Formula E: Season 10 Provisional Calendar Announced with Tokyo Occupying a Slot
Tokyo has been confirmed to be hosting the 7th round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in 2024. It will be the first time the capital of Japan will have hosted an official FIA World Championship round.
The race will be held on March 30th and the track will feature the Tokyo Big Bay convention centre in the city.
Confirming the news today, the Governer of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike said “I am delighted by the official decision that Tokyo will host a Formula E race in March 2024.” They later went onto say “This race will be held around Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo’s bay area, where developments are underway to become a sustainable next generaction city.”
Provisional Calendar
Formula E Season 10’s Provisional Calendar Credit: Formula E’s Announcement of Tokyo
The provisional calendar is similar the season 9 calandar with pre season testing later this year in October with the cars hitting the track in Valencia from October 23rd to October 27th. There is then a 2 and a half month wait until we official get racing in January where the first race of the season will be in Mexico City on 13th January followed by a double header in Diriyah on January 26th and 27th. There will be a race on the February 10th and February 24th but these are locations have not been confirmed yet.
We return to Sao Paulo in Brazil for the season Sao Paulo E-Prix on March 16th with the teams then flying to Tokyo on March 30th. We then have a 2 week break before a double header in Rome on April 13th and April 14th before returning to Monaco on April 27th. We return to Berlin for a double header on May 11th and May 12th. Round 13 takes place on May 25th but a location is still to be determined.
Jakarta and Portland are rounds 14 and 15 and taking place on June 8th nd June 29th respectfully. We then round off Season 10 of Formula E with a double header in London taking place on July 20th and Jult 21st.
Speaking about Tokyo and the Season 10 Calendar, the Co Founder and Chief Championship Officer of Formula E Alberto Longo said “We are excited to take Formula E to the streets of Tokyo next season.” “The Season 10 Calendar represents our ongoing mission to create a dynamic schedule of new cities hosting eces for the first or second time like Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Portland alongside established hosts like Berlin, Rome, London, Monaco, Diriyah and now Jakarta.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Formula E Jeff Dodds said “Tokyo will be a highlight of our historic 10th season.” “We are also in advanced discussions with many more iconic world cities who are keen to host a Formula E race and create blocker world championship motorsport events with us.” Mr. Dodds confirms that he expects the new calendar to be updated later this year.
The Director of FIA Circuit Sport Department Marek Nawarecki said “This calendar is an illustration of Formula E’s continuing growth and promises to treat fans to another season of superb racing with the new GEN3 car, which has already produced countless crowd-pleasing battles.”
Round 10 and Round 11 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship brought many turns, drama and unexpected events.
Round 10:
Qualifying:
Qualifying for round 10 saw Dennis, Vandoorne, Vergne and Frijns get through from group A and Gunther, Wehrlein, Rast and Mortara go through from group B.
Quarter Final 1 saw the DS Penskes go head to head with Vergne taking victory over Vandoorne. It was Frijns and Dennis in quarter final 2 with Dennis winning over the Abt Cupra driver. Rene Rast went against Pascal Wehrlein in quarter final 3 with Wehrlein beating his fellow German. Both the Maserati drivers went against eachother for quarter final 4 with Gunther winning.
Vergne and Dennis went head to head for Semi final 1 and Jake Dennis won over the 2 time champion. Wehrlein and Gunther went to battle and Gunther won over the championship leader.
It was Jake Dennis vs Maximilian Gunther for the final and Gunther took his first pole position!
Race:
Round 10 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in 2023 took off with a clean getaway for the majority of drivers. Vandoorne managed to get ahead of Jake Dennis on the opening lap with the Envision of Sebastian Buemi falling down the order to P21.
Further on, David Beckmann (the stand in rookie for Andre Lotterer for this weekend) had a collision with Buemi and lost his front wing with Buemi suspecting he had a puncture. Wehrlein then took the lead of the race with DiGrassi, Mehri and Buemi taking their first attack mode. Attack mode was very different for this weekend. Drivers could go for 2 minutes then 6 minutes, 4 minutes in both stints or 6 minutes then 2 minutes. It was up to the drivers and teams whichever one they went with. Gunther and Dennis then joined the other drivers by taking attack mode.
When Wehrlein took attack mode for the second time, he dropped down to P3 with Gunther in P1 and Vandoorne in P2 respectively. When Vandoorne went for his second attack mode on lap 12, he rejoined at P4, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne but far behind Dennis. Wehrlein then takes back the lead after Gunther goes for his attack mode. Dennis eventually takes his 6 minute attack mode and Muller joined him while Mortara went for 2 minutes. Dennis passed Vandoorne with 4 minutes remaining.
Towards the latter stages of the race, the championship leader Nick Cassidy nearly spins his car. He collided with Vergne in turn 1. Dennis also got ahead of Gunther for P2. Gunther tries to line up a move into turn 1 but he didn’t manage to make it stick. Cassidy had to take his final attack mode but he dropped to P7 with no one having attack mode ahead of him. Rene Rast had a spin at turn 16. Near the end of the race, Evans got hit by his teammate Sam Bird in turn 1. Bird then ended up bringing out another yellow flag on the final lap. Wehrlein then crossed the line as the winner! Jake Dennis finished in P2 with Maximilian Gunther in P3. Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne made it a DS Penske P4-P5 respectfully. Educardo Mortara finished P6, Championship leader Nick Cassidy finishes P7, Antonio Felix Da Costa finished P8 with Robin Frijns and Jake Hughes filling the final 2 points positions.
Pascal Wehrlein, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, 1st position, celebrates on the podium. Image Credit: LAT Images
Round 11:
Qualifying:
Qualifying for round 11 consisted of Dennis, Fenestraz, Evans and Hughes getting through from Group A and Gunther, Mortara, Wehrlein and Vandoorne through from group B.
Evans came out victorious over Fenestraz, Dennis beat Hughes in a Jake Vs Jake quarter final, both the Maserati drivers beat both Wehrlein and Vandoorne in the final 2 quarter finals.
Dennis and Mitch went head to head for semi final 1 and Dennis got through by 0.001 of a second. Mortara and Gunther went against eachother in semi final 2 with Gunther winning out.
It was Dennis vs Gunther in the final(the exact same as Round 10 Qualifying) and the result as the same as Gunther won pole position.
Race:
The race for Round 11 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in 2023 started off with 2 drivers being wheeled to the pitlane before the formation sequence even began. Sacha Fenestraz and Sam Bird had an issue on the grid which was not able to be fixed intime for the race. Gunther kept the lead as the lights went out. Gunther managed to keep the lead as the race went on, he took attackmode after his engineer told him to gain 4 tenths. This meant the German driver dropped down to P3.
Dennis then took attack mode after Gunther but he stayed ahead the Maserati driver. Evans was then leading the race but when he took attack mode, he fell behind both Dennis and Gunther. Behind Gunther and Evans was Vandoorne and Mortara in P4 and P5. Soon after, David Beckmann had to retire due to an incident with Di Grassi. Both Evans and Mortara managed to make p a place to P2 and P4 respectfully. Gunther then makes a move to go up to P2 which he manages to make stick. It was then revealed that Roberto Mehri was down to 65% energy while everyone else was down to about 70%. Gunther looks to go around the outside of Dennis.
Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti Formula E, Porsche 99 X Electric Gen3, leads Maximilian Gunther, Maserati MSG Racing, Maserati Tipo Folgore. Image Credit: Simon Galloway
Buemi then pits for a new front wing after getting damage. Jean Eric-Vergne follows him after a seperate incident. Dennis then takes attack mode but drops down to P3. Gunther takes his attack mode soon after Dennis but Gunther stays ahead of Dennis. Following this, Mortara, Da Costa, Nato and Vergne (who rejoined after pitting a few laps back). Further on, Gunther lead the race by over 2 seconds to Dennis. Vandoorne was hot on the heels of Evans for the final podium spot. Gunther’s teammate Educardo Mortara locked up going into turn 1 and fell down a few places.
Towards the final stages of the race, Wehrlein took attack mode and dropped back to P8. He then managed to get past Da Costa. Vandoorne then got overtaken by Fenestraz while Fenestraz’ teammate Norman Nato tries to make 2 overtakes at once but he doesn’t manage to make it stick. Wehrlein overtook Vandoorne to make it up to P6. Wehrlein started to struggle to catch up to the rest of the pack at the front of the field. There was no added laps to the race. Dennis tried to get past Gunther but it did not work as Maximilian Gunther won the Jakarta E-Prix! Jake Dennis finished P2 and Mitch Evans in P3. Sacha Fenestraz finished P4 with his teammate Norman Nato in p5. Pascal Wehrlein was in P6, Antonio Felix Da Costa in P7, Eduardo Mortara in P8, Stoffel Vandorne in P9 with Sebastian Buemi finishing the points positions.
In the championship standings, Pascal Wehrlein leads the way by 1 point to Jake Dennis in P2 with Nick Cassidy behind by 5 points to Dennis. Mitch Evans is 19 points behind Cassidy with Jean-Eric Vergen 12 points back from Evans with 97.
Formula 2 Sprint Race:
The Formula 2 Weekend got underway with the sprint race in Monaco, 1 month after the Azerbaijan weekend. It was a clean getaway for every driver until we got up to the chicane after the tunnel. Stanek and Maini got spun around with 4 drivers getting caught upon the incident. This brought out a VSC which lead into a full safety car. Whitch came in on lap 6 but Hadjar got an issue at the restart and had to retire. Iwasa managed to inherit the lead which brought every driver up by 1 place from the retsrta apart from Nissany and Boshung who had to retire. Leclerc and Maini were battling for P16 but due to the insignificant advantage of DRS. Fittipaldi managed to get cordeel on lap 22. After that. Cordeel crashed before the hairpin and brought out another safety car. Correa and Cordeel collided. The safety car came in lap 24 and Iwasa decided to go early. Bearman had to pit at the restart. Iwasa managed to pull a gap of over 6 seconds to lead the pack to the win and take home a win at Monaco. Daruvala finished P2 and Crawford P3.
Formula 2 Feature Race:
The Feature Race in Monaco kicked off with a clean start for most of the drivers. Dennis Hauger managed to cut turn 1 and ended up getting a 5 second time penalty. Cordeel started to fall back the field as the racers entered lap 2. Cordeel then picked up damage and retired but Hauger was then noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. With Formula 2, there is a rule which states that the drivers cannot complete their mandatory pitstop until the end of lap 6. So Benevides and Boschung decided to pit at the end of lap 8 which was a surprise. Arthur Leclerc got struck by a curse thats his brother also has as he DNFed from the race on lap 9. Further on in the race Nissany, Daruvala, Correa, Crawford, Fittipaldi, Iwasa, Hadjar, Bearman and Benevides all pitted. Nissany and Novalak battled through the tunnel section with a VSC having to be deployed due to Enzo Fittipaldi having an engine issue. Dennis Hauger received a 5 second time penalty on lap 20 for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Jack Doohan ended up crashing on lap 22. The car caught on fire but he was all safe. However, the track was slippery and a red flag was called in order to repair the barrier. Vesti, Pourchaire and Martins all pitted before the red flag was called. We went racing again on lap 27 which was a steady start. It then emerged that Victor Martins did not slow down for the collision and ended up receiving a drive through penalty. Vesti managed to convert his pole to victory around the streets of Monaco. Theo Pourchaire finished P2 and Zane Maloney finished the podium positions.
Featured Image Credit to Prema Racing Photos and Videos.
Formula E has announced that major changes have occured for the Jakarta E-Prix, just 1 week ahead of the double header.
Presenter Vernon Kay left the role of lead presenter after the Monaco EPrix a few weeks ago and today, it was announced that Radzi Chinyanganya would take over this role in Jakarta.
As Radzi will leave his pitlane reporter role to fill in for Vernon, Saunders Carmichael-Brown will take over as a pit-lane reporter with Nelson Piquet Jr, Oliver Askew and Kelvin Van Der Linde all taking up their roles.
Also announced is Nicki Shields will be absent for the Jakarta EPrix and will return for the Southwire Portland E-Prix.
A familar face to motorsport fans will be taking over from Jack Nicholls as lead commentator for the Jakarta EPrix with Ben Edwards stepping up. Karun Chandock will be in the commentary box as well.
Speaking about the change, Edwards said “I am very excited to get back behind the mic with Formula E as the on-track action this season is a commentator’s dream.” said Edwards. “The championship is more competitive than ever and I get to bring that to life for viewers around the world. I’m delighted to be joining the team and calling the action in Jakarta.”
Jack Nicholls is also out as the lead commentator for the rest of season 9 and the entire championship.
Qualifying was first up and Group A saw Nato, Fenestraz, Ticktum and Evans all through to the duels. The DS Penske duo of Vandoorne and Vergne both lost their lap times due to a technical infraction which dropped them to the back of the grid.
Gunther, Hughes, Mortara and Sette Camara all went through to the final from Group B. Fenestraz appeared victorious over Dan Ticktum for the first session of quarter finals, Nato beat Evans in the second quarter final, Hughes beat Mortara and Sette Camara beat Gunther in the 3rd and 4th quarter finals respectfully. However, Sette Camara got his best lap time deleted so Gunther took his place in the duel. Before their duel however, it was a nissan quarter final with Nato vs Fenestraz and Fenestraz won that battle. Hughes took victory over Gunther in the second semi final so it was Hughes against Fenestraz for the battle for pole.
It was a tight battle which saw Fenestraz snatch the position from Hughes after Hughes made an error. Fenestraz, however, used more power than he was meant to and got the pole snatched away!
Race:
The 29 lap race started by Hughes leading the race with Cassidy trying to make a lot of places up. Cassidy went up to P7 by the end of lap 1. Jake Hughes held the lead from the two Nissans and from Ticktum and Gunther in P5. Dennis managed to get Cassidy on lap 2. Rowland who started P13 is up to P7. By lap 3 rowland managed to make up to P6. A yellow flag then came out on lap 3 due to lotterer and retiring. Rowland took his first attack mode on lap 3. Evans and Gunther were battling on the final sector of lap 3 which Gunther managed to win. Nick Cassidy made a big move on lap 5 to make up 2 places at once. Cassidy made HUGE moves to go up to P2 after Hughes took attack mode! Hughes went down to P4 just ahead of Ticktum. Evans managed to make his way up to P5 after a lunge in the hairpin. Cassidy and Nato took their attack mode together which allowed Ticktum to make his way up to P1. ahead of Evans and Fenestraz. Fenestraz and Cassidy attack their way up the hull after turn 1 and Fenestraz manages to keep the position over the New Zealander.
An image from the ABB FIA Formula E Monaco EPrix. Credit to Formula E.
Lap 13 saw Cassidy lead the race from Evans and Fenestraz who are 2nd and 3rd. Lap 14 saw a titanic battle between Evans and Dennis coming out of the tunnel to battle for position. Gunther had a big moment in the swimming pool section of the track on lap 15but he managed to keep it goether. Evans took the lead of the race at the start of lap 16 . While ths was going on, Vergne and Vandoorne managed to make their way up to P13 and P14 after starting at the back of the grid. Bird and Nato collided after the tunnel and Da Costa suffered a puncture and fell to the back of the grid. Both Maseratis took attack mode on lap 17 and fell to P7 and P8 with Gunther leading the way. Cassidy managed to get the lead of the race on lap 18. Dennis tried to get ahead of Evans into the hairpin but he didn’t manage to make it stick. Hughes and Ricktum Kept switching positions on lap 18 too with Ticktum taking the position. Fenestraz tried to get Dennis into the hairpin but didn’t manage to get him. Ticktum tried to squeeze Vergne into the wall down into the hairpin but Vergne managed to make it out. Mortara appeared to lose his front wing. Ticktum had an issue after he collided with another driver. Nato had to slow down and Gunther stopped on track which resulted on a safety car on lap 22/29.
The safety car came in on lap 25 and Cassidy and Evans went battling for the win with Dennis not far behind. Bird went for attack mode but he managed to miss it! There was no added laps to the race. Muller collided with Bird on lap 28 which resulted in Muller stopping on lap and the safety car being deployed which ended this race. Nick Cassidy won the Monaco EPrix and takes the lead of the championship. Mitch Evans finished P2 and Jake Dennis finished P3. The front row finished P4 and P5 with Fenestraz finishing ahead of Hughes. Ticktum managed to hold onto P6 with Vergne going from p22 to P7. Buemi finished P8 with Vandoorne finishing P9 and Evan’s teammate Sam Bird collecting the final point position. Sam Bird later received a penalty so Pascal Wehrlein picked up P10.
The concludes Formula E for 1 month where we head to Jakara for a double header!
Ollie Bearman Sprint and Feature race winner at Baku 2023. Image courtesy of Ferrari
The Ferrari Junior Driver had his best weekend in Formula 2 yet with the 17 year old finishing every single session across round 4 of the FIA Formula 2 World Championship around the streets of Baku.
Bearman first of all topped the one and only Free Practice Session of the weekend with a 1:54.063. Hadjar and Maini followed behind in second and third respectfully. Qualifying was very tight with the 17 year old setting a lap time just 0.012 ahead of Red Bull Junior Enzo Fittipaldi.
Sprint Race:
The sprint race got underway in Baku with the ART of Victor Martins immediatel cutting across the Red Bull Junior of Zane Maloney. The reverse pole sitter Richard Verschoor nearly lost the rear end, tapped the wall and got both front and rear damage. Maloney lead from Hauger and Martins in P3. The Boy from Barbados Maloney got a puncture and went from 1st to last on lap 1 of the sprint. Boschung tapped the wall by the castle section and had to retire which brought out the safety car. We went 2 laps under the SC and when the safety car was brought in, Hauger lead the way from Martins and daruvala. Bearman managed to make a chagre up to P4 by lap 11 out of 21.
The PHM of Roy Nissany then crashed on lap 14 which brought out a safety car and saw the pack bunch up again. The drivers spent 5 laps under the safety car and from then, a 3 lap shootout for the win resulted in a huge crash into turn 1. Hauger and Martins locked up and went into the wall, Daruvala hit Martins due to him also locking up and Leclerc and Pourchaire tapped the wall and the engine stalled. Vesti and Martins were then battling for the lead which saw Bearman take the lead just before the safety car was deployed and the race was then over due to the amount of cleanup required. Bearman took home his first victory of his F2 career ahead of Vesti and Crawford finishing the top 3. Maini, Fittipaldi, Correa and Novalak finished off the top 7. Hadjar did finish P8 but got a penalty post race so Stanek got the final points position.
The Formula 2 2023 Baku Sprint Podium with a Prema 1-2 and Crawford in P3. Image Credit: Prema Racing Photos and Videos
Feature Race:
The feature race saw a very clean getaway from everyone and a clean first lap from everyone. Pourchaire got up to P2 on Lap 2 after overtaking Fittipaldi but he wasn’t finished there. Pourchaire got past bearman on lap 3 for the lead of the race and both Premas of Vesti and Bearman were attacking Fittipaldi and Pourchaire respectfully. Bearman wasn’t finished as he got up to P1 on lap 4 with the assist of the DRS system. Hauger and Crawford went wheel to wheel with Hauger getting the advantage. the top 2 pitted on lap 9 due to yellow flags and Bearman managed to hold the lead ahead of Pourchaire.
Brad Benevides stopped on an escape road after a touch with the barriers and brought out a VSC as he was recovered. Daruvala ried to get past Maloney on lap 14 but ended up getting a 10s time penalty for rejoining unsafely. Fittipaldi was challenging Pourchaire on lap 24 for P2 and he eventually got the moce done in turn 3. Bearman crossed the line to take the feature race victory in Baku and make it a perfect weekend. Fittipaldi finished P2 and Pourchaire in P3. Martins was P4 but got disqualified due to a technical infringement. This pushed Vest, Maini, Hauger, Hadjer, Verschoor, Crawford and Leclerc up to P4-P10 respectfully after Daruvala’s penalty pushed him down to P13, originally P14.
The first trip for Formula 2 in Australia saw Red Bull Juniors take home the trophies, but it was not without a hard weekend of work.
Sprint Race:
The F2 Sprint saw a very clean start from everyone Hauger lead from Crawford and Maini by the end of lap 1. Leclerc tried to make a pass going towards sector 3 which saw 4 wide at one point. Iwasa had a huge lock up on lap 2 which ruined his tyres and had to pit to change his tyres. Leclerc made a move on Maini going into the chicane but Maini fought back later on in the lap. Monleoney, Martins and Bearman were all fighting with Hadjar and Vesti with all of them switching positions but Maloney just managed to get the lead of the bunch.
Dennis Hauger #1 MP Motorsport, during Round three of the FIA Formula 2 Championship at Albert Park Street Circuit, on March 30 – April 2, 2023. // Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202304010312
Doohan made contact with Juan Manual Correa after which he spun onthe kerb and his race was over. It started to rain from this point so some people gambled on wet tyres. However, the rain did not come so the gamble did not pay off. The safety car was meant to come in on lap 18 but Benevides crashed at the final corner so we had 2 laps of the race left when the safety car went back. Pourchaire had a visit to the gravel trap due to his wet tyres and track not being wet. Hauger managed to hold everyone off to take the victory over Crawford and Maini which round off the podium.
Feature Race:
The F2 Feature Race saw Iwasa hold the lead inro turn 1 and Verchoor struggled at the back of the back by going off. Crawford and Maini went side by side as they battled through the opening lap. On lap 7, Doohan tried to get past Crawford but Crawford ended up coming off worse and into the barrier which brought out the safety car. Hadjar and Bearman ended up colliding in the pitlane and they both had to pit again.
Nissany and Fittipaldi battled on lap 14 and Nissany managed to hold onto the position. Hadjar was pushed off at the penultimate corner and dropped down many places. Iwasa then managed to get through to 2nd position on lap 20. Nissany collided with the wall on lap 26 which saw the race leader Vesti going into the pits and going down to P7. Just before the restart on lap 30, however, Martins went into the back of Hauger and both of them went off and ended up dropping down to the back of the grid. This brought Arther Leclerc into the podium positions and Vesti trying to hunt Leclerc down for a podium but the Monegasque managed to hold him off and get his first podium. Iwasa won the race with Pourchaire in P2.
Featured image courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
The first ever FIA Formula E Qualifying in Sao Paulo started off badly for Sergio Sette Camara. In his home race, he stopped on track but managed to get going again. Lucas Di Grassi hit the wall and found himself out of qualifying too. Vandoorne, Cassidy, Mortara and Hughes all managed to get through to the duels from group A. Bird, Guenther, Da Costa and Evans were the victors from Group B after Frijns stopped on track earlier on in the session.
Mortara and Cassidy went head to head for the first quarter final with Mortara taking victory. Vandoorne took victory over Hughes in the second quarter final, Da Costa won over Guenther and Evans over Bird in the 3rd and 4th quarter final respectfully. Vandoorne claimed the win against Mortara in the first semi final and Da Costa over Evans in the second semi final. It was a battle between Da Costa and Vandoorne for the final and the reigning world champion Stoffel Vandoorne took victory over Da Costa.
Race:
The Sao Paulo E Prix got underway and from the get go, it was 31 laps of chaos. Da Costa got a good start fromthe front row, however, it was Vandoorne who lead the pack. The chaos continued as the front pack went 4 wide through the first two corners. Norman Nato got pushed into the back of another car and had to retire from the race. Eduardo Mortara’s misery continued as he picked up damage in the opening lap and had to retire. Lotterer was another casualty – starting from the back of the grid, his race ending in retirement in the early stages. It was a slip stream frenzy down towards turn 1 on the opening lap, with Guenther going wide. His race didn’t improve as he was handed a penalty for not following the race directors procedures.
Bird was on the charge from P10 as he wanted to make the most post penalty from Hyderabad as he passed the Neom McLaren of Rene Rast. His success continued when he dispatched of Jake Hughes, making his way up the order. Championship leader Wehrlein started in P18 and was a man on a mission to make the most of it, trying to attack Muller. Once he had dispatched of the ABT car, he proceeded to climb the order, getting past Guenther on the next lap. Vandoorne and Da Costa switched positions throughout the opening stages, with Mitch Evans in the Jaguar joining the battle for the top prize. Fenestraz stopped on lap 7, leading to a safety car but before it was activated, Bird managed to sweep past Hughes.
Norman Nato, Nissan Formula E Team, Nissan e-4ORCE 04 clashes with Jake Hughes, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, e-4ORCE 04 (Image Credit: Formula E Media)
After the short safety car period, Da Costa made a move on Cassidy at the front, before passing Evans and began to challenge Vandoorne for the lead. Cassidy then made a two car overtake for the lead and championship protaganist Dennis got hit by Ticktum, ending his chances of a good result. Vandoorne, Evans and Da Costa all passed Cassidy, dropping the Kiwi back out of the podium places.
However, Cassidy fought back to snatch the lead away, holding it throughout a brief safety car period. Da Costa disposed of Vandoorne for P2. Da Costa, Rast, Wehrlein and Evans were all under investigation for overtake under yellow flag conditions but these were ruled to have no further action. Wehrlein continued up the order, fighting his way past Vergne as Da Costa made a mistake in the latter stages of the race, losing his shot at a podium place. Cassidy continued to excel, pulling a gap at the front of the race as Wehrlein took attack mode but he was instructed to hold position and to save energy behind his teammate Da Costa.
Four extra laps were added onto the race due to the safety cars as Bird managed to pass Vergne to take a potential podium in the dying stages of the race. He then proceeded to snatch away P3 from Vandoorne. However, Evans was beginning to show momentum, passing Cassidy in the last added laps, the pair had afight to the line as they went side by side towards the penultimate corner of the race but Evans held off the Envision to take victory. Bird finished P3 with Da Costa, Vergne, Vandoorne and Wehrlein finishing off the top 7. The Neom McLaren duo of Hughes and Rast finished P8 and P9 respectfully whilst Buemi snatched P10 to round off the points positions.
The 2 races in Formula 2 saw drama, conteroversy, safety cars and good, hard, fair racing across many of the young drivers hoping to make a step up to F1.
Sprint Race
Lap 1-Crawford lead from Iwasa and Boschung. Doohan goes off the track as Bearman gets up a place. Iwasa took the lead on lap 2 into turn 1. Zane Maloney lost the rear after coming out of turn 2 and that brought out the safety car. Boshchung and Crawford fought after the restart. Theo Pourchaire went for a lunge which paid off as he made up a place.
Theo Pourchaire made the same lunge on lap 7 but he misjudged it and collided with the Prema rookie of Ollie Bearman and that brought both of their races to an end. Pourchaire was given a 5 place grid drop for that collision. Iwasa lead them into turn 10 and Martins made up a place as the sprint race ended up at 50% distance. Lap 11 saw 3 wide into turn 1 between Doohan, Maini and Crawford. Daruvala went for a lunge into turn 1 against boschung in on lap 13 and went up into the podium places.
Martins got a big tow into turn 1 and went for a lunge and made it stick against Boschung. Daruvala went for the lead of the race on lap 17 but as he went for it into turn 2, Martins took 2nd place from Daruvala. Iwasa took the Sprint Race Victory with Martins finishing P2 and Daruvala P3.
Frederik Vesti 2023 images curtsey of premaracing.com
Feature Race
The Feature Race in F2 at the Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit saw Bearman overtake Martins from lights out and into turn 1. Martins was P2 and Doohan P3. Haugher battled with Leclerc as lap 1 went on. Benevides brought out the virtual safety car after Amaury Cordeel collided with him. It was a 7 car battle going into turn 1 on lap 6 of the race There was no collisions. Bearman and Martins came into the pits at the same time but all maintained positions. Bearman and Martins battled into turn 1 on lap 10 for the race lead after all pit stops occurred. Martins tried again on lap 11 after Martins got DRS but Vesti managed to catch up with his teammate and get him. Bearman had a spin on lap 16 which saw him drop down to 11th place. Vesti and Martins battled into turn 1 on lap 17 and Martins spun on lap 17 which brought out the virtual safety car even though he kept the car running but then engine eventually cut out. Hadjar was battling Bearman for the P9. Vesti managed to win the Feature Race with Doohan in P2 and Daruvala in P3.
Featured Image courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
The Formula 3 Season Kicked off in Bahrain this week for the first of 10 rounds.
Qualifying
Qualifying started the first competitive session for the Formula 3 season of 2023. In a tough battle against each other, a shock result saw Mini take his first pole in his first ever Formula 3 qualifying session in the Hitech Pule-Eight car. Bortoleto qualified P2 in the Trident with Saucey qualifying P3.
Sprint
The first race of the Formula 3 season kicked off with Colapinto on the front row and the pole sitter Mini stall on the grid and go from P12 to P26. Colapinto managed to maintain P1 but then by lap 2, Villagmonez crashed into the wall which caused a safety car to be deployed. Collapinto managed to maintain the lead after the restart. Lap 7 saw the HiTech car of Luke Browning stop and cause a Virtual Safety Car to be released. O’Sullivan then went over the kerbs on the outside of 8. Lap 14 saw Pepe Marti close in on the leader Colapinto and he makes the lead on lap 14, turn 4. Marti took his first race win in Formula 3 with Colapinto finishing P2 and Collet finishing the podium positions.
Feature
The Feature Race saw Mini start on pole after he qualified there on Friday. Saucey and Mini were fighting on lap 3 and 4 before Mini finally gets the move done by lap 4. The car of Hugh Barter picked up a puncture on lap 5 caused after a slight piece of contact with an MP Motorsport and he had to go to the pits. Tommy Smith had a spin on lap 7 which saw the safety car deployed. By the time the safety car was brought back to the pits, O’Sullivan and Aron got into a bit of a scrap further on and Montoya was able to pick up the pieces in order to get up to p10. Within laps 15 and 16 saw Goether make his way up to P3 and Browning up to P6. Montoya began to close in on Aron by lap 18 and eventually get the Prema driver by lap 19. Smith collided with another driver on lap 21 which brought out a safety car and brought the race to an end.
While Mini did cross the line first, he got a 5 second time penalty and dropped to P8. That meant that Bortoleto took his first Formula 3 race victory in his first ever Formula 3 Feature Race. Goethe took P2 and Beganovic concluded the podium places.
Formula 3 returns to our screens in 4 weeks time for the first ever weekend behind held in Australia.
The Formula 3 Season Kicked off in Bahrain this week for the first of 10 rounds.