Prema driver and Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger dominated the first feature race of the Formula 3 season, putting in a lights-to-flag performance and taking the fastest lap for maximum points.
Hauger looked to have lost the lead at the start as he got bogged down at the launch and had to fight a four-wide battle down to Turn 1 with Jack Doohan, Victor Martins and Matteo Nannini. But Hauger managed to keep ahead going into the first corner, while Martins and Nannini assumed second and third and Doohan was shuffled down to fourth.
Nannini moved up to second at the end of the second lap, as Martins ran wide through the final corner and allowed the HWA through. But as Hauger set the fastest lap out front and moved out of DRS range, Nannini was unable to make any in-roads into the Prema’s lead.
Jack Doohan, Trident (Clive Mason, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / courtesy of FIA F3)
Nannini and Martins then both came under pressure from Doohan as he recovered from his start. After taking third from Martins on lap 9, Doohan then reeled in Nannini and passed him for second on lap 12.
But just like Nannini, Doohan was unable to catch Hauger, who was more than three seconds further up the road by this point. Hauger eventually crossed the line with almost four seconds in hand, with Doohan and Nannini completing the podium.
Martins lost another position in the final laps, finishing fifth behind yesterday’s second race winner Olli Caldwell. Clement Novalak took sixth ahead of Frederik Vesti, Caio Collet and Logan Sargeant, and Hitech’s Roman Stanek took his first point of the year in tenth.
Hauger now leads the drivers’ championship after Barcelona with 34 points, two ahead of teammate Caldwell and six clear of Novalak. Prema leads the teams’ standings with 66 points, 17 ahead of Trident in second. Find the full F3 championship standings here.
Olli Caldwell took his first Formula 3 win in the second Barcelona sprint race, inheriting the lead late on after two separate battles for the win ahead of him ended in collisions.
The race started with Enzo Fittipaldi on reverse pole ahead of David Schumacher, Matteo Nannini, Victor Martins and Dennis Hauger. At lights out the top five all got away in order, while Caldwell went from seventh to sixth by passing Frederik Vesti.
The first four laps ran behind the safety car, after Logan Sargeant and Alex Smolyar came together further back at the start. When the race resumed on lap 5, Schumacher started pressuring Fittipaldi for the lead by keeping within DRS range, while Hauger and Caldwell took advantage of Martins running wide to take fourth and fifth respectively.
After making several attempts to pass Fittipaldi under DRS into Turn 1, Schumacher finally took the lead of the race on lap 12. However, Schumacher wasn’t able to pull clear at the front and Fittipaldi attempted to retake the lead at Turn 1 on lap 14.
Schumacher fended off Fittipaldi on that occasion, but the Brazilian came back around the outside of Turn 1 on the following lap. But as they went side by side through Turn 2, the pair made contact which took them both out of the race, brought out the safety car, and handed the lead to Nannini.
When the safety car came in at the end of lap 17, Hauger immediately challenged Nannini from second but was rebuffed into the first corner. Hauger kept close to the HWA through the next couple of laps and tried another move up the inside of Turn 1 on lap 20, but remarkably they too collided as they went side by side into Turn 2.
As Nannini was spun round and Hauger lost his front wing, Caldwell avoided the incident to lead from Martins and Vesti with three laps remaining. Martins tried to pass Caldwell into the first corner on the final lap but bailed out of the move onto the runoff area, leaving Caldwell clear to take the win.
Martins finished in second and Vesti third, ahead of Clement Novalak and Caio Collet. Red Bull juniors Jonny Edgar, Ayumu Iwasa, Jack Doohan and Jak Crawford finished in formation from sixth to ninth, and Juan Manuel Correa took the final point on his first weekend back racing.
L-R: Victor Martins, Olli Caldwell, Frederik Vesti (Joe Portlock, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / courtesy of FIA F3)
Reigning champion Ash Sutton took the first pole position of the 2021 British Touring Car Championship season on a drying track at Thruxton.
Qualifying started off with a wet track and dried over the course of the 30 minute session, with the likes of Sutton, Josh Cook and Rory Butcher all exchanging fastest times throughout.
Sutton kicked off his title defence in style. (Image Credit: BTCC Media)
BMW’s Colin Turkington set the first competitive time of the session, and of the season, before Ford’s Jake Hill went faster. Tom Ingram, in his first qualifying session with Excelr8, was fastest five minutes in.
The track was starting to dry at a quick pace, which meant the times were starting to tumble. Cook went fastest and then Sutton regained the top time soon after. Dan Cammish, who returned to the grid with BTC Racing following Michael Crees’ shock departure this week, went third with ten minutes remaining.
With just eight minutes remaining the action began, as Hill went fastest by just under a tenth of a second. Tom Oliphant in the BMW then set a 1:19:7 before Butcher set a 1:19:4.
Josh Cook lines up on the front row for tomorrow’s first race. (Image Credit: BTCC Media)
Not to be upstaged, Hill’s next lap was a 1:19:0, showing how fast the track was drying out. Butcher then snatched top spot straight back as the first driver to break the 1:18’s.
With just under two minutes to go Jade Edwards spun and collided with the tyre wall. She was on slicks and must have hit a damp spot as she hit the wall but soon got going again, but brought out the yellow flag.
Hill was looking to be on a fast lap to try and retake pole, but was held up by Jason Plato into the final chicane. The Vauxhall driver, who was not on a hot lap, had ample opportunity to move out of Hill’s way, but decided to hold him up into the final corner before peeling into the pitlane.
Ingram went fastest as time ran out with a 1:18:7 before Sutton smashed the fastest time, setting a 1:18:3, and taking pole position in the process.
Cook was second, with Turkington’s quiet session finishing third. Ingram, Butcher Oliphant and Hill followed, with Gordon Shedden, Ollie Jackson, and Chris Smiley rounding off the top ten.
ART’s Alex Smolyar took the first win of the 2021 Formula 3 season in Barcelona, beating Clement Novalak and rookie Caio Collet.
Smolyar and Collet started from second and third behind reverse polesitter Jonny Edgar, and held position behind the Carlin at the start. Behind them, Novalak jumped from sixth to fourth by passing Logan Sargeant and David Schumacher.
Jonny Edgar, Carlin (courtesy of Carlin Buzz Racing)
Smolyar stuck with Edgar through the opening laps, and on lap four he took the lead at the inside of Turn 1 under DRS. Edgar tried to return the move on the following lap, but Smolyar was able to hold the Carlin off and start pushing out of DRS range.
As Smolyar opened up a gap at the front, Edgar started to struggle with his tyres and came under pressure from Collet and Novalak. On lap 10 Collet tried a move for second at Turn 1 but lost momentum around the outside, which allowed Novalak to pass the Brazilian for third.
Novalak then overtook Edgar for second on lap 14, while Collet got through for third a lap later. As the race entered its final stage, Smolyar reported losing rear grip as Novalak started to eat into the Russian’s lead.
But as Novalak got close to DRS range, the race was halted when Oliver Rasmussen went off into the gravel on lap 18 and brought out the safety car.
Clement Novalak, Trident (Alexander Scheuber, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / courtesy of FIA F3)
This proved to be Smolyar’s saving grace, as there wasn’t enough time for the safety car to come in before the chequered flag — aided somewhat by the tractor recovering Rasmussen’s car getting stuck in the gravel itself.
Smolyar therefore took the win ahead of Novalak and Collet, while Sargeant finished fourth for Charouz having passed Edgar just before the safety car was deployed. Olli Caldwell finished sixth in his first race for Prema, ahead of Frederik Vesti, Dennis Hauger, Victor Martins and Matteo Nannini.
Smolyar took the additional points for fastest lap, and Enzo Fittipaldi finished twelfth to start the second sprint race on reverse pole.
Formula 3 will take to Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend for the opening round of the 2021 season.
This year, F3 will be following the same new weekend format used by Formula 2 in Bahrain. That means there will be two sprint races on Saturday, and one feature race before the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
Can anyone stop Prema?
Arthur Leclerc, Prema (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)
As we get into a new season, the big question is whether Prema will once again be the team to beat. And looking at their new lineup, it would be hard to bet against them.
Dennis Hauger and Arthur Leclerc, from the Red Bull and Ferrari junior teams respectively, have already been outlined as title favourites. Hauger comes with an impressive resume of Formula 4 results as well as a season of F3 under his belt with Hitech last year, which included a podium at Hungary. As for Leclerc, he came close to winning last year’s Formula Regional European Championship, with only a retirement in the last round leaving him as runner-up.
Olli Caldwell will be the wildcard in Prema’s lineup. Like Hauger, Caldwell brings F3 experience after running with Trident last year, although he only scored points four times across the season. But don’t write him off based on that — Logan Sargeant did the same in his debut F3 year, before going on to be a title contender with Prema last year.
But while Prema has an impressive lineup, they won’t have it all their own way this year. New Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti, who won the joint-most races of anyone last year while driving for Prema, has moved to ART and will be aiming to challenge for the title there as Theo Pourchaire did in 2020.
Meanwhile, Prema’s closest challengers last year Trident have looked rapid during testing with their new lineup of Clement Novalak, Jack Doohan and David Schumacher. Novalak in particular will be one to watch, as he comes off the back of a debut F3 year that included two podium finishes for Carlin.
Watch out for the midfield pack
Jak Crawford, Hitech (David Ramos, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / courtesy of FIA F3)
But it’s not just the top three teams who could start their season off on top this weekend, as there’s an impressive crop of drivers in the midfield pack ready to make their mark.
For F1 fans, there are plenty of potential future Grand Prix drivers making their F3 debuts this weekend. As well as Hauger and Doohan, Red Bull have three more irons in the fire in the form of Jak Crawford and Ayumu Iwasa at Hitech, and Jonny Edgar at Carlin. Iwasa and Edgar were both F4 champions last year, while Crawford was runner-up to Edgar and a five-time race winner in ADAC F4.
Alpine has two exciting prospects in Victor Martins and Caio Collet, who are both racing for MP Motorsport this year. The two juniors spent last year duelling for the Formula Renault Eurocup title, with the crown going the way of Martins, and have carried that rivalry into F3 already as they topped three days of pre-season testing between them. Watch out for these two springing surprise results at the front of the field.
Victor Martins, MP Motorsport (David Ramos, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / courtesy of FIA F3)
Outside of the F1 junior spotlight, there’s also Matteo Nannini and Roman Stanek. They were two of the quieter revelations from last year, and now driving for HWA and Hitech respectively they’re well placed to make a big impression in their sophomore year.
Lastly, there’s the good news story that is the racing comeback of Juan Manuel Correa. Driving for ART, Correa will be returning to motorsport for the first time since the F2 crash at Spa in 2019 which left him with severe injuries and claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert.
Although this is Correa’s first time racing since 2019, and first time driving at this level since his 2018 GP3 season with Jenzer, he performed well in both pre-season tests earlier in the year. What’s more, with ART he’s got a great team to help him get up to speed quickly, so Correa’s progress this weekend will be well worth watching.
Check out the full list of F3 teams and drivers for this weekend here.
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ADAC Total 24 Hours – Nürburgring Qualifying Race
Images courtesy of ADAC
A Total of 31 GT3 Cars in an 85-car entry will start this weekends Nürburgring 24 hours qualifying race, last years event was cancelled due to the covid pandemic, this weekend’s race will once again run behind closed doors with no spectators’ it will be a 6-hour dress rehearsal & set the grid for the main event which will take place on the weekend of the 5th to 6th June, 6 manufacturers will enter 31 cars in the GT3 (SP9) class (Audi 3 Cars, Ferrari 3 Cars, Lamborghini 2 Cars, Mercedes-AMG 8 Cars, Porsche 8 Cars and last years winners BMW 7 Cars).
Image courtesy of ADAC
The remainder of the grid will be a mix of GT4 cars plus 2 cars which are entered in the SP-X clas a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO & the other entry is the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SC9 004C which has been also entered in this year FIA WEC championship has a Hypercar.
Image courtesy of ADAC
Over 240 drivers will take to the full 15.8 mile circuit nicknamed the Green Hell, which has been held since 1970 in the Rhineland’s of Germany.
Toyota are currently a motorsports powerhouse. They’re an omnipotent force in the World Rally Championship, had all but monopolised the LMP1 class in sportscar racing, and have now given their full factory backing to a British Touring Car Championship team.
The Japanese marque have offered manufacturer support to the Speedworks Motorsport team, who were previously using the Toyota Corolla with Tom Ingram. However now Ingram has moved on, and Speedworks have two works Corolla’s to be driven by talented Scot Rory Butcher, and the returning Sam Smelt.
The Corolla has shown itself to be a fast car at the hands of Ingram since its introduction in 2019. It has won seven races over the last two years and has kept Ingram in the title fight for large proportions of those seasons. Now with two cars, Speedworks has the chance to really push for honours this season.
Butcher and Smelt are spearheading Toyota’s challenge this season. (Image Credit: BTCC Media)
They’re no strangers to the BTCC, they won two drivers and manufacturers championships in 1986 and 1987, courtesy of Chris Hodgetts. Also two of the most memorable moments in BTCC history include Toyota’s, but perhaps not for the best of reasons. In 1992 at Brands Hatch team mates Andy Rouse and Will Hoy collided and took each other in to the wall and out of the race while running first and second.
The other incident came a year later at Silverstone. Hoy was involved again but this time with Julian Bailey as a team mate. Going into Brooklands, Bailey dove down the inside of Hoy, sending him onto his roof. The moment entered folklore thanks to the late Murray Walker’s famous line, “The car upside down, is a Toyota.” They were again leading one-two.
In terms of the drivers, Rory Butcher has proven himself to be a fast and consistent driver over the last couple of seasons. Six wins in the last two years with AMD CobraSport and Motorbase. His expertise is front wheel drive, having spent his whole BTCC career in front wheel drive machinery. Therefore he’s well suited to lead the new manufacturer team.
Sam Smelt only has one season of BTCC experience under his belt, in the AMD Audi S3 in 2018. While he hasn’t quite hit the heights of his team mate, Smelt has potential, having spent 2020 in British GT with Speedworks in the Toyota Supra GT4.
Toyota’s latest motorsport offering has all the ingredients to be as successful as its stablemates, it’ll have its challengers from other teams on the grid, but the Corolla, and two talented drivers, mean it could well be a start of a beautiful relationship for Speedworks and Toyota.
We will have articles throughout the week to preview the 2021 BTCC season as well as race reports at the weekend from Thruxton.
A famous philosopher once said ‘There is no harm in repeating a good thing.’ This is the mantra of the British Touring Car Championship’s record wins holder going into the new season.
Jason Plato makes his return to the British Touring Car Championship for the 2021 season after sitting 2020 out. He is ‘itching’ to return to the paddock and to the grid, and will take part in his 600th race this weekend. Proving the theory of his ancient Greek namesake to be true, there is indeed no harm in repeating a good thing.
The veteran, returning with Power Maxed Racing, is the sport’s record wins holder, with 97, the same amount of wins Lewis Hamilton has in Formula One. Plato is keen to hit the century of BTCC wins before he retires, and there’s nothing to suggest he can’t achieve that in 2021.
The 53 year old has been described as ‘rejuvenated’ in the press this week and his 12 month lay-off will have him raring to go at Thruxton this weekend. Six of his 97 wins have come at the Andover circuit and he qualified on the front row there in 2019, before being penalised for not parking in his grid slot correctly.
While Plato may not be a frontrunner for the title in terms of the odds, he will be doing all he can to be fighting at the front end, and in a car which still has a lot of potential, he and his team have the ability to surprise without the burden of expectation.
The Vauxhall Astra is a race winning car, with Jason himself picking up his and the team’s most recent win in the 2019 finale at Brands Hatch. The car is still quick, and after a selection of guest driver outings in 2020, the team are coming back to launch a full scale attack on the BTCC in 2021.
Power Maxed Racing’s Astra is a nimble front wheel drive car, which will be handy around circuits such as Brands Hatch and Croft, which require agility, and Plato is a driver who can easily get the best out of this car.
Plato was quick in pre-season testing, there’s life in the old dog yet. (Image Credit: BTCC Media)
In pre-season testing at Donington Park he was fourth fastest in the first session, and while testing times, as Formula One has shown us, should always be taken with a pinch of salt, Plato’s times are impressive when you consider he’s been out of the car for a year. The encouraging sign is he’s showing no sign of ring rustiness. But can he achieve them final three wins?
With the often madcap nature of the BTCC, reverse grids and success ballast affecting cars at the front, Plato has every chance of being in a position to pick up the final three wins he needs. He won’t be solely relying on the lotteries of the BTCC to get his wins though, he will be getting his elbows out in his famous yet effective racing style in order to fight for those wins.
While most of the faces remain the same for Plato’s return, one which won’t be on the grid with him is his old sparring partner Matt Neal. The pair have famously butted heads on many occasions over the last 20 years, including an almost fist-fight in the pit-lane at Rockingham in 2011.
Neal is taking a step back from racing in 2021, with Gordon Shedden returning to the BTCC in his place. Matt remains in the paddock as he takes on a role in the Team Dynamics garage. Meaning one of Plato’s biggest rivals is out of his way. But that doesn’t mean his task will be any easier.
Plato is a vastly experienced driver, and it will be intriguing to see how he gets on this season. But statistics don’t mean everything, as ‘A good decision is based on knowledge and not numbers,’ which Plato has in abundance.
We will have articles throughout the week to preview the 2021 BTCC season as well as race reports at the weekend from Thruxton.
Let’s make one thing clear. There is no joy in seeing one of the all time greats of this sport struggle in the twilight of their career.
It doesn’t matter which sport – be it Michael Schumacher being increasingly error-strewn in his years with Mercedes in Formula 1, Chris Froome being regularly ‘spat out the back’ of the peloton up a mountain pass or Alastair Cook being haplessly bowled out again. There is no joy seeing any top level sportsman struggle, especially when we know what they had been in their prime.
Valentino Rossi is no exception. The raw statistics read as follows: Rossi last stepped onto the podium at the American Grand Prix in 2019. His most recent win was at the Dutch TT in 2017. You have to go way back to 2009 for the last of his 9 world championships.
It is these raw stats which critics of Rossi – and increasingly a number of his fans – are pointing to as justification for him to retire. Furthermore, they claim that by continuing to race, Rossi is at risk of damaging his legacy. At face value, they have a point.
Nobody, not even the Doctor himself, would deny that his prime years as a racer are well and truly behind him. Perhaps no clearer example of this simple yet sad fact can be found than at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto:
Five years ago, in 2016, Rossi produced a racing masterclass on a scorching afternoon leaving his most bitter rival Jorge Lorenzo, and heir to his throne Marc Marquez to eat the dust. In truth the whole weekend had been a true demonstration of what Rossi could do. Fast throughout Friday practice and pole position duly followed on Saturday. As other riders struggled with the old worn-out tarmac causing havoc with tyre grip, Rossi simply glided away from the field with startling ease. Even the most hardcore Lorenzo fans were applauding Rossi by the time the chequered flag waved. On his day, very few – quite often no one – could touch him.
Rossi produced a masterful display to win the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix / Credit: Yamaha Racing
Fast forward to last weekend at the same venue, and it is a very different picture. Struggling for any kind of pace throughout practice and qualifying, Rossi spent the entirety of Sunday’s race floundering outside the points scoring places.
Lacking in engine power and tyre grip, it was truly a disastrous weekend. Painful for us to watch – undeniably much more so for Valentino himself. Painful enough for the Dorna cameras to largely ignore Rossi during the race. When was the last time that happened?
Everyone knew that 2021 would be challenging, having moved to a satellite team and without full-factory support. However, nobody envisaged what an ordeal the opening four rounds of the season would be. Perhaps we should have all taken his pre-season statement of “As long as I’m enjoying myself, I’ll continue to race” as a cautionary warning for what was coming.
His results tally from the opening four rounds make for grim reading: P12, P16, DNF and P17. Of the many words Rossi may use to describe his season so far, it’s a safe bet to assume ‘enjoyable’ is not one of them.
Rossi has only managed one points scoring finish so far this season / Credit: Petronas Yamaha SRT
So with that in mind, why not just call it a day? After all, a man with 115 grand prix victories has nothing left to prove or gain surely?
It is very easy to sit here some 1600 miles away from Jerez and say things along the lines of: “He’s tarnishing his own legacy” or “He’s blocking a seat for a more deserving rider” etc. We can all see the struggle Rossi is facing. To that extent, it doesn’t matter a jot whether you would class yourself as among his legions of fans or in the ‘anyone but Rossi’ camp. Everyone who follows MotoGP is to-an-extent living this struggle with him.
Rossi will not add to his tally of 9 world championship titles. It is also increasingly unlikely that he will taste the victory champagne again. He is not the force he once was – yet still this doesn’t diminish his legacy. How? Simply, look up and down the starting grids of the premier class, Moto2 and Moto3.
The world championships are full of young, fast and extremely capable Italian riders who have all come through the VR|46 academy. The fruits of a decade-long project are clear to see. Rossi has always known this day would come. Dismayed at the time by a distinct lack of Italian talent, Rossi commissioned his famous ‘ranch’ flat track circuit, and recruited a dozen of the best young Italian riders. His objective: Develop the next generation of Italian grand prix winners – has not faltered. Roman Fenati, Niccolo Bulega, Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Enea Bastianini, Lorenzo Baldassarri, Luca Marini, Marco Bezzecchi etc have all become grand prix winners because of the academy.
So whilst Rossi’s own star may be fading now, he has ensured the way has been paved for the next Italian champion. Bagnaia is already on a full factory Ducati machine, and it seems likely that Morbidelli will move up to the factory Yamaha team sooner rather than later. The latter’s stock is already rocketing by showing how competitive he is when effectively handicapped on a two-year old bike.
The aim of the VR|46 Academy is to produce a premier class champion. Francesco Bagnaia now leads the championship / Credit: Ducati Corse
Rossi has earned the right to decide by himself when it will be time to draw the curtain on his racing career. The academy is doing everything it was founded to do. Morbidelli has already secured himself a world title in Moto2, and Bagnaia currently holds the lead in the MotoGP championship.
With each season bringing new riders through the doors, Rossi and his team develop yet more would-be world champions and grand prix winners – To that end, his current race results do not really matter.
Rest assured that the legacy of Valentino Rossi will endure.
With championship protagonists trying to stamp down their authority and new faces struggling to make an impression, Formula One looks very interesting indeed right now as we head to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.
It has been an immense back-and-forth battle so far between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen over the course of the first three races, with Hamilton ensuring robustly last race that Verstappen knows he will need a magnificent season to beat the seven-time champion.
The battle between Hamilton and Verstappen has been incredibly gripping so far – Courtesy of Mercedes Media
Hamilton strongly overtook Verstappen in Portugal on his way to reversing the qualifying deficit to his team mate Valtteri Bottas and claiming Grand Prix victory in the Algarve.
Just to make things a little more exciting, the 4.6 kilometre Spanish track has undergone a change, with turn 10 going deeper and widening the exit. It means that qualifying will become much more significant, with the opportunity for overtaking becoming even more oppressed than before.
It also means that, with a two-stop strategy anticipated, the boffins on the Mercedes and Red Bull pit walls are going to find themselves under enormous pressure. Add in Sergio Perez’s impressive performances to this point for Red Bull, and we are about to find ourselves in an immensely gripping game of chess between two teams that know exactly what it takes to find success in Formula One.
Spain will see Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso strap in for their home race, and they need all the momentum they can get. Sainz fell back out of the points following an impressive qualifying in Portugal, while Alonso needed a resurgence after an incredibly difficult qualifying to finish eighth.
Sainz has shown some early positive signs of promise so far for Ferrari – Courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari Media
Daniel Ricciardo is still finding his feet at McLaren, and his recovery to the points last weekend scarcely papered over a stuttering start for the Honey Badger at the Woking-based outfit. Given the necessity of strong one-lap pace in Spain, getting knocked out in Q1 cannot be an option for the Australian this weekend; his team mate Lando Norris, by contrast, has made an immaculate start to the campaign, contriving to finish on the podium finish in Imola.
After three races, Spain is the checkpoint e have been looking to as a reference for the title and who will be best of the rest and, if the first three races have been anything to go by, it will still be impossible to call after the chequered flag falls in Barcelona.
