Mini wins sprint race as Borteleto snatches second at final corner

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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