini by just 0.006s whilst Beganovic, Goethe, Van Hoepen, Montoya, Dunne, Tsolov, Mansell and Stenshorne – who claimed reverse pole for the Sprint.

Post-session, Browning was handed a three-place grid penalty for the Sprint after he was found to had impeded Beganovic, which meant that the Brit would start the Sprint from 15th position.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	1m 20.222
2	Arvid Lindblad	PREMA	+ 0.084
3	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.189
4	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 0.195
5	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	+ 0.202
6	Oliver Goethe	Campos	+ 0.245
7	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 0.295
8	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	+ 0.326
9	Alex Dunne	MP Motorsport	+ 0.341
10	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	+ 0.345
11	Christian Mansell	ART GP	+ 0.387
12	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.443
13	Noel Leon	VAR	+ 0.458
14	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	+ 0.643
15	Santiago Ramos	Trident	+ 0.764
16	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 0.767
17	Cian Shields	Hitech GP	+ 0.776
18	Max Esterson	Jenzer	+ 0.812
19	Sophia Floersch	VAR	+ 0.834
20	Joshua Dufek	AIX Racing	+ 0.849
21	Tommy Smith	VAR	+ 0.854
22	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.856
23	Matias Zagazeta	Jenzer	+ 0.909
24	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	+ 0.938
25	Kacper Sztuka	MP Motorsport	+ 1.077
26	Charlie Wurz	Jenzer	+ 1.181
27	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	AIX Racing	+ 1.264
28	Joseph Loake	Rodin	+ 1.453
29	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 1.766
30	Piotr Wisnicki	Rodin	+ 1.836

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Stenshorne lost the lead to Mansell into Turn 1 with Tsolov following through at Turn 4 whilst Dunne held back in fourth place.

The safety car however was deployed for three laps after Sztuka got spun out at Turn 1 by Wurz which broke his suspension.

Racing resumed on Lap 5 as ART GP’s Mansell and Tsolov mounted a respectful scrap for the lead, with the Bulgarian passing Mansell round outside of Turn 4 on Lap 7 for the lead but couldn’t escape his teammate who kept him within sight.

Further back, Browning had recovered from 15th on the grid to 11th and managed to move up to tenth with a Lap 10 overtake on Tramnitz, as various drivers settled into a tyre management phase.

Dunne however came under intense pressure from Montoya which came to a head on Lap 17 on the run to Turn 4 as the pair banged wheels, which sent Montoya violently spinning into the inside barrier but luckily avoided collecting his rivals upon his slide to a halt in the middle of Turn 4.

One lap earlier, Mansell had repassed Tsolov for the lead but confusion over safety car timing for Montoya’s crash saw Tsolov and Stenshorne demote him to third.

Racing recommenced on the final lap but Tsolov clung on for the win from Stenshorne, Mansell and Dunne.

Van Hoepen benefitted from Montoya’s crash to pip Mini to fifth as Goethe, Tramnitz and Leon rounded out the top nine, ahead of Meguetounif who snatched the final point despite ending Lindblad’s race with a puncture on Lap 16 at the final corner.

In the drivers’ standings, Fornaroli retained his five-point lead over Browning as Mini moved up to third above Lindblad.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	21	34m 24.710
2	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	21	+ 0.673
3	Christian Mansell	ART GP	21	+ 1.244
4	Alex Dunne	MP Motorsport	21	+ 1.647
5	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	21	+ 3.168
6	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	21	+ 3.496
7	Oliver Goethe	Campos	21	+ 3.751
8	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	21	+ 4.053
9	Noel Leon	VAR	21	+ 4.498
10	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	21	+ 4.886
11	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	21	+ 5.258
12	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	21	+ 6.118
13	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	21	+ 7.077
14	Callum Voisin	Rodin	21	+ 7.634
15	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	21	+ 7.690
16	Cian Shields	Hitech GP	21	+ 8.318
17	Matias Zagazeta	Jenzer	21	+ 8.617
18	Max Esterson	Jenzer	21	+ 8.726
19	Joseph Loake	Rodin	21	+ 9.162
20	Charlie Wurz	Jenzer	21	+ 9.519
21	Tommy Smith	VAR	21	+ 9.811
22	Mari Boya	Campos	21	+ 10.759
23	Piotr Wisnicki	Rodin	21	+ 10.976
24	Santiago Ramos	Trident	21	+ 11.094
25	Joshua Dufek	AIX Racing	21	+ 11.350
26	Sophia Floersch	VAR	21	+ 11.767
27	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	AIX Racing	21	+ 20.645
RET	Arvid Lindblad	PREMA	17	Puncture
RET	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	16	Collision
RET	Kacper Sztuka	MP Motorsport	0	Suspension

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Browning made a clean start from Lindblad but Tramnitz was slow off the line from third and dropped to eighth behind Mini, Beganovic, Goethe, Montoya and Leon, although Beganovic passed Lindblad for second into Turn 4.

Beganovic however found himself stuck behind Browning but behind him, Lindblad conceded third to Mini on Lap 7 but Leon and Dunne were on a charge and worked their way up to fourth and fifth respectively on Lap 8 during which Dunne tagged the rear of Lindblad in his overtake.

Stewards however handed Dunne a harsh 10s penalty for his misdemeanour………

Up front. Browning fought off Beganovic as the pair headed a DRS train containing almost half of the field, during which Goethe gave Leon a puncture at Turn 6 on Lap 13.

Mansell meanwhile quietly managed his tyre degradation which allowed him to make a late charge in thee final nine laps, which ultimately saw him finish fourth as Beganovic and Mini traded second which the Swede took at Turn 7 on the last lap behind Browning.

Goethe continued his consistency with a fifth-placed finish once post-race penalties were applied, ahead of Tsolov

In the drivers’ standings, Browning moved top of the order with 106 points and a 11-point gap to Mini heading into his home race at Silverstone from 5-7 July, with Fornaroli now 20 points off the summit whilst Beganovic, Mansell, Lindblad and Goethe are now outside contenders.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	26	37m 22.286
2	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	26	+ 1.685
3	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	26	+ 2.154
4	Christian Mansell	ART GP	26	+ 2.568
5	Oliver Goethe	Campos	26	+  3.172
6	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	26	+ 7.103
7	Arvid Lindblad	PREMA	26	+ 7.803
8	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	26	+ 9.912
9	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	26	+ 10.280
10	Alex Dunne	MP Motorsport	26	+ 13.453
11	Sophia Floersch	VAR	26	+ 13.877
12	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	26	+ 14.097
13	Santiago Ramos	Trident	26	+ 14.568
14	Matias Zagazeta	Jenzer	26	+ 17.918
15	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	26	+ 18.356
16	Kacper Sztuka	MP Motorsport	26	+ 21.323
17	Max Esterson	Jenzer	26	+ 22.259
18	Mari Boya	Campos	26	+ 28.984
19	Piotr Wisnicki	Rodin	26	+ 30.171
20	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	26	+ 33.932
21	Cian Shields	Hitech GP	26	+ 38.975
22	Tommy Smith	VAR	26	+ 41.837
23	Noel Leon	VAR	26	+ 47.633
24	Joseph Loake	Rodin	26	+ 60.601
25	Callum Voisin	Rodin	26	+ 76.678
26	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	AIX Racing	26	+ 82.062
27	Charlie Wurz	Jenzer	25	+ 1 Lap
28	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	11	Collision
29	Joshua Dufek	Aix Racing	6	Collision
30	Sebastian Montoya	Campos	6	Collision