F3 Spanish GP: David Vidales secures sprint win pending investigation
21st May 2022Campos’ David Vidales secured the first F3 race win of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend but he is pending an investigation for forcing Prema’s Jak Crawford off track.
How the race unfolded…
It was a decent start from the front row as the reverse grid pole sitter, Vidales, covered off his ART’s Juan Manuel Correa down the straight and led the pack into the first corner. While Crawford had to settle for third behind Correa into turn one.
Despite a large grid, the field cleanly entered the turn one chicane and battled throughout Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. By the end of the first lap, it was well behaved as all the drivers had no issues or collisions.
Campos’ Hunter Yeany was the first driver to pit as he required a new front wing. This placed him at the back of the pack, and at a disadvantage as there were no mandatory pit stops.
On lap seven, ART’s Victor Martins was seen driving slowly around turn three as the championship leader seemed to have mechanical issues. Fortunately, Martins was able to nurse his car back to the pit lane. At the same time, race control waved the black and white flag to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez for forcing another driver off the track.
A lap later, VAR’s Franco Colapinto lost his engine cover down the main straight as it had become loose through the race. Race control issued Colapinto with the black and orange flag which instructed the driver to return to the pits for repairs. The driver returned to the pit lane and retired from the race
After Crawford secured P2 from Correa, he managed to quickly cut down the gap to the race leader. On lap 11, Crawford made a move for the lead of the race, into turn one, but Vidales forced the Red Bull-backed driver to the outside line. Crawford then had to back out as the race leader squeezed the Prema driver onto the run-off.
The steward’s soon put the turn one incident, between Vidales and Crawford, under investigation. However, it was then postponed until after the race.
As the field raced into lap 18, MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet made a move on Correa down the main straight to obtain the final podium position. The MP driver had superior straight line speed, with assistance from the drag reduction system, and cleared past Correa before the turn one braking zone.
However, Correa put himself in some hot water with race control. As MP’s Alexander Smolyar went wheel-to-wheel with MP’s Correa into turn one, the ART driver squeezed Smolyar onto the run off area. In similar fashion to the Vidales and Crawford incident, Correa was put under investigation.
Podium:
- David Vidales, Campos
- Jak Crawford, Prema
- Caio Collet, MP Motorsport
That’s it for the article: F3 Spanish GP: David Vidales secures sprint win pending investigation! What do you think, will Vidales lose his race win after forcing Crawford off the track? Let us know in the comments!
Read more F3 here
Read our latest F3 articles below!
- F3 Spain GP: ART’s Victor Martins tops practice
- F3 Emilia-Romagna Sprint Race: Franco Colapinto wins after late drama
- F3 Emilia-Romagna Qualifying: Zane Maloney secures pole position
To keep up to date with the latest news from Apex Motorsports, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!
Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Amazing work !!