Johnathan Hoggard made it three different winners from three races at the opening weekend of the British F3 series at Oulton Park.
The Fortec driver recovered from slipping to third on the opening lap to capitalise on others mistakes and keep his head to take the spoils from Ayrton Simmons and a frustrated Clement Novolak.
Simmons had led well from the start for the first eight laps before pressure from Novolak told for the Chris Dittman Racing driver.
Simmons went off at Hislop’s before rejoining the circuit in front of Novolak’s Carlin entry, with the latter being forced to take to the grass and allow Hoggard past the pair of them with five laps remaining.
Kiern Jewiss had the best seat in the house of the top three’s squabbles but the reigning British F4 champion couldn’t land a blow on the top three despite on occasion looking the fastest of the top four contenders.
Neil Verhagen completed a solid day’s racing on Monday with fifth position ahead of Belgian drive Ulysse De Pauw.
A thrilling battle between Manuel Maldonado and Sassakorn Chaimongkol for seventh went the way of the latter, the Thai driver on more than one occasion needing to work hard to get the better of the Venezuelan cousin of former F1 driver Pastor.
Kaylen Frederick had another eventful race to drop to 14th from fourth on the grid at the first corner after a coming together with Douglas driver Jewiss. The American nursed a wounded car to 12th after suspected floor damage to complete an action-packed debut weekend for the 16-year-old Floridian.
Kaylen Frederick was the victor in British F3’s second race of the weekend to make amends for a difficult first race on Saturday.
The Carlin driver had started pole for Race One, but a series of unfortunate events saw the American finish 13th.
A start not without incident saw Hampus Ericsson and Kris Wright come to blows at Shell Oils hairpin, the American retiring on the spot as he hit the wall, while the Swede made it back to the pitlane, with Ayrton Simmons retiring late on with technical issues.
Despite those incident, the Safety Car was not deployed and the American duo of Frederick and Verhagen were able to pull away from Maldonado, who had to work hard to keep Jewiss at bay early in the race.
There were no such issues in Race Two as the 16-year-old simply drove away from compatriot Neil Verhagen and the rest of the field, with Kiern Jewiss and Manuel Maldonado in a race-long scrap for third that eventually went the way of the Venezuelan.
Sassakorn Chaimongkol was next on the road but a 10s penalty for a jump start dropped the Thai driver to 13th, with Josh Mason holding almost the rest of the entire field up to take fifth, with Race One winner Clement Novolak, Ulysse De Pauw, Johnathan Hoggard and Nazim Azman.
Ben Pedersen, Lucas Petersson and Pavan Ravishankar rounded off the finishers ahead of Chaimongkol.
Carlin Motorsport’s Clement Novolak converted a front row start into British F3 victory as he led almost from pillar to post on Saturday.
Novolak led home Ayrton Simmons, Johnathan Hoggard, Ulysse De Pauw and Sassakorn Chaimongkol in an incident-filled race that saw three retirements.
Hampus Ericsson was sixth ahead of Nazim Azman, Manuel Maldonado and Jewiss, with Josh Mason ahead of Kris Wright, Neil Verhagen and Frederick.
Kiern Jewiss, graduating from British F4, was adjudged to have caused the bulk of those DNFs by making contact with Maldonado force the Venezuelan into the pits and Lucas Petersson, Benjamin Pedersen and Pavan Ravishankar out.
Jewiss, recovering from a slow start, received a 10s penalty to drop from sixth to ninth in the overall classification.
Novolak bettered teammate Kaylen Frederick off the line as Simmons also bettered the American at the early stages of the race.
A lengthy Safety Car period followed, before the drivers were again let loose with eight minutes to go with various bits of British F3 car now collected.
Novolak calmly pulled away a small gap over Simmons and Hoggard, himself having recovered from a less than ideal start.
Frederick, the man to beat after qualifying, had an eventful but ultimately fruitless race as he dropped back before a puncture following contact with compatriot Verhagen effectively ended his race, Verhagen himself pitting with a broken front wing.
Race Two gets underway at 10am on Bank Holiday Monday, with no racing on Easter Sunday.
Kaylen Frederik of Carlin Motorsport took the first British F3 pole position of the 2019 season at a sunny Oulton Park at the traditional Easter weekend season-opener.
A tight session that saw several drivers swap pole position times at the start settled down when Frederick took provisional pole midway through qualifying, with 13 cars covered by one second enough to illustrate that 2019 will be very tough to call.
Frederick took charge of the session midway through after teammate Clement Novolak had made all of the early running to take the initial pole position.
Ayrton Simmons will start from third behind the Carlin duo alongside Johnathon Hoggard, with Belgian Ulysse De Pauw and Kiern Jewiss completing row three.
Neil Verhagen is seventh ahead of the returning Sassakorn Chaimongkol in eighth, Lucas Petersson and Manuel Maldonado completing the top ten.
Hampus Ericsson and Nazim Azman complete row six as the top twelve cars remain covered by less than a second, with Benjamin Pedersen, Pavan Ravishankar, Kris Wright and Josh Mason rounding off a 16-car grid.
The story doesn’t end there, with the second-fastest times for the session deciding the grid for Race Three on Monday afternoon.
Simmons will take pole position for that ahead of Hoggard, Novolak, Frederick, Jewiss and Verhagen the top six for the final British F3 race of the weekend.
TNicholas Latifi (CAN, DAMS), celebrates in Parc Ferme.
The first round of the Formula 2 season is already over after a weekend with a lots of on track action but not many surprises. Reliability issues from last year seem to have been solved, so there will be drivers’ talent and not their luck that will decide who earns success this year.
It was a strong start to the weekend for Dams with Sergio Sette Câmara and Nicholas Latifi setting the pace comfortably ahead of Trident’s Ralph Boschung during free practice session. Even though, qualifying would go a bit different. Callum Ilott lost his car in turn seven and hit the barrier bringing out the red flag with 12 minutes into the session. Once the track was cleared, some of the front runners decided to go out immediately so as to avoid traffic.
After an early second attempt, Latifi was leading the session ahead of Jack Aitken and Sette Câmara. It was looking good for them as nobody seemed to improve massively, but a very last minute lap from Luca Ghiotto, Louis Delétraz and Nyck De Vries placed them in the top three. The Italian, who crossed the line once the checkered flag had already fallen, took pole position in UNI Virtuosi debut and the first one of his three-year Formula 2 career.
Dorian Boccolacci (FRA, CAMPOS RACING) and Giuliano Alesi (FRA, TRIDENT)
The feature race on Saturday morning met all the expectations with some really nice battles and no race incidents. It was a great demonstration of how clean racing can be as good as a messy race with lots of safety cars. Sean Gelael was the only driver who retired and he did so due to a DRS issue which didn’t allow him to stop the car in turn one because the flap remained open.
If we look at the race from the start, it was Louis Delétraz who led in the early stages after overtaking Ghiotto in the start. The Italian had reported clutch problems during the formation lap and as a consequence of them he lost some places in the getaway, although he would recover throughout the race with some good moves like the one on Matsushita after three corners side by side. Tyre struggles began quite early considering that everyone was on medium tyres. Delétraz lost the lead in favor of Latifi and others like De Vries decided to pit despite the fact that they should go on softs until the end. Once everyone had stopped the Dutch took the lead but it didn’t last long.
Laps were counting down and tyre degradation made the early stoppers go down in the order, while the ones who had managed their tyres better established themselves on top. Latifi proved his experience winning the race comfortably ahead of Ghiotto and Sette Câmara, confirming Dams strong pace that had been already shown in practice. The surprise came at fourth as newcomer Anthoine Hubert got really close to a podium finish after starting from eleventh place. Even if he didn’t pull off any spectacular moves, the GP3 Series Champion kept very consistent pace through the whole race that rewarded him with 12 precious points.
The rest of the points positions for Saturday’s race were filled as it follows: Delétraz, De Vries, Aitken, Schumacher, Matsushita and Zhou. At the back Tatiana Calderón was able to cross the line on thirteenth after being nineteenth in the grid which shows that Arden’s race pace is much better then their qualifying performance.
31 Mar 2019 11:40
Mick Schumacher (DEU, PREMA RACING)
On Sunday’s sprint race things weren’t much different. It was Mick Schumacher who started on pole after finishing eighth the day before and led the opening laps, but by lap four we already had Saturday’s top three setting the pace. Again tyre degradation played a key role and some decided to come in. Ghiotto pitted from the lead while both Dams cars stayed out on track. As the race went on, the drivers who had pitted started their comebacks through the field while the guys who didn’t change tyres were losing two or three seconds per lap. The one-stop strategy paid off for Ghiotto who was able to retake the lead with two laps two go, in the same way Charles Leclerc did in 2017.
The other two guys standing on the podium were Sette Câmara in second place and Latifi in third. Both drove solid races but that wasn’t enough to stop Ghiotto on fresher tyres. Guanyu Zhou was the man who ended behind the top guns. UNI Virtuosi’s rookie had a remarkable race from tenth on the grid to end ahead of Formula 2 veteran Louis Delétraz. Mick Schumacher came on sixth holding De Vries and Jordan King for a double points finish in his Formula 2 debut. The son of the seven-times Formula One World Champion hasn’t probably met the expectations of many but he definitely showed some speed and delivered a drive without mistakes in the whole weekend.
After all, it appears to be Dams and UNI Virtuosi the teams that have stronger cars and drivers. However, we should bear in mind that this was only the first round, so the rookies may still need some time to adapt to their new wagons and some veterans will probably do better in places where the weather isn’t that hot. Next round at Baku on 26-28 April will tell us if we are going to see more drivers in the mix or if it is all going to be about this weekend’s top three.
Ferrari academy driver Callum Ilott will make his Formula One test debut in May with Alfa Romeo, at the in-season test following the Spanish Grand Prix.
Ilott will complete a day of running in the Alfa Romeo C38, and will be Ferrari’s second junior to get an F1 testing opportunity with the Swiss team following Mick Schumacher’s test debut in Bahrain next week. The Barcelona test will mark Ilott’s first on-track experience driving a F1 car.
Glenn Dunbar / FIA F2 Championship
Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur said: “We are very pleased to announce that Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott will each complete a rookie test day for Alfa Romeo Racing.
“It is in our DNA to spot and nurture young talents. Mick and Callum are perfect examples of determined and skilled racers who deserve to be given the chance to take the next steps in their careers.”
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto added that opportunities for F1 test experience for Ilott and Schumacher would be “very useful at this stage in their career”. Ilott tweeted that it was a “really proud moment” to be selected by Alfa Romeo.
Jean-Eric Vergne finally ended his pointless run and the miserable start to his championship defence by claiming victory in a dominant display in the inaugural Sanya ePrix this weekend. Starting from the front row, the reigning champion pounced on Nissan’s Oliver Rowland on lap 19 and held firm against the rookie’s attack to clinch his first win since last season. The race also saw another change in the standings at the top of the table as championship leader Sam Bird was forced out of the race in the early stages, allowing Antonio Felix da Costa to clinch the coveted position as we approach the halfway point in the season.
BMW’s da Costa continued his dominant form in qualifying, initially claiming the top spot whilst his championship competitors struggled with Bird slowest in the first group, seventh tenths off the pace and di Grassi also half a second down on da Costa’s time. Jaguar’s headache continued with Evans tagged the wall and collected part of the sponsorship on his 200kw lap, leaving him at the lower end of the table whilst teammate Nelson Piquet Jr also struggled. Vergne finally managed to slot himself into the coveted superpole positions just behind da Costa and Audi’s Daniel Abt but it was Nissan that impressed in the initial session with both Sebastien Buemi and Rowland both managing to get into superpole, with Buemi snatching the top spot from da Costa by two tenths of a second. The Nissan drivers were joined in superpole by da Costa, Sims, Vergne and Abt.
Andrew Ferraro/LAT Images
Nissan’s dominance continued into superpole with Rowland taking his maiden pole position for the team, edging just ahead of Vergne by just over a second with the reigning champion having to settle for the front row. Da Costa looked promising but a messy mistake in the final corner proved costly and the Portuguese driver had to settle for third. Abt snatched P4 ahead of Sims and Buemi, with the former failing to set a lap time after suspected gear issues, whilst the latter made a mistake into turn 3, forcing him to abort his lap 25 seconds off the pace.
Rowland started well, managing to keep Vergne at bay in the opening stages as Abt began to pressure da Costa for P3 almost immediately. Bird’s misery continued after a clash with HWA’s Stoffel Vandoorne ruled him out of the race in the early stages, whilst Dragon also suffered with a double retirement as Felipe Nasr and Jose Maria Lopez found themselves out of contention after issues with their cars. Vergne continued to pressure Rowland, finally forcing the Nissan rookie into a mistake on lap 19 to take the lead. With his thoughts surely on his last victory in New York last season, Vergne began to put away from Rowland and the chasing pack.
Sam Bloxham/ LAT Images
Vergne continued to lead as a red flag forced a suspension of the race after Sims crashed out with just ten minutes left on the clock. His mood was dampened as the race resumed with the news that he was under investigation for incorrect full course yellow procedures but continued to keep Rowland behind as the clock ticked down. Drama continued in the closing stages as Buemi collided with Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns, sending the Dutchman into the back of di Grassi, sending both drivers out of the points and saddling Buemi with a late penalty for causing a collision. Despite this, Vergne continued to hold the lead from Rowland and was informed that he had received a reprimand. Vergne’s victory was his first since last season and the first for the DS-Techeetah partnership, made even more special by the fact that it is the team’s home ePrix. Rowland claimed a respectable P2 ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa in P3, who claimed the championship leader position.
The 2019 Formula 2 season kicks off this weekend in Bahrain with some new faces on the grid and a lot of surprises after an unusually unpredictable silly season. Normally, it is possible to figure out who is going to be where after the post-season test in Abu Dhabi, but this time what deals seemed to be done in December changed completely in January.
Some big names from last year are missing. Lando Norris and Alex Albon followed the 2018 champion George Russell in securing a Formula One seat, while Artem Markelov, who has become a fan favourite throughout the years, joined the Super Formula field in Japan. These departures could lead to a discussion on whether the talent in the grid has decreased, but we have to bear in mind that excellent drivers will make their debut in Bahrain even if they are not so well-known.
Anthoine Hubert (BWT Arden) / Glenn Dunbar, FIA F2 Championship
Among the youngsters approaching their first Formula 2 weekend we have last year’s GP3 Series top three. The champion Anthoine Hubert will enter the championship with BWT Arden in association with Mercedes’ feeder categories brand HWA despite the fact that he is a member of Renault Sport Academy. Nikita Mazepin, who has already tested in Formula 1 with Force India, will take part in the series with last year’s champions ART, and Ferrari Driver Academy member Callum Ilott will compete for the renamed Sauber Junior Team by Charouz. Even if they have proved their talent in the past, none of them are expected to be in the hunt for the big trophy after pre-season testing results, but for sure they will put on a good show and aim for podiums, even victories.
On the contrary, there is one man who is expected to fight for the championship from the beginning: Mick Schumacher. The son of the Formula One legend Michael Schumacher will drive for Prema, a team who won twice since they entered in 2016. Mick must not crack under pressure and confirm the speed showed last year in an outstanding second-half of the season which crowned him as FIA F3 European Champion. If he delivers, a seat in the 2020 Formula One grid is almost guaranteed for him.
Furthermore, Tatiana Calderón will be the first woman to race in the GP2 Series/FIA F2 since they started back in 2005. Partnering Hubert in BWT Arden, the Alfa Romeo Racing test driver will try to keep her momentum going to continue taking points as she did in the last five GP3 races.
Louis Deletraz (Carlin) / Glenn Dunbar, FIA F2 Championship
Looking now at the battle for the championship, four F2 veterans are expected to fight the already mentioned Mick Schumacher. They are Nyck de Vries (ART), Sérgio Sette Câmara (DAMS), Luca Ghiotto (UNI Virtuosi Racing) and Louis Delétraz (Carlin). All of them were pace-setters in testing and are capable of performing at any track—only reliability issues or race incidents would prevent them from having a chance to become champions.
We should also keep and eye on Jack Aitken. If it is true that he struggled a lot during his maiden season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him challenging for race wins throughout the year. However, the fact that he drives for Campos Racing may keep him away from the championship battle.
Regarding this first weekend in Bahrain, it may bring some surprises given that qualifying conditions are not the same as race ones. Qualifying is scheduled in the night while races are in the afternoon when temperatures are their highest. Tyre degradation is set to play a very important role, allowing different strategies as we already saw in the past. In 2017, Charles Leclerc decided to pit during the sprint race when he started to suffer with his tyres and he was able to make an impressive comeback overtaking 14 cars to win the race on the last lap. Will we see something like that again this year? We will know on Sunday!
Giuliano Alesi (Trident) / Glenn Dunbar, FIA F2 Championship
Edoardo Mortara scooped Venturi’s first ever win in the team’s history at the Hong Kong ePrix this weekend. The Swiss driver benefited from a late post-race penalty imposed on Envision Racing’s Sam Bird who won the race, but was given a five second time penalty after contact with Andre Lotterer which forced the Techeetah driver out of the race.
Qualifying was blighted by the everchanging conditions of the Hong Kong climate, with Mahindra miscalculating the correct window in which to set a lap which left both Jerome D’Ambrosio and Pascal languishing at the bottom of the timing screens. Audi’s Lucas di Grassi was the first driver to make an impact, snatching P1 from under Sam Bird and Antonio Felix da Costa’s noses in the worsening weather.
Mortara showcased his experience on street circuits by claiming P1, followed closely by Lotterer who made a mistake in his final sector. Jean Eric Vergne’s misery continued as he repeated history by sliding over the final line backwards, but could only manage P6 and suffered cosmetic damage to his Techeetah. His lap was later cancelled due to the incident.
Times soon began to tumble as the session approached the halfway stage with Oliver Rowland and Felipe Massa slotting themselves into the top six. However, it was HWA that impressed in the storm with Stoffel Vandoorne taking provisional pole by over half a second from teammate Gary Paffett who managed to snatch his debut in superpole. They were joined in superpole by Rowland, Mortara, Lotterer and di Grassi.
Photo by Sam Bloxham/ LAT Images
The weather continued to wreck havoc on superpole as di Grassi set a time of 1.14.177, only to be displaced by Lotterer a few moments later by a difference of 1.3 seconds. Mortara thrived in the difficult conditions, claiming P1 with a time of 1.12.310, half a second up on Lotterer. However, after the session ended, he was hit with a three place grid penalty for ignoring red flag conditions and dropped out of contention. Times continued to tumble as the track conditions became more favourable with Rowland disposing of Mortara by two tenths of a second. The two HWAs remained and Paffett locked up into turn one, forcing him into P4 behind Lotterer, but Vandoorne impressed once again, claiming his first ever pole position for HWA with a 1.11.580.
Rowland wasted no time at the start of the race, snatching P1 away from Vandoorne in the opening lap who was then passed by Bird, dropping the HWA rookie down to P3. Mahindra’s terrible luck continued as Felipe Nasr tagged the wall into turn two, collecting both Wehrlein and D’Ambrosio along the way, sending both cars out of the race with suspension damage. The race was red flagged in order to collect all three cars stranded in a precarious position with Rowland still leading the race.
Photo by Steven Tee / LAT Images
As the race got underway once more, most of the drivers armed themselves with their first attack mode as Lotterer pounced on Vandoorne immediately for P3. Out of turn one, Rowland slowed and dropped down the order, losing the lead at the expense of Bird. Lotterer began to press Bird for the top spot, finally forcing the Brit into a mistake to snatch the race lead away. However, Bird continued to fight back and kept the pressure on the German who began to struggle with energy consumption in the latter stages trying to keep Bird behind. Whilst one Techeetah dominated, reigning champion Vergne’s bad luck continued as he cut the chicane at turn one, earning a penalty.
Rowland continued to carve his way back through the field muscling his way past Daniel Abt for P9, whilst Alex Sims tagged the wall, forcing him out of the race. Bird continued to press Lotterer, and attempted a move into turn two, passing the German for a moment, before Lotterer reclaimed the lead. The battle at the front as Vandoorne’s car stopped on track, whilst Buemi was forced out of the race with damage.
As the race restarted with over ten minutes left on the clock, Bird continued to pile the pressure on Lotterer for the lead with Mortara holding di Grassi for P3 as Rowland’s hard work on climbing up the order was undone when he made contact with the wall, and stopped on track, bringing out a third safety car. With two minutes remaining, the race was restarted and the battle at the front came to a head as Bird made contact with the back of Lotterer’s car, causing a puncture which subsequently ended the German’s race. A subdued Bird claimed P1 but celebrations were muted after the announcement that there was an investigation of the incident between himself and Lotterer. After the race, Bird was handed a five second time penalty which dropped the Brit down to P6 and Mortara inherited the win, his and Venturi’s first win in the series. Di Grassi moved up to P2 and Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns inherited third.
