Written by Sean McKean
After hours of waiting and many incidents, it was Arvid Lindblad who crossed the line first to win his third race of the season. It is the Red Bull junior’s second sprint race victory and first ever at Silverstone.
As it unfolded
At 10:00 local, cars went out on track for reconnaissance laps, but the track was in a very wet state; in fact, Gabriele Minì went for a spin at Stowe – beaching into the gravel. The drivers were brought back into the pit lane, and the race was announced to be delayed to 18:10 local.
Polesitter Noel León got away poorly, which allowed Arvid Lindblad and Matías Zagazeta to take him three-wide into Turn 1. Lindblad came out on top, taking the lead, while León briefly fell behind Zagazeta before taking second back in Maggots and Becketts.
The opening lap wasn’t entirely clean, though. Three cars came into the pits at the end of Lap 1: Sophia Floersch, James Wharton, and Mari Boya.
At the end of Lap 2, three more cars came down into the pit lane, specifically Tommy Smith, Cian Shields, and Santiago Ramos – the latter of which suffering a puncture. The virtual safety car would be deployed on Lap 3 to pick up the tyre carcass of Ramos’.
Right as the VSC came in, a big crash occurred on Lap 4. Going into Copse, Max Esterson tagged the rear of Oliver Goethe’s Campos, sending both into the barrier at high speed. Both walked away unhurt, but out of the race.
Under the safety car, more misfortune struck. On lap 6, Kacper Sztuka’s MP Motorsport car slowed down – seemingly with a mechanical issue. The Polish driver was forced to retire from the race.
Racing resumed on Lap 8, and only three corners later, Luke Browning came to a crawl. After a hit from Tim Tramnitz, the British driver came to a stop in Turn 4 before getting back on the throttle. He did not have to retire but was relegated to the back of the field.
By Lap 11, Prema’s Lindblad broke away from DRS range.
Going down the Wellington Straight on Lap 12, more chaos unfolded. While battling hard for fifth with Charlie Wurz, Alex Dunne went onto the wet grass – correcting into the Jenzer to his right. Wurz had to retire from the race while Dunne continued on with damage. The virtual safety car was deployed for the accident.
The VSC ended on Lap 14.
Arvid Lindblad led the rest of the race uninterrupted to take his third victory of the season. Noel León followed behind to take his best career result in second. Matías Zagazeta took Jenzer’s first podium of the season in third. Callum Voisin defended a long train of cars to take a best F3 career fourth place. Christian Mansell originally rounded out the top five, but after a track limits penalty, Nikola Tsolov inherited fifth.
Provisional Classification:
Arvid Lindblad (Prema Racing) [FL]
Noel León (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Matías Zagazeta (Jenzer Motorsport)
Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport)
Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix)
Gabriele Minì (Prema Racing)
Sebastian Montoya (Campos Racing)
Sami Meguetounif (Trident)
Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix)
Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident)
Christian Mansell (ART Grand Prix)
Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing)
James Wharton (Hitech GP)
Nikita Bedrin (AIX Racing)
Piotr Wiśnicki (Rodin Motorsport)
Joseph Loake (Rodin Motorsport)
Mari Boya (Campos Racing)
Cian Shields (Hitech GP)
Santiago Ramos (Trident)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (AIX Racing)
Tommy Smith (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport)
Joshua Dufek (AIX Racing)
Luke Browning (Hitech GP)
Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport)
Charlie Wurz (Jenzer Motorsport) [DNF]
Kacper Sztuka (MP Motorsport) [DNF]
Max Esterson (Jenzer Motorsport) [DNF]
Oliver Goethe (Campos Racing) [DNF]
Sophia Floersch (Van Amersfoort Racing) [DNF]
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