Formula 3: new podium for Argentine Franco Colapinto

Franco Colapinto It is the Argentine who stands out the most in formula cars in Europe. In Formula 3, he returned to put the flag – just on July 9 – on the podium of one of the opening categories of Formula 1. It was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, where the driver of the Van Amersfoort Racing team finished third in a heavily interrupted sprint race.

Although this podium to the victory obtained in ImolaColapinto was coming out of a very difficult weekend at Silverstone, where he finished 13th in the short race and retired in the main race.

In Austria, however, everything changed and there was a party at the start of the national day in Argentina, when they crossed the finish line behind the American Jak Crawford (Prema Racing) and the Brazilian Caio Collet (MP Motorsport ), on a 100% American podium.

It wasn’t an easy task. At turn one Collet covered Correa and Colapinto took on Crawford, but behind him four cars were trying to enter turn 3, prompting the first warning.

In a race strongly influenced by rhythm cars, both virtual and on the trackRafael Villagomez made the first stop at turn 3 and let the safety car in to remove the car of the Van Amersfoort Racing team, the same as Colapinto.

The Security machine retired at the start of lap 4 and it was three Tridents who immediately got behind the wheel, when Zane Maloney and Roman Stanek fought, Jonny Edgar slipped inside the two at turn 4, emerging in sixth place that Maloney has recovered at the next corner.

Ahead, meanwhile, after a good start from Correa, his interruption meant that Collet moved into the lead and Colapinto was second. But, when William Alatalo pulled to the side of the circuit, a Virtual Safety Car appeared to retrieve the Jenzer Motorsport car and stop the battle until lap 10.

A late dip at Turn 3’s Arthur LeclercCharles’s younger brother set off even more fireworks when Bearman and Maloney made contact and fielded a new pace car, which only went off on lap 14.

When the race resumed, Crawford overtook Colapinto esand immediately put him next to Collet entering turn 3 to fight for the lead. Their battle was not resolved until Turn 7, after the American escorted him outside before taking the lead with a bold move.

A lap later, Leclerc repeated his teammate’s effort to take fourth place from Edgar in the same place, who was then relegated by Frederick to seventh. Bearman nearly made three out of three for PREMA at Turn 7, but had to give up in his battle with Victor Martins for eighth. The Trident fight continued as Stanek claimed fifth place from teammate Edgar on lap 17 with assistance from DRS.

Martins attempted a pass at Turn 3 on the next lap but had to brake to avoid contact with the Trident. This opened the doors for Bearman at Turn 6, who with a big move took the position.

At the start of the final lap, the top four were separated by just over two seconds and leader Crawford was the only one without DRS. Despite the disadvantage, the PREMA runner held his first victory in the third division, ahead of Collet and Colapinto, who managed to keep Leclerc at bay.

A) Yes, after three dates, the Argentine flag is back on the podium of F3. The last time it was in Italy, where even in a sprint race Colapinto disputed the victory hand in hand with Collet, who overtook the last lap obtaining his first victory on the second round. Before that he had been third on Sunday at Sakhir, but a five second penalty for exceeding the track limits brought him back to fifth place.

Now there is the long race on Sunday, which will return at dawn in Argentina (at 3:35), in which Colapinto will start from ninth position in the standings on Friday.

In the championship, meanwhile, fourth place and the fastest lap brought Leclerc to just one point off the top of the standings. Martins is still in the lead, now with 80 points. Hadjar remains third, with 71, followed by Crawford, who climbs to fourth, now with 70 points, ahead of Roman Stanek with 67. Colapinto is eighth, with 34.

Among the manufacturers, PREMA Racing extends its lead in the standings by another 18 points, bringing its tally to 193. ART Grand Prix remains in second place, now at 116, while Hitech Grand Prix is ​​just ahead of Trident, 99 points to 98.