Race Report
2023 Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia
FIA F3 CHAMPIONSHIP
Circuit: Monza (I), Length 5.793 km, 1st - 3rd September 2023, Rounds 17 + 18
www.monzanet.it
JENZER MOTORSPORT 2023:
Nikita Bedrin (ITA), Taylor Barnard (GB), Alejandro Garcia (MEX)
© Jenzer Motorsport
Barnard excellent with podium in Monza and taking 10th place in the driver’s championship; Jenzer Motorsport with 6th place in the team championship final standings
The FIA F3 Teams met up on the very fast Monza (I) circuit, as ever racing as one of the support races for the Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia 2023. This was their tenth outing in Europe supporting the 2023 Grand Prix Programme. The weather was still agreeably warm throughout the weekend. Competition was tough and the Champion still had to be crowned.
Qualifying
Friday, 01/09/23, 15.05 – 15.35, Weather: Cloudy, 26°C
The weekend got underway on Friday morning with the practice session and it didn’t take long for Taylor to appear at the top of the order. Nikita was also looking strong in 6th place, when he suddenly came to a halt on the circuit and the session had to be red-flagged. When action resumed, everyone stormed out but another red flag stopped the session with 5 minutes to go and it wasn’t resumed. Taylor reached 7th position at the end, with Nikita in 16th and Alejandro in 30th place.
Later in the afternoon, this season’s last battle for the grid started and it turned out to be a chaotic and disrupted one. Unfortunately, the damage on Nikita’s car from the practice session was too extensive and he couldn’t take part in the Qualifying session. In typical Monza’ style, there was drama right from the start. With laptimes still to be set, the big field queued up on the back straight and two Carlin cars made contact, bringing out the first red flag. Qualifying restarted and the first laptimes came in. Halfway through the session a second red flag was waved. When the session resumed, our drivers were mounting fresh tyres and were waiting in the pitlane to get out at the correct time to make the best out of the final minutes. Unfortunately, another red flag was brought out and the session was not resumed. Taylor qualified 10th, which would position him in the 3rd spot on the grid for the sprint race! Alejandro finished in a positive 25th position.
As a result of the classification, with either one of the other two contenders failing to gain any points, Gabriele Bortoleto was already crowned 2023 FIA Formula 3 Champion by the end of the Qualifying session.
Following post-qualifying penalties, Taylor moved up to 8th position in the final qualifying results, with Alejandro in 21st place. After applying all rules Nikita was allowed to start in race one from 24th position.
| Race One Grid | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Franco Colapinto (ARG) | MP | |
| 2nd | Mari Boya (E) | MP | |
| 3rd | Gregoire Saucy (CH) | ART | |
| 4th | Nikola Tsolov (BGR) | ART | |
| 5th | Taylor Barnard (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| 6th | Leonardo Fornaroli (I) | Trident | |
| 20th | Alejandro Garcia (MEX) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| 24th | Nikita Bedrin (I) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| Race Two Grid | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Oliver Goethe (D) | Trident | 1:38.909 |
| 2nd | Caio Collet (BRA) | Van Amersfoort | 1:39.001 |
| 3rd | Paul Aron (EST) | Prema | 1:39.043 |
| 8th | Taylor Barnard (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:39.573 |
| 21st | Alejandro Garcia (MEX) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:41.422 |
| 24th | Nikita Bedrin (I) | Jenzer Motorsport | Not Classified |
FIA F3 Championship
Race One (Sprint-Race, 40 Minutes)
Saturday, 02/09/23, 09.25, Weather: Cloudy, 22°C
The team did a superb job working well into the night. On Saturday morning, Nikita’s car was lined up on the grid and ready for the fight! When the lights went out at the start, there was no holding back and our drivers all had a good getaway. Taylor wasted no time and made an impressive move on Tsolov to steal the 4th place by the end of the opening lap, while Nikita and Alejandro worked their way up to 13th and 15th place respectively. A Safety Car had to be deployed already after the first lap as Aron suffered a puncture at the start and slid across the grass, colliding with Edgar and damaging Marti’s car in the process. The race resumed on lap 5 and so did the fight. Nose to tail, O’Sullivan made a move on Taylor, but at the same time there was a contact leaving Saucy with a puncture. With that Taylor was back in 5th place. Our British rookie still stayed well with the top five group. Nikita and Alejandro were also engaged in hearty battles fighting in the midfield, gaining and sometimes loosing positions. The race approached it’s final stages when Taylor made a great move on O’Sullivan and powered past him to get up to 4th place! His next target would have been Mari Boya for the podium position, but there was not enough time remaining to get the move done. When the checkered flag was waved, Taylor crossed the finish line in a brilliant 4th position, collecting valuable points for the championship. Nikita took 16th place, completing a very positive recovery. Alejandro finished not far behind, in 18th position, with nice improvements showed throughout the race! Luke Browning was disqualified after the race for technical nonconformity. With that, Nikita and Alejandro moved one place up the order each, to 15th and 17th place respectively.
| Results Race One | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Franco Colapinto (ARG) | MP | 34:06.988 | |
| 2nd | Gabriel Bortoleto (BRA) | Trident | Gap | 1.325 |
| 3rd | Mari Boya (E) | MP | Gap | 2.118 |
| 4th | Taylor Barnard (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| 15th | Nikita Bedrin (I) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| 17th | Alejandro Garcia (MEX) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| Fastest lap: Oliver Goethe (D) in 1:39.743 | ||||
FIA F3 Championship
Race Two (Feature Race, 45 Minutes)
Sunday, 03/09/23, 08.15, Weather: Sunny, 19°C
Early on Sunday morning the FIA F3 grid met for the last time this season! Everything was set for the last race, when pole sitter Goethe had a problem and pulled off towards the pitlane at the end of the formation lap. Another formation lap was completed, while the Trident car got pushed back into the pitlane, and finally the last Feature Race of the season went underway. The cars powered through the first chicane, but once again drama happened as yesterday’s winner Colapinto stopped at La Roggia corner and a first Safety Car had to be deployed. At this point, Taylor was 7th while Nikita was up to 18th position and Alejandro right behind in 19th. On lap 4 the race resumed and, despite momentairly losing his spot, Taylor started to show some impressive moves and our British rookie was quickly in 6th place. Another Safety Car neutralized the race as Saucy went off into the gravel with a puncture from contact. As the race restarted, Taylor was ready. The Brit kept his position and, going into Ascari, he made the move stick on Fornaroli to snatch 4th place. In front of him, Aron went off into the gravel and dropped down the order while Taylor completed another great move to steal third place right before another Safety Car was called out on track with Montoya stuck in the gravel. As this was happening, Alejandro had to pull into the pits to change a damaged front wing and he rejoined one lap down. Once again, the race restarted. 4 cars into Turn 1 meant Taylor lost a place and dropped down to 4th position. The last Safety Car was then deployed. After having steadily moved up positions and having reached 16th position, Nikita unfortunately suffered a puncture and had to enter the pits and retire the car. The race resumed in time for the final lap of the 2023 season and Taylor gave it all. The British driver passed Collet around the outside at Lesmo with an amazing move and snatched the final podium position, crossing the line in excellent 3rd place and with that conquering the 10th spot in the drivers standings! Alejandro was classified 21st at the end of the race.
| Results Race One | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jonny Edgar (GB) | MP | 47:05.178 | |
| 2nd | Zak O’Sulivan (GB) | Prema | Gap | 0.287 |
| 3rd | Taylor Barnard (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | Gap | 0.825 |
| 21st | Alejandro Garcia (MEX) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| DNF: | Nikita Bedrin (I) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| Fastest lap: Gabriel Bortoleto (BRA) in 1:40.04 | ||||
This concludes the 2023 FIA F3 Championship. We are already looking forward to the Post-Season Test Days and the F3 Macau Grand Prix, which will be held again this year for the first time since 2019. So the season is far from being over!
Championship final standings after 18 out of 18 races:
1st Gabriel Bortoleto, (BRA), 194 points; 2nd Zak O’Sullivan (GB), 119 points; 3rd Paul Aron (EST), 112 points; 4th Franco Colapinto (ARG), 110 points; 5th Josep Maria Marti (E), 105 points; 6th Dino Beganovic (S), 96 points; 10th Taylor Barnard (GB), 72 points, 18th Nikita Bedrin (I), 24 points; 20th Alejandro Garcia (MEX), 12 points.
Nikita Bedrin (ITA)
Taylor Barnard (GB)
Alejandro Garcia (MEX)
2023 FIA F3 Championship
| 3-5 March | 2023 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix | Sakhir (BHR) |
| 31 March - 2. April | 2023 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix | Melbourne (AUS) |
| 19-21 May | 2023 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix1) | Imola (I) |
| 26-28 May | 2023 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix | Monte Carlo (MC) |
| 2-4 June | 2023 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix | Barcelona (E) |
| 30 June - 2 July | 2023 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix | RedBull Ring (A) |
| 7-9 July | 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix | Silverstone (GB) |
| 21-23 July | 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix | Hungaroring (HU) |
| 28-30 July | 2023 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix | Spa-Francorchamps (B) |
| 1-3 September | 2023 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix | Monza (I) |
1) Cancelled after heavy flooding in the region
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