No points awarded as Collet wins Safety Car-strewn F3 sprint race

Caio Collet mastered tricky conditions to win the Formula 3 sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps after several Safety Car interruptions.

That development will come as a relief to championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto. A dramatic qualifying session left him only 15th on the grid, and he retired before the end of the race while key rival Zak O’Sullivan finished fourth.

Hugh Barter started from pole position on a partially reversed grid in damp conditions. Paul Aron joined him on the front row, with Taylor Barnard and Collet directly behind.

As rain clouds loomed, the drivers started on slick tyres The front runners approached turn one cautiously, Barter maintaining his lead. Aron dropped to fourth, however, after a poor exit at the opening corner allowed Barnard and Collet to sweep through.

But as the field charged through Eau Rouge and Raidillon, the slipstream from the leader’s car was strong. Barnard quickly overtook Barter for the lead on the Kemmel straight, before Collet claimed second moments later.

Further around the opening lap Collet performed a daring move on the outside of Blanchimont to claim the lead from Barnard. Meanwhile, Barter continued to drop down the order with Aron back into third.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

However the Safety Car was deployed moments before the opening lap finished. It came after a collision between Sebastian Montoya and Rafael Villagomez, both running out of the points, at the exit of Bruxelles, which put the Red Bull junior out of the race.

Setting the tone of things to come, the race restarted on lap three, but drivers did not even complete a tour before the Safety Car reappeared.

At turn 10 Josep Maria Marti, Bortoleto’s nearest championship rival, tried to overtake Gabriele Mini on the outside but his rear-left tyre got tagged by the Hitech driver. Both spun off.

Then, in a moment of madness, Marti rushed to rejoin the track before the traffic had passed the scene.
He left Ido Cohen with no chance to avoid him, causing a collision which put both drivers out of the race. Marti, clearly distraught over his potentially dangerous misjudgement, ran over to Cohen to apologise.

The race restarted at the end of lap seven. The front runners kept position and the following lap was completed without disruption.

But on lap nine Dino Beganovic locked up into turn one and hit the rear-left suspension of Bortoleto, who had climbed up to ninth. Soon afterwards, Bortoleto brought his car to a stop at the side of Kemmel straight in what appeared to be another twist in the championship picture.

This immediately put the race under a third Safety Car period with three laps remaining. Collet was still in the lead ahead of Barnard and Aron. As drivers remained behind the Safety Car, rain started to fall at various points of the circuit as the race did not get underway again.

Collet subsequently crossed the line ahead of Barnard and Aron with Zak O’Sullivan in fourth. Jonny Edgar was fifth ahead of Franco Colapinto, Barter, Nikola Tsolov and Beganovic, while Luke Browning completed the top 10.

Because no points were awarded, Bortoleto keeps his 42-point lead in the championship ahead of Marti, with O’Sullivan 43 points behind the Trident driver in third.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula 3 Belgium race one results

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula 3

• New qualifying red flag rule will stop drivers “ruining the session for everyone else”
• Tsolov completes 2024 Formula 3 grid with ART
• Verstappen’s “incredible” F3 drive which told Tost he was a future Schumacher
• Watch 10 of the best ‘proper’ overtakes from F1, IndyCar, WEC and more in 2023
• RaceFans’ top 10 FIA Formula 3 drivers of 2023