F3 Silverstone: Colapinto grabs win in mixed conditions

The Argentinian lined up fourth for Saturday’s sprint race, with the start delayed by 10 minutes as rain began to fall, though all of the field bar Gregoire Saucy (ART) stuck with slick tyres.

Colapinto took third at Village on lap one as team-mate Jonny Edgar fell back off the line as poleman Sebastian Montoya (Hitech) held the lead from Jenzer driver Taylor Barnard.

Williams junior Colapinto held onto third during the safety car, prompted by heavier rainfall, and took the lead after contact between Barnard and Montoya on the restart.

From there, he built a strong lead to take his first win since Monza last year, with championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto in second for Trident and Campos’ Christian Mansell scoring his maiden podium in third.

Red Bull junior Montoya held the lead off the line, with Barnard in second as Edgar fell back to third.

He was soon passed by Colapinto before Hitech driver Luke Browning took fourth into Stowe and team-mate Gabriele Mini followed him through at the final corner.

Edgar continued to fall down the order, settling for 10th heading into lap three.

The rain, which had eased, started again on lap five, with Barnard now within DRS of Montoya with another 0.6s back to Colapinto.

Heavier rain came three laps later, with DRS disabled before the safety car was deployed.

The change in conditions prompted several drivers to dive into the pits, with Prema driver Dino Beganovic, who had climbed to 20th from the back of the grid after an engine issue in qualifying, first to stop.

Several others, including the other two Prema drivers Zak O’Sullivan and Paul Aron, Luke Browning and Pepe Marti (Campos) stopped next time round as the rain continued.

Luke Browning, Hitech Pulse-Eight

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

The safety car period ended on lap 13 as the rain slowed, with Barnard attempting a move on Montoya into Turn 1, catching his rear and sending him into a spin, falling to 18th, while Barnard suffered a puncture.

This handed Colapinto the lead, with Bortoleto in second and Barnard clinging onto third, though he soon dropped down the order as the puncture took effect.

Those who had stopped began to make good progress, with Beganovic and Aron benefiting the most as the Estonian ran as high as sixth.

But it wasn’t to last, as a drying track saw those on slicks again benefit, allowing Mini to reclaim fifth from Aron, as Hugh Barter (Campos) grabbed sixth.

Caio Collet finished fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of Mini and Barber, with Sunday polesitter Leonardo Fornaroli in seventh for Trident.

Montoya climbed back to eighth after the contact from Barnard, with Ido Cohen in ninth for Carlin and Marti rounding off the top 10.

F3 Silverstone - Sprint race results

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	18
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	18	3.700
3	Christian Mansell	Campos Racing	18	5.800
4	Caio Collet	Van Amersfoort Racing	18	6.200
5	Gabriele Minì	Hitech Pulse-Eight	18	14.500
6	Hugh Barter	Campos Racing	18	17.400
7	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	18	19.600
8	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech Pulse-Eight	18	23.600
9	Ido Cohen	Rodin Carlin	18	42.000
10	Pepe Martí	Campos Racing	18	52.700
11	Alex Garcia	Jenzer Motorsport	18	52.800
12	Paul Aron	Prema Powerteam	18	53.300
13	Dino Beganovic	Prema Powerteam	18	54.200
14	Luke Browning	Hitech Pulse-Eight	18	54.800
15	Nikola Tsolov	ART Grand Prix	18	55.900
16	Zak O'Sullivan	Prema Powerteam	18	57.400
17	Oliver Goethe	Trident	18	58.300
18	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer Motorsport	18	1'01.400
19	Sophia Flörsch	PHM Racing by Charouz	18	1'07.700
20	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing	18	1'08.800
21	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	18	1'11.000
22	Oliver Gray	Rodin Carlin	18	1'11.600
23	Gregoire Saucy	ART Grand Prix	18	1'11.700
24	Kaylen Frederick	ART Grand Prix	18	1'13.900
25	McKenzy Cresswell	PHM Racing by Charouz	18	1'14.900
26	Max Esterson	Rodin Carlin	18	1'16.400
27	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing by Charouz	18	1'27.000
28	Tommy Smith	Van Amersfoort Racing	18	1'31.900
29	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	18	1'43.000
30	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer Motorsport	18	1'50.600
View full results