F3 Austrian Feature: Isack Hadjar converts pole to win in wet conditions
10th July 2022Hitech’s Isack Hadjar held off the advances of the Formula 3 championship leader as the young Frenchman won comfortably in wet conditions.
How the feature race unfolded…
Before the race started, the heavens opened which forced race control’s hand to start the race behind the safety car. This meant the drivers had to start the race on the full wet tyres. After a second formation lap, the race begun into the run down to turn nine as race control opted for a rolling start. This allowed the pole sitter, Hitech’s Isack Hadjar, to lead into the first corner with minimal pressure.
After the first initial lap, Hadjar ran wide into turn one and the Red Bull-backed driver quickly rejoined the track. However, this mistake closed the gap between himself and the F3 championship leader, ART’s Victor Martins.
Despite his best efforts to keep hold of the lead, Hadjar struggled to keep his car on the track while Martins looked to be more comfortable in the wet conditions.
By lap seven, Hadjar had established a two-second gap between himself, in the lead, and Martins – who remained P2.
Although the race started in soaked conditions, the order of the top seven remained unchanged by lap 12. The order went as follows; Hadjar, Martins, Bearman, Arthur Leclerc (Prema), Kaylen Frederick (Hitech), Romain Stanek (Trident) and Jonny Edgar (Trident).
The yellow flag was brought out on lap 14, as the two Charouz drivers of Zdenek Chovanec and Francesco Pizzi made contact into turn 10. Chovanec went down the inside line, on the exit of turn nine, but he collided with his teammate. Pizzi was soon given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
In a bid to avoid the colliding Charouz drivers, Jenzer Motorsport’s Federico Malvestiti spun out at turn 10, the main reason for the yellow flag. However, the Jenzer driver was able to get going once again.
On lap 18, Campos’ Josep Maria Marti rear-ended Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan, into turn four, as the Campos driver failed to slow down his car in time. As Marti couldn’t get past O’Sullivan immediately, he found himself to be the victim of his own doing. His teammate, David Vidales, was not aware of his almost stationary teammate as he raced around turn four and collided with Marti’s gearbox.
Chovanec and Pizzi once again collided with each other at turn four, on lap 19. Pizzi went down the inside into the downhill corner and clipped his teammates rear-right tyre, as a result Chovanec’s car spun around and beached itself in the gravel. The safety car was quickly deployed. Pizzi was later given, yet another, 10-second time penalty for the collision.
When the safety car was deployed, Martins came back into contention for a race win as Hadjar’s healthy four-second gap was eliminated.
In a similar fashion to the rolling start, Hadjar bolted into the run down to turn nine as the safety car peeled into the pit lane at the end of lap 22. However, carnage ensued at the first corner as MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet ran into the back of Edgar who then collided with his teammate, Crawford. Colllet was given a five-second time penalty
This contact forced the drivers, at the back of the pack, to take to the MotoGP’s long lap loop to avoid the chaos.
That’s it for the article: F3 Austrian Feature: Isack Hadjar converts pole to win in wet conditions! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more F3 here
- F3 Austrian Sprint: Zak Crawford secures win ahead of Collet
- F3 Austrian GP: Isack Hadjar secures maiden pole position
- F3 British GP: Arthur Leclerc commands feature race win
- F3 British Sprint Race: Isack Hadjar wins after penultimate lap move
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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.
