Barcelona F3: Smolyar takes maiden win after safety car finish

Having started second after the top 12 from qualifying were reversed, Smolyar took the lead from Carlin rookie Jonny Edgar on the fourth lap of 22 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the help of DRS at Turn 1 after a tight battle during the first few laps.

Smolyar had broken the DRS train by lap eight, giving him more than 1.5 seconds on Edgar which he extended to more than two seconds by the 12th lap, although a charging Clement Novalak had started to threaten before the safety car appeared on lap 19 when HWA Racelab driver Oliver Rasmussen ended up in the gravel at the final corner.

The Russian sophomore's victory, only his second podium finish in F3 after a third place at Monza last year, also came with an added two bonus points for securing the fastest lap. Smolyar was denied a maiden F3 win last year at Silverstone when he picked up a post-race five-second time penalty for excessive weaving.

Trident’s Novalak rose from sixth on the grid to finish second for his first F3 podium since the second of the four Silverstone races held in 2020, while MP Motorsport rookie Caio Collet took third on his debut.

Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant, the highest placed returning driver from last year, finished fourth after completing a late deal to sign for the Czech team earlier this week, while poleman Edgar slipped back to fifth.

Ido Cohen’s Carlin car ground to a halt on the track during the formation lap, forcing the start to be aborted and inducing another formation lap for the other 29 drivers while he was towed back to the pitlane.

Despite Edgar having a great getaway and remaining in first for the initial few laps, he dropped down to fourth by the 16th lap as his tyres wore away, before being overtaken Sargeant the following lap.

Olli Caldwell was the best-placed entry from reigning teams champion Prema in sixth ahead of ART's Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti, with race three poleman Dennis Hauger - who started 12th after topping Friday's qualifying session - completing the top eight.

Podium: Race winner Alexander Smolyar, ART Grand Prix, second place Clement Novalak, Trident, third place Caio Collet, MP Motorsport

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Their Prema team-mate Arthur Leclerc was forced to pit on lap 14 after a rear left puncture, dropping him down the running order to an eventual 28th place finish after Rasmussen's off.

Trident’s Jack Doohan, who qualified second yesterday, dropped down the order from 11th to 19th during the hectic first lap and eventually finished 17th.

The top 12 of this morning’s race is reversed to form the grid for this afternoon’s race, with Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi starting on pole.

Trident’s David Schumacher will start second, with HWA Racelab’s Matteo Nannini and MP Motorsport’s Victor Martins on the second row.

Results

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	Alexander Smolyar	ART Grand Prix	21
2	Clement Novalak	Trident	21	1.500
3	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	21	1.900
4	Logan Sargeant	Charouz Racing System	21	2.100
5	Jonny Edgar	Carlin	21	2.400
6	Olli Caldwell	Prema Powerteam	21	2.800
7	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	21	3.400
8	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	21	3.800
9	Victor Martins	MP Motorsport	21	4.100
10	Matteo Nannini	HWA AG	21	4.500
11	David Schumacher	Trident	21	4.900
12	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	21	5.300
13	Jak Crawford	HitechGP	21	5.700
14	Ayumu Iwasa	HitechGP	21	6.200
15	Juan Manuel Correa	ART Grand Prix	21	7.200
16	Roman Staněk	HitechGP	21	7.700
17	Jack Doohan	Trident	21	10.000
18	Calan Williams	Jenzer Motorsport	21	10.300
19	Rafael Villagómez	HWA AG	21	11.200
20	Reshad de	Charouz Racing System	21	11.800
21	Tijmen van	MP Motorsport	21	13.400
22	Kaylen Frederick	Carlin	21	13.900
23	Lorenzo Colombo	Campos Racing	21	14.100
24	Pierre-Louis Chovet	Jenzer Motorsport	21	18.000
25	Filip Ugran	Jenzer Motorsport	21	18.300
26	Amaury Cordeel	Campos Racing	21	20.500
27	László Tóth	Campos Racing	21	21.000
28	Arthur Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	21	21.400
29	Ido Cohen	Carlin	21	38.000
30	Oliver Rasmussen	HWA AG	17
View full results