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Aleksandr Smolyar was victorious in Formula 3’s opening race at the French Grand Prix, ahead of home-hero Victor Martins and Calan Williams who finished third, clinching his maiden F3 podium.
Starting Grid
On pole position was Calan Williams, the Australian qualified 12th in Friday’s qualifying session which put him at the head of the field for the Sprint Race.
Alongside the Jenzer Motorsport driver was Trident’s David Schumacher, who hoped his luck would be better than in Catalunya last time out.
On row two were compatriots Logan Sargeant and Juan Manuel Correa – the ART driver was on the F2 podium at Paul Ricard in 2019, a fate he’d hope to replicate in Race One.
Championship leader Dennis Hauger lined up 12th, as he claimed second place ahead of Sunday’s Feature Race. The Norwegian was joined on the sixth row by Frederik Vesti, who stood at the summit of Friday’s Qualifying standings.
As It Happened
Off the line, it was Williams who got the hole-shot, as Schumacher dropped all the way down to fifth at the end of the first lap.
Williams was put under pressure by Sargeant early on, as the Jenzer driver got loose coming out of turn 11 and skipped over the rumble-strips, luckily, no damage was sustained to his car.
At the start of lap two, the race was neutralised as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed after Johnathan Hoggard retired from the race due to a collision at the turn eight chicane.
Schumacher’s struggles continued as Clement Novalak promoted himself up to sixth ahead of the German upon the resumption of the race on lap three.
At the start of lap four, the battle for the lead was starting to shape up as the top three were all within a second of leader Williams.
Smolyar was also breathing down his teammate’s neck as the Russian gate-crashed the lead battle, where on lap five, the ART driver set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:52.892.
On lap six, third-place Ayumu Iwasa poked the nose of his Hitech car into Sargeant’s peripheral vision as the Japanese rookie hugged the long, winding apex of turn 11. The American faced a battle with a lack of downforce after closely following leader Williams.
At the start of lap seven, Smolyar tried to overtake Correa at turn one but the American defended well. As this battle ensued, Sargeant turned defence into attack and took the lead of the race at turn one.
The leading American was put under pressure into turn eight, but swiftly showed Williams the door. Iwasa then executed the move he’d rehearsed on the previous lap, which promoted the Japanese driver into second.
Smolyar and Correa continued to remain in the mix with the lead group, as they were ready to pounce on any mistakes the top three made, before Smolyar slipped up the inside of Correa on lap nine into fourth at turn one.
Martins and Novalak were also in the lead pack, as like the ART duo ahead, they smelt the blood of leader Sargeant.
There was a new race leader on lap 10 as Iwasa leapfrogged Sargeant into the lead, a superb overtake at the fast, sweeping turn 10 that required pinpoint race etiquette, a move which was later investigated for an infringement of track limits.
Martins was the next to make a move as he breezed past Correa on the pit straight with the assistance of DRS at the start of lap 11.
The next lap, Smolyar sensed an opportunity to overtake Williams at turn 11 but sensibly backed out. On lap 13, Williams defended against the Russian superbly at turn 10 as Smolyar continued to try and find a way past the Australian.
The next lap, Smolyar made a bold and brave move on Williams at turn one as he finally promoted himself into the podium places.
On lap 16, Smolyar sized up a move on Sargeant into turn 11, as the Russian moved up into second, moments before Martins dived down the inside of Sargeant at turn 15, as the home-boy got himself up into the podium places.
The very next lap, Smolyar got into the lead ahead of Iwasa at turn eight. The Japanese driver fell down another position at turn 12 as Martins soared around the outside of Iwasa and moved up to second.
Iwasa couldn’t catch a break as he was dealt a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits when he overtook Williams on lap 10, which ultimately ended his bid for a podium place, as the fierce pack behind continued to pile pressure onto the leaders.
Martins made the next move, as the Frenchman got past Smolyar into the lead at turn eight on lap 18.
The MP Motorsport driver defended well for the next two laps, however Smolyar seized an opportunity to take the victory into the turn eight braking zone thanks to DRS. Martins tried to force a mistake from the Russian but it wasn’t meant to be as Smolyar took his second F3 victory of the season.
The Russian was joined on the podium by Victor Martins and Calan Williams, who took his maiden F3 podium.
Rounding out the top 10 was Logan Sargeant, Novalak, Correa, Jack Doohan – who clinched the fastest lap, Iwasa, Dennis Hauger and Olli Caldwell.
Quote from the race winner
In the post-race press conference, winner Smolyar gave his thoughts on an action-packed race:
“I was a bit annoyed in the middle part of the race that I was stuck behind the guys ahead. There were four laps to go so I pushed as much as I can.
“With the slipstream being so strong I knew I had to stay within half a second to be in with a chance, I saw opportunities and took them well.
“I have two wins already, but they’re both Sprint Race wins, so I know I need to improve on my qualifying performances.”
What’s Next?
Formula 3 is back in action on Saturday afternoon for Race Two where Arthur Leclerc will start on pole position as he made up 18 positions and finished 12th. The Prema Racing driver will have a clear view into turn one ahead of Jak Crawford when lights go out at the start of the second Sprint Race.
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