F3 | Sprint Race | Bahrain GP | Tsolov snatches the win from hugely impressive Slater - Motorsport

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A very exciting Bahrain Sprint race took place in F3 as the first race took place in unbelievably hot weather, full report and results below.

Trident’s Rafael Câmara dominated qualifying yesterday, earning his second consecutive pole position of the season. Right behind Câmara is Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin and Trident teammate Charlie Wurz.

The Sprint Race features a top 12 reverse grid with Hitech locking out the top positions: Joshua Dufek on pole, teammate Martinius Stenshorne behind, and AIX Racing’s Freddie Slater in pursuit.

The qualifying session was electric, laps becoming more and more impressive through the session, there’s no doubt about the action to come in the F3 Sprint Race in Bahrain.

Bahrain’s International Circuit boasts a fast 5.412km track, with the F3 field set to tackle 19 laps and 15 corners this afternoon, known for its thrilling on-track battles, it promises excitement.

The race track temp was sitting around 51 degrees celsius, meaning a physical demanding race was on the cards.

Dufek leads from pole into turn one

Bruno Del Pino, due to start 8th, started from the pitlane, meaning 29 drivers will be on the grid.

Josh Dufek starts strong, positioning himself to lead the race.

Championship leader Câmara’s stalled, leaving him in last place and out of points contention, marking a disastrous start.

Slater made a brilliant pass around the outside on Stenshorne into turn 4 and completing it fully at turn 6, making his motives very clear from the get go.

DRS enabled with kicks of gravel flicked around in turn three, several moves on the go at once.

Lap 2 had a reported flat tyre by Nicola Marinangeli, adding to the chaos of the race start.

On lap three, Slater passes Dufek into turn 1, leading the race with exceptional skill in car number 28.

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak faced some issues early in the race with a puncture, while Ugo Ugochukwu stopped at turn two following unfortunate contact with teammate and fellow McLaren junior Brando Badoer, prompting a safety car. This allowed Dufek and Slater to resume their battle, enhancing the race excitement.

Tsolov expressed concerns about the heat on the radio, highlighting worries of dehydration as the temperature reached 38 degrees Celsius.

By lap six, green flags are waved with racing back underway – Slater charging away while Dufek was under attack by Tsolov, losing his P2 position on the run to turn 1.

Tuukka Taponen gives it his best to do an overtake at turn 4 but was unsuccessful this time around as Stenshorne defended very hard for 4th.

Roman Bilinski called in to box for a front wing change after taking on some damage from the restart.

Mid-race action heats up in the F3 Bahrain Sprint

Slater’s lead gets defensive as Nicola Tsolov fights for the lead, the tensions creeping as they hit the middle of the race.

Positions third, fourth, and fifth show a very close battle as Dufek locks up his front left tyre, crucially impacting his tyre run for later in the race – later losing a place to Taponen.

Williams Academy driver, Alessandro Giusti, tried to give it back to Dufek but missed out on a move forward.

Slater continues to bravely fight with Tsolov, showing some serious wisdom as he defends and pulls off switchbacks into turn 4 and turn 8.

However, Tsolov eventually grabs the lead ahead of Slater by making the pass into turn 1, gradually opening up his lead, although he never got out on DRS.

Théophile Naël slows dramatically as he was hit by Javier Sagrera at turn 10 – painful for the current P2 in the Drivers’ Championship. The Spaniard was handed a penalty afterwards.

Further up the grid, tyres were visibly degrading with drivers struggling as the race continues on.

For just outside the podium places, Stenshorne and Giusti battle it out further, Giusti unable to get through to make another spot, turning himself into a vulnerable target as Callum Voisin passed him for 5th.

Sprint Race comes to a close

With four laps remaining, the finish line became equally exciting for the drivers with a track hazard pulling a yellow flag from Dufek coming to a stop, paired with Ivan Domingues stopped on the side of the track.

Domingues took a late dive, sliding into Dufek, ending both their race in an unfortunate incident.

This interruption of the race created more bunching and more opportunity with a safety car deployed, and 6 cars labeled as DNF.

With a late interruption caused by an unlucky and overly ambitious dive, Slater missed the chance for one more lap. Slater won’t compete in future rounds as thing stand, so it’s all or nothing for the driver of the number 28 car.

Amidst this all-or-nothing mindset, Tsolov’s front left tyre struggled, and the race leader lacked confidence with two laps remaining. This gave the Brit more confidence as all the cars bunched up before the green flag waved.

On Slater’s debut, he charged down the race leader as Stenshorne tried his luck with Taponen once again, unsuccessful, and he lost our to Callum Voisin.

A brilliant defence by Tsolov to claim fourth F3 win

Tsolov gave a brilliant defence against the speedy and hungry rookie behind him, heightening the excitement of the race – both drivers almost making contact.

Final lap saw one more finger in the pie with Taponen attempting to capitalise the fight between the two ahead of him, breaking up the small and intense gap.

In turn 11 with one more DRS zone, Slater tried to have a go but could not quite do it, missing out as Tsolov took the chequered flag, awarded as the winner.

However all is not lost, with the Brit gaining his first podium on debut, impressing everyone. Tuukka Taponen also bagged his first podium in the series as the Finn drove a very solid race to 3rd.