Category: Open Wheel Racing

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The Greatest Spectacle in Racing: The Indianapolis 500 Preview

It’s here. The ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ is just around the corner as the eyes of the world descend on Indianapolis. A race that is etched into motorsport folklore with unbridled, full-throttle, commitment, and speed. We are, of course, talking about the Indy 500!

May is an incredible month of racing with the Monaco GP on May 23 before Indy 500 on May 30, although the latter is more like a two-week event as practice and qualifying start the week before the intense 500-mile, 200-lap race.

In fact, qualifying is set to take place across both Saturday and Sunday, beginning with the general shootout with the ‘Fast Six’ on the final day.

We also return to some form of normality, with the Indy 500 returning to its rightful place at the end of May – following last year’s postponed event that took place in the middle of August. Unlike last year, we will also have spectators with 135,000 in attendance, a whopping 40% capacity!

DRIVERS! DRIVERS EVERYWHERE!

This season truly has been one to remember. The 2021 campaign has had five race winners in five races with three of those being first-time winners in Alex Palou, Patricio O’Ward, and Rinus VeeKay.

Current championship leader Scott Dixon and Colton Herta won the other two races and the six-time champion will indeed be pushing for his second Indy 500 win having last achieved it in 2008.

The last seven winners are all present this year including Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Juan Pablo Montoya, and defending 500′ winner Takuma Sato. Both Sato and Montoya head into this race seeking an incredible third win which would put them tied fourth on the all-time winners list alongside the likes of Bobby Unser and Dario Franchetti.

Three-time winner Helio Castroneves also returns to the Brickyard. A win would put him tied first on the all-time list alongside A.J.Foyt, Al Unser Jr, and Rick Mears.

While the veterans of the sport all bring swathes of experience to the event, it’s the younger drivers who will certainly share the spotlight.

Rinus VeeKay won last time out at the IMS in a spectacular display of racecraft, cutting his way through the field to beat pole-sitter, Romain Grosjean, to the chequered flag. Last year, the Dutchman qualified inside the ‘Fast Six’ on his first attempt at the Brickyard, setting one of the fastest speeds ever seen at the 500′ in the process.

Scott Dixon followed by Alex Palou. 500 Practice. Photo Courtesy of Chris Owens.

Alongside him in last year’s Fast Six’ was Alex Palou, who likely caught the attention of his current outfit Chip Ganassi with his performance that weekend. Heading into this weekend second in the championship, Palou has an incredible opportunity to capitalise on the double points on offer.

Graham Rahal was one of the fastest in the pre-season test at the Brickyard and showed a similar pace in this week’s practice. The American driver has shown some incredible pace this year putting in two top-five finishes at the double-header in Texas.

There really are contenders everywhere you look. With Patricio O’Ward. Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Jack Harvey, Conor Daly, and Scott McLaughlin also looking incredibly sharp coming into qualifying.

FRESH FACES

As ever, we welcome a host of fresh faces to the 500′. Among these are rookies Pietro Fittipaldi and RC Enerson and veterans Pablo Montoya, Tony Kanaan, Santino Ferucci, Stefan Wilson, Ed Carpenter, and JR Hildebrand.

Marco Andretti returns with Andretti. He was last year’s pole-sitter and will be looking to repeat that feat this weekend.

Simona De Silvestro. Photo Courtesy of Chris Owens.

Simona De Silvestro also makes her Indy 500 comeback with the all-female Paretta Autosport outfit. This marks De Silvestro’s first run since the 2015 edition of the race.  The Swiss driver has made hints that she could make further IndyCar outings with Paretta in the future.

Both Romain Grosjean and Jimmie Johnson will not be taking part this weekend with both set to return at the Detriot GP.

HONDA VS CHEVY?

So far in practice, there doesn’t seem to be an overall advantage in what is set to be an incredibly competitive battle. Will Power with Penske Chevrolet topped Tuesday practice while Scott Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Honda topped Wednesday.

Honda, and Chevy have three wins apiece in six attempts. While the only oval comparison we can make this year at Texas was slightly skewed due to qualifying being canceled with the championship standings used to set the grid for the race. Both races were one by an Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet and Chip Ganassi Honda.

This race truly could be anyones for the taking.

YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS.

Thursday, May 20
5-11pm (BST): Indy 500 Practice

Friday, May 21
5-11:00pm (BST): Indy 500 Practice

Saturday, May 22
6-7:00pm (BST): Indy 500 Qualifying

Sunday, May 23
6-7.30pm (BST): Last Chance Qualifying
7.30-9.30pm (BST): Fast Nine Qualifying

Friday, May 28                                                                                                                                       3-5:00pm (BST): Final indy 500 Practice

Sunday, May 30                                                                                                                      4:30/4:45 (BST): Indy 500 Race Start

 

 

 

 

 

 

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F2 Monaco preview: can Zhou extend his championship lead?

Formula 2 will take to the streets of Monaco this weekend, as the second round of the 2021 championship gets underway.

This weekend, the action will run from Thursday to Saturday rather than Friday to Sunday. Instead of both sprint races taking place on Saturday, the first will be at midday local time on Friday and the second at 8:20am on Saturday, with the feature race then at 17:15 on Saturday evening.

Alpine vs Red Bull

Guanyu Zhou, UNI-Virtuosi (Clive Mason, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA Formula 2)

The opening round of the season left us with a fascinating picture of the Alpine and Red Bull junior stables battling it out at the top of the standings.

Alpine came away with the upper hand, with Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou taking two of the three wins in Bahrain and Zhou leading the championship.

But Red Bull’s juniors aren’t far behind, as Liam Lawson sits just 11 points behind Zhou with a sprint race win and a third place under his belt already. And then there’s Jehan Daruvala, who was rapid across the Bahrain weekend and is 7 points clear of Piastri in third despite not taking a victory last time out.

Monaco presents a great chance for Zhou to make up some ground on his less-experienced rivals. As one of only three drivers on this weekend’s grid to have raced in Monaco in F2 before, Zhou has some crucial experience around the tricky track — not only that, but he scored a third place on his last outing at the principality.

Inconsistency has been the bane of Zhou’s campaigns in the past. So if he can notch up more big points and top three finishes in Monte Carlo, he’ll be well on the way to turning a strong start into a strong year.

Second chance at a first impression

Juri Vips, Hitech (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

While Lawson, Piastri and Zhou left Bahrain with winners’ trophies, their teammates ended the first round of the season with some regrouping to do.

Robert Shwartzman, the championship favourite before the season, only sits five points behind Piastri in the standings, but he seemed a long way off the Australian’s pace throughout the Bahrain weekend. Meanwhile, Felipe Drugovich managed only 2 points to Zhou’s 41, and Lawson’s Hitech teammate Juri Vips had a torrid weekend of penalties and points-free finishes.

But with Bahrain almost two months in the rearview mirror now, those three have had plenty of time to pick themselves up and look to Monaco as a second chance to start off their season well.

And as Monaco is such a difficult circuit to master, Shwartzman, Vips and Drugovich will know that all it takes is one error for their teammates while they score decent points themselves, and Bahrain will just be a minor blip rather than an omen for the season.

Return of the Jack

Jack Aitken (Courtesy of Williams Media)

Together with Zhou and Ralph Boschung, one other driver will head to Monaco with F2 experience of the principality: Jack Aitken. He’ll be returning to F2 this weekend and at Baku with HWA, replacing Matteo Nannini who’s left the series after sponsorship trouble to focus on his Formula 3 campaign.

Aitken hasn’t had the best history at Monaco, with a highest finish of 7th in the 2018 feature race. But he does bring a wealth of experience at this level to help HWA move forward, and his record as a multiple F2 winner and audacious overtaker will make him someone for the rest of the field to beware.

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Rinus VeeKay becomes IndyCar’s third first-time winner in 2021. Romain Grosjean takes maiden podium at GMR Grand Prix.

A miraculous display of race-craft saw Rinus VeeKay take his first IndyCar career victory at the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He crossed the line five seconds ahead of pole-sitter Romain Grosjean who also was in contention for his first win in the series.

The 20-year-old Dutchman became the fifth winner in five IndyCar races, three of those all being first-time winners in 2021. The win also saw Ed Carpenter Racing in victory lane for the first time since Iowa 2016, won by two-time champion Josef Newgarden

VeeKay becomes the fourth winner 24 or younger to win in 2021 alongside Colton Herta, Patricio O’Ward, and Alex Palou in what seems like a significant changing of the guard.

Romain Grosjean takes 2nd at the GMR Grand Prix. Photo Courtesy of Joe Skibinski.

Romain Grosjean led off the start, building a four-second gap on closest rival Jack Harvey in second.  The Frenchman spent 44 laps in the lead but came undone after the second pit stop window. VeeKay, who had managed to undercut Grosjean by seven laps sliced his way through the field pulling off a marvelous three-wide overtake on Jimmie Johnson and Alex Palou in the process.

Meanwhile, Grosjean lost time against the backmarker of Takuma Sato who tried his best to keep himself on the lead-lap. After Grosjean emerged from the pits VeeKay was under a second behind and eventually pulled off the overtake on Lap 49. Stringing together three incredible stints on the red soft compound tyres, VeeKay never looked back, claiming his first career victory, the first Dutchman to do so since Robert Doornbos in Canada 2007.

This also marks Romain Grosjean’s first podium since the 2015 Belgium Grand Prix in what is a miraculous comeback after his near-fatal crash at Bahrain.

Alex Palou at the GMR Grand Prix. Photo Courtesy of Matt Fraver.

Alex Palou continues his strong form bringing home his second podium of the season. After O’Ward’s 15th place finish, the young Spaniard retakes second place in the points standings.

Newgarden did well to recover after losing his place off the start to Britain’s Jack Harvey. The American diced with Palou for the majority of the race, but it well could have been a slow pit-stop which resulted in him taking home fourth, in what is now four out of four races finishing in the top-six. Since retiring in the first race of the season at Barber, he has recovered to third in the points standings.

It was a superb display of strategy which saw Graham Rahal take home fifth place. After getting caught up in a first-lap melee involving Conor Daly, the Rahal Letterman driver made a stop under caution, opting for a two-stop strategy.

Simon Pagenaud led a largely anonymous race, but the speed of his Penske helped move him up the order from tenth to sixth at the end of the race.

Alexander Rossi had to get his elbows out and deal with potential engine issues to move from 14th on the grid to cross the line in seventh ahead of rookie Scott McLaughlin who picked up another top ten finish.

Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson climbed up from their disappointing qualifying positions to round out the top ten.

O’Ward tried to follow Scott Dixon with an early pit stop on Lap Four under caution. But the Arrow McLaren SP driver returned to the pits after struggling on that compound, ruining his race and finishing in 15th.

Britain’s Jack Harvey fell out of contention for the win after stalling during a slow pit stop. After coming out of the pits he suffered what seemed to be a puncture and had to return to the pits immediately, dropping him to twenty third.

However, it is still Scott Dixon who leaves as championship leader going into the Indianapolis 500 at the end of May.

 

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Romain Grosjean defies the odds to take first career IndyCar pole at IMS

Romain Grosjean defied all odds to take his first career IndyCar pole position at the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The rookie edged out two-time champion Josef Newgarden in only his third weekend with Dayle Coyne Racing. This marks the Frenchman’s first single-seater pole since his GP2 days in 2011.

It is also the first pole position for Dayle Coyne Racing since 2018, when compatriot Sebastian Bourdais topped qualifying in Pheonix.

Penske’s Newgarden lost out by only 0.128s but starts in a promising position for the race tomorrow.  Seven out of the last eight here have been won by Penske, will they add to that tally?

GMR Grand Prix, Scott McLaughlin. Photo Courtesy of Joe Skibinski.

Scott McLaughlin was arguably just as impressive, sneaking into the Fast Six for the first time in his career and starting in fifth position after his incredible weekend at Texas Motor Speedway behind Meyer Shank’s Jack Harvey in third and Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou in fourth. Ed Carpenter’s Conor Daly rounded out the Fast Six.

Grosjean only just barely made it through Round two, following a surprise exit from Indianapolis Road Course expert Will Power. The Australian spun on the penultimate corner and was prevented from restarting with a clutch issue. He had previously made it into the Fast Six on eight of the last nine attempts at this circuit. The four-time IMS winner will have some work to do starting tomorrow’s race in twelfth.

Colton Herta, who today signed a new multi-year contract extension with Andretti Autosport, missed out on the Fast Six in seventh, while Rinus VeeKay starts just behind in eighth.

Ed Jones made it two Dayle Coyne Racing cars in the Top Ten, outpacing Penske’s Simon Pagenaud in tenth, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal eleventh.

GMR Grand Prix. O’Ward. Photo Courtesy of Joe Skibinski,

Free Practice pace-setter Alexander Rossi will start fourteenth after just missing out on Round Two, ahead of reigning champion Scott Dixon, who starts two places further back in a disappointing sixteenth. Second-place driver in the championship, Pato O’Ward starts a further two places back 18th.

Jimmie Johnson was slowest in his qualifying group but will start twenty-third ahead of Dalton Kellett and IndyCar returnee Arrow McLaren SP’s Juan Pablo Montoya, who had his two quickest laps deleted for holding up  Alex Palou.

STARTING GRID:

  1. Grosjean
  2. Newgarden
  3. Harvey
  4. Palou
  5. McLaughlin
  6. Daly
  7. Herta
  8. VeeKay
  9. Jones
  10. Pagenaud
  11. Rahal
  12. Power
  13. Rosenqvist
  14. Rossi
  15. Ericsson
  16. Dixon
  17. Sato
  18. O’Ward
  19. Hunter-Reau
  20. Bourdais
  21. Kimball
  22. Hinchcliffe
  23. Johnson
  24. Kellett
  25. Montoya

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A Changing of the Guard? The GMR IndyCar Grand Prix of Indianapolis Preview

IndyCar will take to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course this weekend for the GMR Grand Prix.

This year, we roll into Indianapolis with four different race winners in as many races with others hot-on-the heels, ready to take snatch victories if the opportunity presents itself.

Scott Dixon comes into this race as points leader with a 22 point margin over nearest rival Patricio O’Ward. He is also last year’s Indianapolis GP winner and will be coming into this weekend with plenty of confidence – confidence that has seen him finish inside the top five in every outing this season.

But for once – it isn’t the highly-rated New Zealander that has got everyone talking.

Changing of the Guard?

Patricio O’Ward won last time out at Texas, taking his long-overdue maiden IndyCar win by beating six-time world champion Scott Dixon. The win, which had been ‘on-the-cards’ for over a year was one of many other success stories across the paddock. Among those are a range of drivers under the age of 25 including Alex Palou who won at Barber while Colton Herta took victory at St. Petersburg. Also, who could forget Rinus VeeKay who is consistently putting in strong performances with the Ed Carpenter Racing outfit?

This isn’t to say that the proverbial ‘old-guard’ are not up to the job. The likes of Scott Dixon, Will Power, and Simon Pagenaud are still serious competition while Josef Newgarden may be mistaken as a younger driver, even he is into his 30’s.

O’Ward currently sits second in the drivers’ championship. Photo Courtesy of James Black.

But while the young guns have shown glimpses of brilliance over the past few seasons, now they are consistently challenging at the front of the field. Pato’s win was something of a ‘monkey on his shoulders’ and will certainly give him the confidence that he belongs at the sharp end. If Arrow McLaren SP can deliver a title-challenging car, you better believe Pato will be a factor in most races.

Alex Palou holds one of the coveted spots at Chip Ganassi Racing and is certainly viewed as the team’s future. This at least ensures the Spaniard has the backing and resources to be a major contender for years. But the fact that he is putting in results in his first season with the team was perhaps beyond most peoples’ expectations.

Rinus VeeKay has made it no secret that top-teams have already been in contact but felt another year with Ed Carpenter would be best for his development in the series. The most likely of destinations for the Dutchman would be either Andretti Autosport or Chip Ganassi to replace Jimmie Johnsons’ part-time no. 48 entry. Wherever his destiny lies his future looks bright and will be a title contender in the next few years.

Interestingly, a third of the available spots on all podiums this year have been filled by these drivers, a significant change on past seasons. Considering  Herta and VeeKay’s past success at Indianapolis – I expect them to be a factor once again this weekend at the GMR Grand Prix.

Can Penske Strike Back?

We return to a track where not only Roger Penske himself owns, but where his team has dominated in recent years. Will Power and Simon Pagenaud have stolen the spoils every year between 2015 and 2019. In addition, all excluding 2019 have been won from pole position by the winning Penske driver.

Josef Newgarden wins at the Harvest GP ’20. Photo Courtesy of Doug Matthews.

IndyCar’s last visit to the Road Course was for October’s Harvest GP doubleheader which Penske won on both times of asking – Josef Newgarden followed by Will Power from pole the next day. With five of the last nine IMS road races won from the front row, Friday’s qualifying will prove that much more important.

Newgarden is the highest placed Penske in the drivers’ championship in fourth. By their standards, they will be hoping to change that by the end of this weekend. His unfortunate start to the season at Barber has been something of a blip, finishing consistently in the top-six on every occasion since.

His teammate Will Power by contrast had his turn of misfortunate at the Texas Motor Speedway, slipping down the order and out of contention in both races. Ninth place in the championship is not good enough for the former IndyCar champion and will be looking to capitalise on his winning experience around this circuit.

The GMR Grand Prix will take place on Saturday afternoon in a condensed two-day weekend.

Friday 14th May will play host to qualifying at 21:30 (BST) while the race will get underway on Saturday 15th May at approximately 19:00 (BST).

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The Monaco ePrix Roundup: Da Costa reigns in the principality

Formula E returned this weekend, after a two week break to what is considered the glittering jewel in the motorsport crown, the glamorous and iconic streets of Monaco. Although it was familiar territory to the drivers, the venue boasted a new track layout, with the cars able to use the full track for the first time in the electric series’ history. Nyck de Vries headed into the weekend as the championship leader, but for him and Mercedes, it threw up heartbreak for the German manufacturer.

Reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa claimed a dominant pole position in the streets of the principality, beating Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns by a mere whisker. Mitch Evans started in P3 in the Jaguar, who ran just a few tenths shy of the pole time. Former champion Jean-Eric Vergne and Max Gunther lined up in P4 and P5 respectively, whilst Oliver Rowland rounded out the top six, having his laptime deleted as he left the garage too late, a factor not aided by Sergio Sette Camara’s late crash in group 4 which brought out the red flag and forced Sebastien Buemi and Tom Blomqvist to reattempt their flying laps. Title favourites Mercedes again struggled in the conditions, forced to start near the back of the grid, as was Jaguar’s Sam Bird who started in a lowly P16.

Credit: Formula E


Da Costa started well, getting the jump almost immediately on Frijns and Evans, however, the Dutchman was able to stay with the reigning champion and the pair of them began to pull away from the rest of the field whilst Wehrlein and Sims got tangled together in a bizarre incident at the famous Mirabeau hairpin. Within five minutes, Frijns closed in on Da Costa and snatched the lead away. Da Costa responded by taking attack mode, but it was to no avail. The pair of them headed at the front, as Bird and Di Grassi, both of whom had started down the order began to claw their way into the points-paying positions.

Da Costa and Frijns fought for the lead as the time ticked away, both swapping positions whenever their attack modes were taken, which allowed Evans to come back into play, bringing Gunther and Vergne with him. Vergne looked impressive in the Techeetah, but made a mistake and failed to activate his second attack mode, which allowed Gunther through to fight for the podium. Da Costa used his fanboost to great effect to fly past Frijns for the lead going into the famous tunnel, whilst Evans too began his charge using his second attack mode to sweep past Frijns a lap later. Evans soon disposed of Da Costa for the lead with fifteen minutes left on the clock and everything looked in order, until Rene Rast’s Audi stopped on the climb up towards Casino Square bringing out the safety car and with it, the dreaded energy reduction.

Credit: Formula E


As in Valencia, Monaco showcased a thrilling sprint to the finish line in the dying stages of the race as Da Costa, desperate to shake off the demons of two weeks prior, swept past Evans for the lead for the race out of the tunnel, a move he had used previously to pass Frijns earlier. Evans was pipped to P2 by Frijns, after the energy reduction left him vulnerable and had to settle for the final podium position. The trio were followed by Vergne who just missed out on the podium, Gunther, Rowland and Bird rounded out the top seven. Due to the failure of Mercedes’ driver and championship leader Nyck de Vries to score any points, Robin Frijns inherited the championship lead as we head to Mexico in five weeks time.




 

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F3 Barcelona: Hauger dominates in near-perfect feature race

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.

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F3 Barcelona: Caldwell takes maiden win in chaotic second sprint race

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)
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F3 Barcelona: Smolyar takes first blood in opening sprint race

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.

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F3 Barcelona preview: All eyes on the class of ’21

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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