F3 Hungarian Sprint: Collet wins after Colapinto mistake
30th July 2022MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet pressured Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto into an unforced error to secure the lead, and win, in wet conditions.
How the sprint race unfolded…
After a rainfall prior to the race start, the formation lap was conducted behind the safety car with the entire grid on the blue-ringed full wet tyres. Due to the soaking conditions out on track, safety car remained out on track to conduct another formation lap.
After the second formation lap, the safety car peeled back into the pit lane and the race began with a rolling start headed by Campos’ debutant Oliver Goethe. However, as the pack ventured around the final corner, Goethe ran wide which left him vulnerable on the run down the pit straight.
By the first corner, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto snuck down the inside line and snatched the lead away from the new driver. The safety car was quickly redeployed back onto the Hungaroring as Campos’ David Vidales was seen in the barrier out of turn three.
By the end of the first racing lap, the order was led by Colapinto ahead of Hitech’s Isack Hadjar, MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet and Goethe, in P2, P3 and P4 respectively.
The safety car quickly returned to the pit lane, at the end of lap three. As the field raced towards turn one, Colapinto was quickly put under threat by the likes of Collet and Hadjar. The MP driver tried a mode around the outside of the VAR driver while the Hitech attempted a move down the inside. However, the VAR car managed to remain out in front.
While Collet couldn’t find a way passed Colapinto into the first corner, the MP driver managed to slip passed Hadjar to move up to P2.
In a similar fashion to F1’s Hungarian Grand Prix, last season, Brad Benavides couldn’t slow his car down in time as he raced towards turn one , on lap five. As a result, the Carlin driver slid into the side of Jenzer Racing’s Ido Cohen. The Jenzer car was able to continue on but the Carlin was forced to retire from the race.
Because of the contact, the safety car was – once again – deployed. At the end of lap seven, the safety car returned to the pit lane. In a patient manner, Hadjar managed to slip back up to P2 on the exit of turn one, but this was short-lived as the MP driver quickly retaliated and regained his track position on the exit of turn two.
After 10 laps of pressure from Collet, Colapinto made an unforced error into turn two and ran wide, this allowed the MP driver to slip up the inside and take the lead of the race with ease, into turn three. Two laps later, Collet had established an impressive three-second lead over, second-placed, Colapinto.
While Collet went on to secure the race win by eight seconds, ahead of Colapinto, there was late drama further down the field as Prema teammates, Arthur Leclerc and Jak Crawford, made contact into the final corners.
Podium:
- Caio Collet, MP Motorsport
- Franco Conalpinto, VAR
- Kush Maini, MP Motorsport
That’s it for the article: F3 in wet conditions! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more F3 here
- F3 Austrian Feature: Isack Hadjar converts pole to win in wet conditions
- 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
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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.
