F3 Bahrain: Bortoleto leads Trident 1-2 in opening feature race of 2023
5th March 2023Gabriel Bortoleto secured his maiden race win, in Bahrain, leading a Trident 1-2 alongside teammate Oliver Goethe with Prema’s Dino Beganovic rounding out the podium.
- Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto snatched away the race lead from the pole sitter, Hitech’s Gabriele Mini into turn one
- Tommy Smith, Van Amersfoort Racing, and Mari Boya, MP Motorsport, made contact on lap seven but the latter was the only one to retire which resulted in a safety car intervention
- After a five-second time penalty for Mini, for a starting procedure infringement, the last lap safety car demoted the Hitech driver down to eighth when a fourth-place finish looked to be a possibility.
It was a good start from Hitech’s Gabriele Mini, who started on pole position, but he was soon under threat by Bortoleto who slipped up the inside of Mini into turn one. By the corner exit, Bortoleto snatched the lead away from the pole sitter and established a slight gap on the run down to turn four. However, Mini was put under pressure by the pack behind.
As the pack raced toward turn one, some of the drivers at the back of the order had to take evasive action as X stalled on the grid as he tried to get away. Fortunately, everyone was able to avoid the stranded car before the X finally managed to get
By the end of the opening lap, Bortoleto led the pack past the start/finish line ahead of ART’s Gregoire Saucy and Mini respectively. As the field ventured around the circuit for a second time, Bortoleto had established a 1.5-second gap over Saucy to keep himself out of threat from Saucy’s DRS.
While Bortoleto cruised off into the distance with a 3.4-second gap over second place, Mini managed to retain second place as he made a move on Saucy on the exit of turn four, into turn five.
On lap seven, the yellow flags were issued in sector two as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Tommy Smith was seen facing the wrong way, stranded on the outside of turn eight. MP Motorsport’s Mari Boya was seen, shortly after, with suspension damage which forced him to pull the car off to the side of the track after turn 10.
The safety car was deployed to allow track marshals to remove the stranded MP car from the circuit.
Replays showed Boya made contact with the rear tyres of Smith’s car which caused the VAR car to spin around. Fortunately, Smith was able to continue on.
At the end of lap nine, the safety car peeled back into the pits. Unlike MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto, yesterday, Bortoleto bolted as he passed the pit entry line. As the race was due to get back underway, race control issued Mini with a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement.
Although Bortoleto kept the lead in the opening corners, the Trident driver was forced to yield the race lead to Mini down into turn six as the two fought wheel-to-wheel. Despite a demotion to second, Bortoleto just had to remain within five seconds of Mini ahead of him to win the race due to Mini’s five-second penalty.
On lap 15, Trident occupied the final two podium positions as Bortoleto remained in second place while Oliver Goethe snatched the final podium-awarding spot away from Saucy down, down the main straight and into turn one.
On the penultimate lap of the race, the safety car was deployed after Smith went in too deep at turn one and made contact with Roberto Faria. As a result of the contact, the VAR driver was seen in the wrong direction with rear-left suspension damage.
Jenzer Racing’s Alejandro Garcia was also seen at the side of the circuit, on the penultimate lap at the exit of turn 10, after the Mexican severely damaged his rear-left suspension on the exit of turn eight.
Due to the late safety car intervention, the Safety Car driver, Bernd Maylander, led the pack over the line to end the first feature race of the season. Formula 3 next races at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit, in Australia, on March 31-April 2.
Podium:
- Gabriel Bortoleto, Trident
- Oliver Goethe, Trident
- Dino Beganovic, Prema
That’s it for the article: F3 Bahrain: Bortoleto leads Trident 1-2 in opening feature race of 2023!
What do you think of the opening weekend of the F3 season? Let us know in the comments!
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