Goethe takes his first FIA F3 win at Silverstone in Trident 1-2

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Oliver Goethe took his maiden FIA Formula 3 victory as he led a Trident one-two in the Silverstone feature race.

Two safety car periods interrupted running, and late rain was another challenge. However, it was tyre graining that caused poleman Leonardo Fornaroli to mis out on winning. 

Fornaroli had held the lead off the line while Pepe Marti passed Goethe for second. Goethe fought back and reclaimed second before the end of lap one, by which point Fornaroli led by over a second.

The safety car appeared on lap two as Luke Browning’s car was recovered. Browning had been side-by-side with Hugh Barter when the two made contact and Browning was forced wide into the gravel and suffered front-right suspension damage. 

Goethe stuck with team-mate Fornaroli when racing resumed on lap seven. Fornaroli did not have the pace to pull away again, and led a six-car train throughout the middle portion of the race. 

Tyre wear eventually led to Fornaroli losing the lead to Goethe, who then immediately pulled away as Fornaroli continued to hold six cars at bay.

Goethe was comfortably clear up front when the safety car appeared again. This time Roberto Faria had gone into the barriers at Luffield after being forced wide by Tommy Smith. 

It had just begun to rain hard enough to make a significant impact, but only Smith gambled on wet-weather tyres and dropped to the back following his pitstop.

Racing resumed with two laps remaining, and Goethe controlled his pace up front. Fornaroli was still struggling with his tyres and defending against Marti, and finished 1.720s behind. 

Marti took third, after a lengthy battle with Aron. He had gotten alongside Marti at one point but was forced wide. He rejoned ahead and was forced to hand back the position, then spent the rest of the race trying to find a way back past Marti but had to settle for fourth.

Christian Mansell ran wide on the final restart but managed to hold onto fifth ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.

Smith carved his way up through the order and was closing in on the top 10 entering the fina lap. However, he just ran out of time to reach the points-scoring positions and finished side-by-side with 10th placed Gregoire Saucy. 

Earlier on, Zak O’Sullivan ran off at Luffield not long after the first restart. He was trying to find a way around the outside of Kaylen Frederick and was forced wide. He span back onto track but avoided being hit, then headed to the pits before rejoining the race down the order. 

At the same time, Caio Collet and Jonny Edgar had come together. Both had to pit and Edgar did not head back out, while Collet recovered to finish just behind sprint race winner Franco Colapinto in ninth. Max Esterson’s debut F3 weekend also ended in the pits.

Race result (22 laps)