Mini wins sprint race as Borteleto snatches second at final corner

Formula 3

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Gabriele Mini led home championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto after a late Safety Car restart to win the Formula 3 sprint race in Hungary.

The two drivers were separated by 4.2 seconds at the chequered flag, with Nikita Bedrin joining them in the top three for his first podium in the series.

Mini started from pole position on a partially-reversed grid and Bedrin joined him on the front row. Christian Mansell, who clinched his first F3 podium at the last race weekend at Silverstone, and Bortoleto lined up directly behind on a dry track.

As the lights went out, Bedrin took the lead for the first time in his F3 career with a daring move around the outside of turn one. Various drivers then pitted at the end of lap one after a sector two collision further back in the field, which included Ido Cohen retiring from the race.

Soon after, there was a change for the final podium position on lap five. Bortoleto overtook Mansell down the inside of turn one with that proving to be a prime overtaking spot.

As Paul Aron could sense a vulnerable Mansell struggling for pace, on lap six he attempted an overtake at turn one for fourth. He moved down the inside but could not make it stick, however the Mercedes junior then inched ahead on the following straight.

Yet Aron suddenly went wide at turn two, and Mansell regained fourth position. Two laps later, there was another change further ahead as Mini regained the lead with an overtake on Bedrin down the start-finish straight.

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The DRS effect was especially powerful along the pit straight into turn one, and the subsequent laps saw various drivers outside of the points make an overtake in that manner.

But it also proved to be a place that could become dangerous. On lap 12 Zak O’Sullivan attempted to overtake Nikola Tsolov for eighth, but he locked up on the inside and collided with the Alpine junior.

This gave the Prema driver front wing damage and a subsequent pit-stop caused him to drop out of the points. The race was soon thrown into frenzy in the late stages.

The next lap, Sebastian Montoya, who was involved in the lap one collision, stopped in sector three. A short Virtual Safety Car period was upgraded to a full Safety Car – much to the frustration of Mini and Bedrin who had been over seven seconds clear of the field.

Mini managed the lap 17 restart well, while Aron and Mansell were in wheel-to-wheel battle for fourth amid a spin from Pepe Marti at turn one after being hit by Tsolov.

The battle between Aron and Mansell lasted much of the first secotr, where the Campos driver initially held on with his aggressive defending. But Aron completed his attack on the inside of turn three, just seconds before Mansell lost fifth-place to Oliver Goethe into the following corner.

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Marti’s collision with Tsolov caused a second brief VSC period before the race was back under green conditions. From there, it was a two-lap shootout until the end, where Bortoleto applied the pressure to Bedrin.

It came to a conclusion on the final lap where, after being all over the back of Bedrin, Bortoleto clinched second with an overtake at the final corner. As that happened, Mini crossed the line for his second victory of the season.

Behind Aron, Goethe and Mansell in sixth, Franco Colapinto, Jonny Edgar, Gregoire Saucy and Dino Beganovic in tenth rounded up the points positions.

The race extends Bortoleto’s championship lead over Marti to 48 points, with Mini in third, five points behind the Campos driver with five races remaining.

Formula 3 Hungary race one results

Position Car Driver Team
1 15 Gabriele Minì Hitech
2 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Trident
3 26 Nikita Bedrin Jenzer
4 1 Paul Aron Prema
5 6 Oliver Goethe Trident
6 24 Christian Mansell Campos
7 10 Franco Colapinto MP
8 12 Jonny Edgar MP
9 8 Gregoire Saucy ART
10 2 Dino Beganovic Prema
11 16 Luke Browning Hitech
12 27 Taylor Barnard Jenzer
13 7 Kaylen Frederick ART
14 17 Maxwell Esterson Van Amersfoort
15 4 Leonardo Fornaroli Trident
16 20 Caio Collet MP
17 29 Sophia Floersch PHM Racing by Charouz
18 18 Rafael Villagomez Van Amersfoort
19 21 Max Esterson Rodin Carlin
20 30 Roberto Faria PHM Racing by Charouz
21 23 Pepe Martí Campos
22 11 Mari Boya MP
23 3 Zak O’Sullivan Prema
24 19 Tom Smith Van Amersfoort
25 25 Hugh Barter Campos
DNF 31 Woohyun Shin PHM Racing by Charouz
DNF 28 Alejandro García Jenzer
DNF 9 Nikola Tsolov ART
DNF 14 Sebastian Montoya Hitech
DNF 22 Ido Cohen Rodin Carlin

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Ed Hardy
In 2019, Ed started working on Formula 1 writing articles during race weekends. Alongside that, he also built up experience in football working on...

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3 comments on “Mini wins sprint race as Borteleto snatches second at final corner”

  1. Impressive and mature drive again by Bortoleto, snatching fastest lap and second place. I don’t see how he could loose this championship really, he’s been so consistent and composed week in week out.

  2. playstation361
    23rd July 2023, 6:49

    These F2 and other cars are full of manufacturers taking intrest in development I hope so. Very different places with different advertisers. I hope the FIA intention is to genarate views unsegmented.

  3. Prashanth Ramadas
    23rd July 2023, 6:51

    These F2 and other cars are full of manufacturers taking intrest in development I hope so. Very different places with different advertisers. I hope the FIA intention is to genarate views unsegmented.

Comments are closed.