01/08/2021 - Written by Arabella Brackenbury
Going into the weekend- the Prema Racing boys looked ready to deliver… and they sure did.
Dennis Hauger was leading the championship after the thrilling races in Spielberg followed by Art Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti and Tridents Jack Doohan both separated by 2 points going into the Budapest weekend.
Alexander Smolyar topped the time sheets in practice with a 1:33.112 around the 4.381km track and setting expectations for qualifying later on in the day. It was in that qualifying where Premas much loved Arthur Lecerc took the top of the time sheets meaning for race 3 he would be starting at the very front of the grid however, due to taking a 3 place grid penalty along with Fredrik Vesti, it would be a start P15 for Arthur and P9 for Fredrik in race 1.
Race 1 is where the action begun with Red Gull junior driver and Carlin buzz’s Jonny Edgar starting on pole with Lorenzo Colombo and Ayumu Iwasa starting behind him. Edgar got a great start with Colombo slotting in right behind him heading down to turn 1 where their was a big lock up for the Carlin however still managed to keep Colombo behind. Heartbreak for the race leader as on lap eight, the lead was taken away from him as he suffered an issue with the car and forced to retire and Colombo then lead the way. Lap 14 is when we saw Dennis Hauger fly round the outside of David Schumacher for P7 and 2 laps later is where we saw more heartbreaks for Fredrik Vesti this time, going slow and having to retire. On the final lap, there was contact between Ido Cohen and Jak Crawford leading to a retirement for Cohen. First over the finish line was Lorenzo Colombo followed by Iwasa and Caldwell. However, due to Lorenzo Colombo being beyond 10 car lengths behind the safety car, he took a five second penalty dropping him down to P7 and Iwasa to the race win.
Race 2 saw Enzo Fittipaldi start in P1 however Matteo Nannini had a great start jumping from third and battling for first. It was lap 4 where he then took the lead away from Fittipaldi and charged off into the distance. Lap 14 saw David Schumacher and Dennis Hauger battling again for P7 ,however, David just managed to keep the position infront of the championship leader and managed to slip away to battle with Doohan infront. It was in this battle where Doohan went deep resulting in Schumacher taking fifth and Hauger right on his tail. Lap 18 is where we saw this overtake completed putting Hauger in P6. The podium consisted of Matteo Nannini winning, followed by Enzo Fittipaldi in second and Roman Stanek in third. Not a great race for Jack Doohan unfortunately starting in P4 and going over the line in P13.
Arthur Leclerc was on pole for race 3 however Dennis Hauger was just behind as well as Jack Doohan in the wet conditions. Off the line, there was immediate battle between teammates Doohan and Schumacher with Doohan just staying out on top. Leclerc at the front guessing conditions for the rest of the pack and Hauger racing behind him on the rolling start. We then saw Victor Martins in the MP motorsport loose it into the barriers releasing the safety car. Lap 5 saw Olli Caldwell late on the brakes and locking up missing the corner and heading straight on, just managing to save it however loosing a position to Iwasa. We saw the pressure being put on Arthur Leclerc on lap 8 by Dennis Hauger and lap 9 is where we saw the move happen and Hauger takes the lead round the outside in a daring move on Leclerc. Matteo Nannini took the gamble to pit on lap 15 but unfortunately having a slow stop. One lap to the end saw Stanek and one of the Campos spinning. An incident involving Ido Cohen and Laszlo Toth also reminds us of the importance of the Halo near the end of the race. However, after a brilliant race, it was Dennis Hauger (our championship leader) who took the winner’s trophy.
This race weekend has shown us how strong the Prema team really is, and Italian F4 champion Dennis Hauger’s strengths in this F3 season. Another notable mention from this weekends performance would be Enzo Fittipaldi for a great few drives.
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