MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet won his maiden Formula 3 race in Hungary on Saturday morning.
Drivers had two formation laps behind the Safety Car because of wet conditions at the Hungaroring.
After the Safety Car left the track, the race began with a rolling start. Franco Colapinto got ahead of the polesitter Oliver Goethe at turn 1. The Campos Racing driver was also passed by Isack Hadjar and Caio Collet.
Behind them, David Vidales had a crash at sector 1 and retired from the race. The Safety Car came back to the race track.
The race restarted on lap 4 of 18. Colapinto remained in the lead, while Collet overtook Hadjar for P2. The MP Motorsport driver was putting pressure on the leader straightaway, but Colapinto was holding off his opponent.
Brad Benavides hit Ido Cohen at turn 1. Both drivers retired from the race and the Safety Car was deployed.
Both Collet and Hadjar tried to pass Colapinto at the restart, but the Argentinian stayed ahead. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver ran wide at turn 2 on lap 10 which allowed Collet to take over the lead.
Collet began creating a gap shortly after. He was 2.7 seconds ahead of Colapinto by the end of lap 11. Arthur Leclerc tried to overtake his teammate Jak Crawford for 5th place, but the American defended his position.
The track was drying up. It was a challenge for the drivers as they had to look for wet patches to keep the tires at an optimal temperature.
Isack Hadjar went off the track at turn 2 which allowed Kush Maini and Crawford to overtake him. The Frenchman was also passed by Leclerc.
Leclerc had another attempt to overtake Crawford on the final lap. However, they made a contact which sent the latter spinning. The Monegasque also collided with his championship rival Victor Martins.
Collet cruised to the victory in Budapest. Colapinto finished the race in P2, while Maini completed the podium.
The top 10 of the Formula 3 Sprint Race in Hungary:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Gap |
1 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | Winner |
2 | Franco Colapinto | Van Amersfoort Racing | +8.7 |
3 | Kush Maini | MP Motorsport | +9.6 |
4 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | +12.0 |
5 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA Racing | +13.9 |
6 | Victor Martins | ART GP | +14.6 |
7 | Gregoire Saucy | ART GP | +15.5 |
8 | Oliver Goethe | Campos Racing | +19.6 |
9 | Roman Stanek | Trident | +20.0 |
10 | Zane Maloney | Trident | +21.1 |
