James Wharton wins a drama-filled sprint race at the F3 Austrian Grand Prix. Closely followed were Williams Academy driver Alessandro Giusti and McLaren’s Ugo Ugochukwu.
Saturday’s sprint race was set by reversing Friday’s qualifying results, placing ART’s James Wharton on pole position. Alongside the Australian was MP driver Alessandro Giusti. Both drivers will be chasing their first Formula 3 wins today in Spielberg.
Hometown hero Charlie Wurz will start the sprint in third. He is looking to create history by becoming the first Austrian F3 driver to win at home.
Championship leader Rafael Câmara will start from P6, following a difficult Friday which saw him qualify in P8. His main championship rival of Nikola Tsolov, starts in P12 after securing pole position yesterday.
Before the race begins, Bruno Del Pino stalls on the formation lap; however, he is able to get away and reclaim his spot for the starting grid.
Lights out for the Sprint Race
The F3 Austrian GP sprint race kicked off with a good start from the pole sitter, who kept his lead into turn 1. However, he immediately comes under pressure from Giusti behind who is forcing the Australian into a defensive mode.
Elsewhere, it was a pretty clean start from the rest of the field, with Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov being the big mover on the opening lap. The Bulgarian managed to make his way into 9th place from his starting position of 12th.
Lap 2 brought out the safety car after a multi-car collision into turn 3. This resulted in Tukka Taponen, Louis Sharp, and Christian Ho retiring from the race. Due to the cars stranded on the track, the safety car is brought out early in the race.
Safety Car ends
At the end of Lap 4, the Safety Car pulls into the pits, and Wharton is left to lead the pack away. The Australian kept his lead and Giusti behind him.
Following the Safety Car, there were many intense battles between drivers all across the field. On Lap 5, racing resumed under green flag conditions, and immediately, Tsolov made his presence known, diving to the inside of Voisin at Turn 1 to take seventh place in a bold move.
Lap 6 saw further drama unfold. Badoer, defending hard, ran wide at Turn 1 and was quickly overtaken by both Ugochukwu and Camara. However, he launched a counterattack on Ugochukwu in the same lap, diving back through to reclaim fifth position.
The chaos continued as Benavides went side-by-side with Voisin through Turn 1. However, contact with Del Pino left both the MP Motorsport and AIX drivers with damage that saw their races end.
Intense racing resumed
Lap 8 brought more action as Giusti, using DRS, attempted a bold move around the outside of Wharton at Turn 4. The ART Grand Prix driver, however, held his line and defended to keep his P1.
Câmara, desperate to gain ground, tried to make a move on Badoer on Lap 9 at Turn 4. However, he lost momentum in the process, opening the door for Tsolov. The Bulgarian didn’t hesitate, sweeping around the outside of Turn 6, he secured P6 for Campos Racing. He managed to overtake his championship rival.
Câmara’s troubles didn’t end there. On the same lap, while trying to recover, he ran wide into the gravel on the exit of Turn 4. That mistake proved costly, dropping the Brazilian down to ninth in an already difficult weekend.
With the race entering its final stages, a dramatic seven-car battle for the win unfolded at the front. Meanwhile, Christian Ho was handed a 10-second time penalty, which could be converted to a grid drop in tomorrow’s feature race.
Safety Car brought out once more
On Lap 13, Badoer went for an ambitious dive on his teammate at Turn 3. However, the move backfired disastrously as he misjudged the braking zone and tagged Wurz ahead of him. This ended the hometown heroes race prematurely when he was on for a potential home podium.
With the Safety Car leading the field again, the pressure mounted for the remaining laps. Wahrton still remains in P1, with Giustu eager behind. Elsewhere Tsolov is sitting in a prime seat of P4, hoping for a potential double podium this weekend in Austria.
The Safety Car comes in at the end of lap 17, leaving Wharton to lead the pack with a perfect restart from Wharton, who pulled a small gap over Giusti as the race resumed. Behind them, Tsolov immediately attacked Ugochukwu into Turn 1, but the American held his ground brilliantly through Turn 3, fending off both Tsolov and Inthraphuvasak in a tense three-way battle.
Further back, Câmara and Tsolov’s teammate Mari Boya were locked in a fierce fight for P7, swapping places in a hard but fair scrap that had major championship implications.
With just a few laps remaining, Wharton kept his cool up front, holding off Giusti to maintain the lead. As the field bunched up behind, the sprint race delivered a dramatic finish with title rivals going wheel-to-wheel and no position guaranteed until the final corner.
Final Lap
On Lap 20, Câmara attempted a move on Stenshorne for sixth but ran wide at Turn 3, slipping down to P10 by Turn 4. On the final lap, Nael passed him into Turn 1, but Câmara fought back on the corner exit to just hold onto a single point in tenth.
Outfront James Wharton wins the F3 Sprint race at the Austrian GP. Putting the Australian flag back on the top step of the podium for the first time since Jack Doohan competed. After an intense battle, Giusti finished second, Ugochukwu in third.
Mari Boya made a late move count, diving opportunistically down the inside of both Stenshorne and Tramnitz at Turn 4 to snatch sixth.
In terms of the championship, Nikola Tsolov has taken 8 points out of Rafa Câmara’s lead ahead of tomorrow’s feature race.
Final classification
- James Wharton
- Alessandro Giusti
- Ugo Ugochukwu
