F2 and F3 both saw feature race maiden wins in the Hungarian Grand Prix, making the championship fights closer in both series.
F2’s Noel Leon clinched his first F2 win with a gamble with the virtual safety car, and F3’s Freddie Slater’s win finally gives him the championship lead over Ugo Ugochukwu.
While summer break is already in full swing, our drivers, especially championship leaders Tsolov and Slater, might not fully enjoy it, with their leads hanging in the balance.
Formula 2: Noel Leon Maiden Win
Sprint Race
Alpine Academy’s Gabriele Mini clinched his second win in Formula 2 in the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race, also claiming the point for fastest lap. Mini took first place from pole-sitter Montoya on Lap 17 and dominated the race from then on. He had better results than his Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, that’s for sure.
Adding to his advantage was Nikola Tsolov failing to score in the sprint. The Campos driver dived on Montoya on Lap 21, making contact. They both retired after suffering significant damage. This resulted in Tsolov receiving a 10-second penalty, which was converted to a 5-place grid drop to be served in the feature race.
Feature Race
Noel Leon got his maiden feature race win in the Hungarian Grand Prix, when a VSC gamble paid off for him. Completing the podium were Kush Maini and Rafael Camara.
The Campos driver moved ahead of Camara into Turn 1, trailing polesitter Maini for a few laps. Strategy decided the race: Leon made his stop on Lap 17 just as a Virtual Safety Car was deployed. With Maini and Câmara pitting under full racing conditions, the rookie rejoined the race essentially in the lead.
Down the midfield, Tsolov got into trouble when he made contact with John Bennett and Martinius Stenshorne at Turn 4, on the opening lap. This left Stenshorne’s car with damage, limping at the back of the pack.
Back to the front, Leon held off Maini and Camara. The top three covered by just 1.2 seconds at the checkered flag. Trident Racing’s Laurens van Hoepen rounded out a strong weekend for the team in fourth, ART Grand Prix’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak finished fifth, and DAMS Lucas Oil’s Dino Beganovic took sixth ahead of Tsolov in seventh. Duerksen, Mini, and Bennett rounded out the points, respectively.
“Super happy with this one. It’s been a good weekend for us, but now it’s time to rest. This is the best way to go into the break.”
– Noel Leon, post-race
Where We Are Into The Summer Break
The Hungarian Grand Prix ended with Tsolov still the championship leader with 167 points. Gabriele Mini is second with 147 points, and Rafael Camara is two points behind him. While there remains a substantial gap between Tsolov and Mini, Mini can still catch up easily, depending on Tsolov’s performance after the break.
Campos Racing leads the team standings with 261 points. Unlike the driver’s championship standings, Campos Racing has a healthy gap over Invicta Racing in second place, with 187 points.
Formula 3: The Script Is Flipped
Sprint Race
Theophile Nael produced an impressive drive, going from seventh up to the top step. Kanato Le and Ernesto Rivera made the sprint race an all-Campos podium, going second and third respectively.
The Sprint Race was chaotic right off the bat with an early Safety Car called after a Turn 2 collision involving Jin Nakamura, Maciej Gładysz and Gerrard Xie. This collision resulted in both Nakamura and Gładysz retiring.
When racing resumed, Nael drove his way to produce a standout drive, charging from P7 up to P2. On Lap 5, he took the lead from reverse-grid polesitter Kanato Le. From then on, he’s on his own world, clinching the win by 2.7 seconds.
Completing the top 5 was Mattia Colnaghi, Brando Badoer, and Tuuka Taponen, respectively.
As for the title rivals, they headed into Sunday in a tie. Ugo Ugochukwu dropped to P17 after getting a five-second penalty for for gaining an advantage off track. Meanwhile, Freddie Slater finished the race in P10, getting that one point. They both had 104 points apiece.
Feature Race
Freddie Slater arrived into summer break with the championship lead after taking his maiden F3 win. On the other hand, his rival Ugo Ugochukwu would take a short break from racing without the championship lead for the first time this season, finishing second. With them on the podium was Brando Badoer.
The Hungarian Grand Prix feature race started with Polesitter Taponen holding off pressure from Slater to lead into Turn 1, while Badoer went down the inside of Colnaghi to take third. Slater tried to take the lead from Taponen at Turn 12, and the two made slight contact. This left Taponen with a puncture and Slater with front wing damage.
Moments later, Maciej Gładysz and Gerrard Xie crashed into the barrier at Turn 13 after colliding with Jin Nakamura, reminiscent of their incident in the sprint race. This collision triggered a Safety Car. Taponen took advantage of this and pitted for a fresh tyre and rejoined in sixth, with Slater still in the lead.
After a brief Virtual Safety Car for Salim Hanna, racing resumed on Lap 7-8. Ugochukwu, in an impressive move, went around the outside of both Badoer and Colnaghi to climb up to second. From there, it was an all-out fight for Ugochukwu and Slater.
It was close until, in the final lap, a small lock-up from Ugochukwu in the first corner allowed Slater to break the DRS window and take his maiden victory.
“Just finished the Feature Race here in Budapest, finally got the win on the board, seven podiums in seven rounds, it’s been an incredible rookie season so far and we are fighting hard.”
– Freddie Slater, post-race
Where We Are Into The Summer Break
After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Slater leads the championship with 130 points, an eight-point championship lead over Ugochukwu. In the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing still holds the lead with 277 points, and Trident comes second with 196.
Now, our heroes (and us, too!) will take a break from racing until September in Monza. Let’s see whether Tsolov and Slater can keep the lead. Or will Mini and Ugochukwu catch up? Two months seem like an eternity now, with that in mind.
Featured Image by Alexandros Milidakis on Pexels.com
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