Home Formula 3FIA F3 Championship Several F2 and F3 drivers penalised post-race in Melbourne

Several F2 and F3 drivers penalised post-race in Melbourne

by Alejandro Alonso Lopez

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Several Formula 2 and Formula 3 drivers picked up post-race penalties for incidents in what were two hectic feature races on Sunday in Melbourne.

Three drivers were handed penalties in F2, although only one of those resulted in changes within the points-awarding top 10 positions.

Trident’s Roman Stanek had five seconds added to his race time and two penalty points to his licence for overtaking Campos Racing’s Kush Maini after the second safety car line during the second safety car period of the race. As a consequence, he lost 10th place and was demoted to 14th, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Juan Manuel Correa claiming the final point.

Prema’s Ollie Bearman was given a 10-second time penalty for not serving a previous five-second penalty he had been awarded for forcing Rodin Carlin’s Zane Maloney off-the-track at turn three on the opening lap of the race. As a result, he dropped from 15th to 17th place in the final classification.

ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins also received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger. The Alpine junior hit the rear of the Red Bull junior after locking up his front tyres at the penultimate corner as the field prepared for a safety car restart.

Hauger, who was running in third place, had to retire from the race and Martins would take the chequered flag in 16th position, with the penalty demoting him to the 18th place. Two licence points were also added to the Frenchman’s record.

Several drivers also had laps cancelled due to track limits, but no one exceeded the maximum of three warnings allowed per driver.

In F3, sixth-place finisher Luke Browining received a five-second time penalty and two points in his licence for causing a collision with MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto on lap 2 of the race.

The pair went side by side into turn three with Colapinto defending the inside line. The left-rear tyre of Colapinto touched the skirt area of Browning’s car, which resulted in a puncture for the Argentinian, who crashed out of the race because of it two corners later.

As explained by the stewards: “at the apex Car 10 [Colapinto] is clearly ahead and per the F1 Driving standards is entitled to use the full width of the track”.

The penalty demoted Hitech GP driver Browning to eighth in the final results, promoting Prema’s Paul Aron to sixth place and Campos’ Pepe Marti, who also benefited from a penalty to Dino Beganovic, to seventh.

Prema’s Beganovic was handed a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points to his licence for puncturing the right-rear tyre of VAR’s Caio Collet at turn 11 on the last lap of the race. The Swede went from 8th to 13th place, with Jenzer Motorsport’s Taylor Barnard and Campos’ Christian Mansell moving up to the 9th and 10th position respectively.

MP’s Mari Boya received a 10-second time penalty, which was converted to a five places drop in the next race, and two penalty licence points for running into the back of ART GP’s Nikola Tsolov at turn 9 on lap two.

ART GP’s Kaylen Frederik will serve a drop of 10 grid positions in the next race he participates for driving erratically and colliding into team-mate Tsolov during a safety car period. Three penalty points were also added to his licence.