F3: Hadjar wins in Bahrain, Smolyar is third

Isak Hajjar won the first race of the Formula 3 season in Bahrain. Together with him, Oliver Berman and Alexander Smolyar climbed the podium.

At the start, pole-holder Zach O’Sullivan kept the lead, although Berman tried to overtake his opponent in the first corner. Alexander Smolyar lost his position, letting Zane Maloney pass. Roman Stanek started unsuccessfully, rolling back from 10th place to 29th. Arthur Leclerc started the race well, moving up to 9th place by the second lap.

O’Sullivan and Berman began to break away from the peloton, and behind them a serious fight for third place developed between David Vidales, Zayn Maloney and Isak Hajjar.

On the fourth lap, Franco Colapinto turned into the pits to change the nose cone damaged in the fight with Stanek. By this point, Smolyar had risen to fourth place, overtaking Hadjar and Vidales.

On the fifth lap, Berman attacked O’Sullivan and took the lead. Behind in the first turn, Grégoire Saucy hit Victor Martin’s car with a front wing and punctured his partner’s rear right wheel, and broke his wing. Both slowly returned to the pits and retired.

On the eighth lap, Hajjar began to take active steps in an attempt to overtake Smolyar and climb to fourth place. On the ninth lap, Isak attacked in the last corner and took the lead. Alexander tried to counterattack on the starting line, but the Hitech pilot kept his position.

By the middle of the distance, Oliver Berman had created a comfortable lead of two and a half seconds from Zach O’Sullivan. In turn, the Carlin driver was one and a half seconds ahead of Zane Maloney.

On lap fourteen, Hadjar and Smolar caught up with Maloney. At the same time, all three caught up with O’Sullivan and carried out an attack on Zack! Maloney and Hajjar moved up to second and third respectively. On lap sixteen, O’Sullivan was also overtaken by Smolyar, while Maloney missed Hajjar.

On lap seventeen, O’Sullivan dropped to sixth, missing an attack by Arthur Leclerc. Ahead, Smolyar overtook Maloney for third place. On the last lap, Leclerc made several attempts to attack Maloney, but Zane defended fourth place.

Oliver Berman was the first to cross the finish line, but a few seconds later it became known that the Prema rider received a five-second penalty for breaking the line. As a result, Berman fell to second place, and Hitech’s Isak Hajjar took the win. Alexander Smolyar kept the third place.

Pilot Command Difference Circles
1. I.Hajar Hitech Grand Prix 20
2. O. Berman According to Racing 1.5 20
3. A. Smolyar MP Motorsport 3.5 20
4. Z. Meloni Trident 5.6 20
5. A. Leclerc According to Racing 5.6 20
6. Z. O’Sullivan Carlin 8.8 20
7. C. Collet MP Motorsport 9.1 20
8. K.Frederick Hitech Grand Prix 11.4 20
9. J.M. Correa ART Grand Prize 12.1 20
10. D. Vidales Campos Racing 19.1 20
11. U.Alatalo Jenzer Motorsport 21.2 20
12. R. Usijima Van Amersfoort Racing 21.8 20
13. D. Edgar Trident 28.3 20
14. I. Cohen Jenzer Motorsport 29.9 20
15. K.Maini MP Motorsport 30.7 20
16. N. Azman Hitech Grand Prix 34.8 20
17. R.Villagomes Van Amersfoort Racing 34.9 20
18. A.Simmons Charouz Racing System 44.8 20
19. F.Picci Charouz Racing System 45.6 20
20. E. Trulli Carlin 46.5 20
21. L.Tot Charouz Racing System 48.7 20
22. H. Yini Campos Racing 49.2 20
23. B.Benavides Carlin 53.4 20
24. R. Stanek Trident 1’07.1 20
25. F.Colapinto Van Amersfoort Racing 1’16.6 20
26. N. Curry Jenzer Motorsport 1’39.3 20
27. D. Crawford According to Racing 1’40.4 20
28. H. Marty Campos Racing 1 circle 19
-. G. Sosi ART Grand Prize Meeting 6
-. W. Martin ART Grand Prize Meeting 5

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