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Smolyar was victorious in an action-packed curtain-raiser for the 2021 Formula Three Championship, ahead of Trident’s Clement Novalak and debutant Caio Collet.
The first round of the 2021 F3 championship, held at a revamped Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, was an enthralling spectacle.
The Spanish circuit offered a variety of challenges to the drivers, including a testing turn three parabolica as well as a redeveloped turn 10, which was once a tight hairpin on the end of a hard braking zone.
Starting Grid
Lining up on pole for the Formula 3 season opener was Carlin’s Jonny Edgar alongside Russian Aleksandr Smolyar.
On row two was MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet who lined up alongside David Schumacher, the nephew of the great Michael Schumacher.
The returning Juan Manuel Correa lined up in 13th, ahead of Prema Racing’s Arthur Leclerc, the younger brother of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
As It Happened
Carlin’s Ido Cohen suffered a mechanical issue on the final corner of the formation lap which forced the start to be aborted; meaning an extra formation lap was required and the race distance was shortened to 21 laps.
Off the line, it was pole-sitter Jonny Edgar that got a fantastic start as he got the hole-shot into turn one. Trident’s Clement Novalak was alert as he made a brave lunge into turn one which promoted him up to P4 behind Smolyar and Collet.
In the early stages of the race, Edgar made the most of the clean air in front of him as he started to pull away from Smolyar, however, the Russian managed to utilise DRS effectively as at turn one on lap four the ART driver took the lead of the race.
On the next lap, Edgar tried to mirror the move that demoted him to second but was unsuccessful due to some excellent defending from the Russian.
On lap six, debutant Collet started putting pressure on second place Edgar and on lap 10 the Brazilian tried a move at turn one, which started a thrilling battle through sector one. Collet ran off onto the outside of the track at the never-ending turn three, picking up marbles, which Novalak took advantage of as he got up to third.
This battle continued over the next few laps as Edgar defended desperately against Novalak, but unfortunately for the Brit on lap 14, Novalak got past the Carlin car and started to pull away and chased leader Smolyar.
The very next lap at turn one, which proved to be the primary overtaking hotspot throughout race one, Caio Collet managed to break into podium places after overtaking Edgar.
On lap 16, Logan Sargeant tried a move on Edgar who continued to fall down the pack, which is a move the American driver made stick the next lap.
Leader Smolyar cried “the rear tyres don’t feel too good” and with five laps to go, Novalak started to make inroads on the Russian.
On lap 18, HWA Racelab’s Oliver Rasmussen was sent skipping into the gravel trap on the outside of turn 16 and became beached. This incident bought out the safety car which saw the pack over the finish line.
In the end, it was Aleksandr Smolyar who was victorious ahead of the chasing Clement Novalak in second. The podium was rounded off by Caio Collet, who scored his maiden podium on his Formula 3 debut.
Rounding out the top ten was Sargeant, Edgar, Olli Caldwell, Frederik Vesti, Dennis Hauger, Victor Martins and Matteo Nannini.
What’s Next?
Race Two of the Formula 3 comes later on Saturday afternoon at 16:45 track time, where Enzo Fittipaldi will line up on pole position as he finished 12th in race one, ahead of David Schumacher who finished 11th.
Smolyar will be hoping to build on a brilliant race one and extend his lead in the drivers’ standings.
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