Van Amersfoort Racing’s León starts from pole position ahead of Prema’s Lindblad for the
Formula 3 Sprint Race in Silverstone, after the top twelve from yesterday’s qualifying is flipped for this race.
Tsolov, Meguetounif, Esterson, and Boya have all been handed three-place grid penalties following incidents of impeding during qualifying. They will now be starting from 8th, 13th, 14th, and 25th, respectively.
The wet weather in Silverstone has forced a delayed start, after many drivers, including Gabriele Mini, aquaplaning off due to the pooling water on the track, while simply taking the cars to the Formula 1 pit lane from the support paddock. The sprint was eventually postponed, to instead start at 6:10pm local time.
Arvid Lindblad took the lead at the start, with Leon and Zagazeta completing the top 3.
There was front wing damage and punctures for Floersch, Ramos, Shields, Smith and Wharton on the opening laps as plenty of contact occurred. A VSC was required to clear the tyre of the Mexican.
Fornaroli had a bad launch, almost stalling. He dropped from P9 to P17.
The Safety Car was called on lap 4 as Goethe and Esterson had a high speed off at Copse. Replays were inconclusive as to what happened.
Lindblad, Leon, Zagazeta, Voisin, Mansell, Wurz, Dunne, Tsolov, Mini and Meguetounif was the top 10 on the restart.
Any chance of points for Luke Browning ended on the restart as Tim Tramnitz got it all wrong trying to pass him at turn 4, resulting in punctures for both drivers.
Alex Dunne continued to make progress from P11 on the grid, aggressively passing Wurz at Stowe. However, after passing Mansell, the Irish driver was seemingly told to give the place back to the Austrian.
As Dunne tried to pass on the run down the Wellington straight, Wurz started to squeeze the MP Motorsport driver on to the grass, and they touched. Wurz was out on the spot, Dunne had to pit for a new front wing. Montoya and Van Hoepen moved into the top 10.
In the closing laps, Montoya cleared Meguetounif for P8, with Tsolov dangerously putting Mini on the grass at turn 8 on the run to Copse.
Lindblad drove away out front, taking a dominant win. Leon and Zagazeta completed the podium, on a memorable day for the Peruvian.
Voisin, Tsolov, Mini, Montoya, Meguetounif, Van Hoepen and Fornaroli completed the top 10.
