F3 Hungarian GP: Smolyar commands win in damp conditions
31st July 2022MP Motorsport’s Alexander Smolyar put in a commanding performance to convert pole position into the race win, seven-seconds ahead of Trident’s Zane Maloney.
How the feature race unfolded…
Prior to the race start, there was another spell of rain which resulted on the entire grid to start the race on the blue-ringed, full wet tyres. In contrast to the Sprint race, yesterday, the race began with a standing start after their routine formation lap.
Smolyar got a great launch, on the damp conditions, which allowed the pole sitter to cut across to defend his position from Maloney. By the end of the first lap, Smolyar had established a healthy 1.5 second lead over Maloney. This soon became a two-second gap before the pack got halfway around the second lap.
The yellow flag was flown early on in the race as Campos’ Oliver Goethe was seen stationary in sector two. However, a safety car intervention was avoided as the rookie was able to get going once again.
Jonny Edgar and Josep Maria Marti were put under investigation, early on in the race, for causing a collision. Marti was quickly given a five-second time penalty for the incident.
Laszlo Toth’s, Charouz, day went from bad to worse as he was forced to retire from the race in the pit lane, on lap five. The Hungarian came into the pit lane to swap over steering wheels, but the Charouz driver soon came to another stop further down the pit lane.
As the session raced into its final 10 laps, Smolyar extended his race lead by four-seconds ahead of Maloney while Prema’s Oliver Bearman, in P3, remained just behind Maloney by a second.
As the track conditions improved, Charouz’s Francesco Pizzi became the first driver to venture into the pit lane – on lap 16 – to swap his wet tyres for the dry, slick, yellow-ringed, medium compound tyres.
On lap 20, the new championship leader, Hitech’s Isack Hadjar joined the handful of drivers to jump onto the slick tyres. However, the Frenchman struggled to keep it on the track as he slipped across the first corner and onto the run off. Fortunately, the Hitech was able to regain control of his car and keep going.
Rafael Villagomez was given a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
The yellow flag was brought out once again after Goethe spun out, on lap 21, at turn one after he returned to the circuit after he pitted for dry tyres.
Podium:
- Alexander Smolyar, MP Motorsport
- Zane Maloney, Trident
- Oliver Bearman, Prema
That’s it for the article: F3 Hungarian GP: Smolyar commands win in damp conditions! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more F3 here
- F3 Hungarian Sprint: Collet wins after Colapinto mistake
- 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
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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.
