F3 Austria: O’Sullivan wins out in thrilling five-way Red Bull Ring tussle

The Prema Racing driver lined up sixth, making up a place on the first lap before an early safety car.

He was then able to capitalise on contact between poleman Gregoire Saucy (ART) and his team-mate Paul Aron to move into the podium places.

The 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year was then able to pass fellow Prema driver Dino Beganovic for second on lap 14, before taking the lead from championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto the following tour.

Despite a very close final lap fight between Williams Academy member O’Sullivan, Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), Hitech driver Sebastian Montoya and Caio Collet (VAR), it was O’Sullivan who emerged victorious.

Bortoleto held on for second for Trident, with Collet taking the final podium place after contact between Montoya and Colapinto at Turn 6 saw the Red Bull junior shoot across the gravel, falling to 10th, while Colapinto finished fourth.

Saucy lined up on pole for Sunday’s race, which took place in far drier conditions than Saturday’s mixed action.

Despite Williams juniors O’Sullivan and Colapinto making brief contact at Turn 3, the pair continued, before the safety car was deployed as Gabriele Mini (Hitech) ran off at Turn 4.

Gabriel Bortoleto, Trident (Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd)

The Alpine Academy member became beached after contact with the rear of Luke Browning (Hitech), who was forced to pit with a puncture.

Racing resumed on lap five, with Saucy getting a good jump on the rest of the field, while further back Collet and Kaylen Frederick (ART) tussled for seventh.

Beganovic, who started second, closed on Saucy out front before making the move at Turn 4 on lap seven to take control of the race.

But the Prema driver began to struggle with his tyres, allowing the pack to close, before Saucy and Aron made contact at Turn 4, the latter’s front wing handing the Frenchman a puncture and dropping both out of contention.

Bortoleto, who had inherited second, then took the lead on lap 13 at Turn 4, before Beganovic fell to third as O’Sullivan moved into second place next time round.

O’Sullivan closed on Bortoleto before taking the lead himself on lap 15, with Colapinto moving into third at Turn 4 the following lap as Beganovic’s tyre woes continued, with Collet also passing him on lap 18.

Montoya then also passed the Swede, taking fifth at Turn 7 on lap 18 despite a brief foray onto the gravel, taking fourth several laps later from Collet.

But it was a similar move at Turn 6 on the final lap which saw Montoya’s race ruined, making contact with Colapinto to see both fall out of the podium places. Collet profited for third, with Colapinto fourth ahead of Beganovic.

Jonny Edgar finished sixth for MP Motorsport, with Campos Racing pair Christian Mansell and Hugh Barter in seventh and eighth. 

Sophia Floersch had scored her first points of the year for PHM Racing by Charouz in ninth, with Montoya in 10th after his last-lap off. But Floersch was disqualified for a technical infringement post-race, while Montoya was given a 10-second penalty for the clash with Colopinto, lifting Pepe Marti to ninth and Leonardo Fornaroli into the final points place.

F3 Austria - Feature race results

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap	Interval
1	Zak O'Sullivan	Prema Powerteam	26
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	26	0.844	0.844
3	Caio Collet	Van Amersfoort Racing	26	1.696	0.852
4	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	26	2.458	0.762
5	Dino Beganovic	Prema Powerteam	26	4.460	2.002
6	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	26	4.723	0.263
7	Christian Mansell	Campos Racing	26	5.296	0.573
8	Hugh Barter	Campos Racing	26	5.676	0.380
	Sophia Flörsch	PHM Racing by Charouz	26	6.230	0.554
9	Pepe Martí	Campos Racing	26	9.530	3.300
10	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	26	10.624	1.094
11	Oliver Goethe	Trident	26	12.441	1.817
12	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer Motorsport	26	13.883	1.442
13	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer Motorsport	26	14.601	0.718
14	Oliver Gray	Rodin Carlin	26	15.148	0.547
15	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing	26	15.803	0.655
16	Nikola Tsolov	ART Grand Prix	26	16.236	0.433
17	McKenzy Cresswell	PHM Racing by Charouz	26	16.584	0.348
18	Tommy Smith	Van Amersfoort Racing	26	16.921	0.337
19	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing by Charouz	26	17.355	0.434
20	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech Pulse-Eight	26	18.814	1.459
21	Hunter Yeany	Rodin Carlin	26	23.510	4.696
22	Luke Browning	Hitech Pulse-Eight	26	38.170	14.660
23	Alex Garcia	Jenzer Motorsport	26	53.151	14.981
24	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	26	53.750	0.599
25	Paul Aron	Prema Powerteam	26	1'06.265	12.515
26	Kaylen Frederick	ART Grand Prix	26	1'07.566	1.301
27	Gregoire Saucy	ART Grand Prix	24	2 Laps	2 Laps
	Ido Cohen	Rodin Carlin	14	12 Laps	10 Laps
	Gabriele Minì	Hitech Pulse-Eight	0
View full results