Good Results! (in F2 and F3)
Let’s you and I start in Formula 3 today, where good things happened for Williams.
Formula 3
Luke Browning started on pole and won the race but simplifying how well he drove to take home the win is a big disservice to him. He was under consistent pressure from PREMA driver Dino Beganovic for the opening stint dozen laps before a virtual safety car was deployed to respond to contact further back in the field.
Following the restart, the pressure resumed and was piling on around lap 17 as Beganovic looked to make an imprint. The door for an overtake to win closed as Beganovic’s PREMA teammate, Gabriele Mini, closed up to his gearbox and made himself a larger threat to Beganovic than Beganovich was to Luke, ultimately snatching second.
It was an excellent drive from Luke; he deserved the win and with the fresh crop of points well in hand, moved himself into the championship lead in Formula 3.
Formula 2
In Formula 2, it was the Franco Colapinto show for the Williams Academy drivers so we’ll come to him in a moment. Zak O’Sullivan started in P12 and had a fantastic squabble with Jak Crawford in the closing stages to take P10 and the final points position.
Franco qualified fourth but was effectively third on the starting grid due to Dennis Hauger suffering a clutch issue before the race started. He would take second on lap 6 from Joshua Durksen and move into the lead of the race at the start of lap 9 as first-place Gabriel Bortoleto peeled into the pits.
Franco stretched his stint to the end of lap 32 and after receiving his new boots in the pit lane, filtered back out into eighth with a handful of laps to go.
I’ve never raced in the real world, only in sim racing, but it is a truly fantastic feeling to have new rubber under you while many ahead don’t. Even if you have to make some overtakes, a driver loves to feel in control of their destiny and that’s exactly the situation Franco found himself in.
Crawford pitted, moving Franco into P7.
Franco took Durksen and Fittipaldi on successive straights on lap 35. P6 and then P5.
He took Paul Aron, who was carrying a penalty anyway, on lap 38. P4.
He took Pepe Marti on lap 39. P3.
His final move of the day was to pass Isack Hadjar on the final lap, earning himself a spot on the second step in a very fun drive.
Franco now sits fifth in the championship; Zak O’Sullivan is 11th.
Formula 1
Do we absolutely have to do this part?
It was another largely anonymous day for Williams - it seems a team in the doldrums at the present moment and if they have anything meaningful in the way of upgrades headed to the track, the British Grand Prix would be the place to bring them.
In his post-race analysis posted to Twitter, James Vowles chalked the main negative up to being out-developed by their rivals. Performance is in the pipeline, he said, but it’s not coming fast enough.
Logan made contact with Lance Stroll at Turn 1 and needed a front wing change as a result, putting him P20. He would spend most of the rest of the race there.
As far as the contact goes, my guess is that he thought Stroll would just run wide and rejoin up the straight to Turn 3 but when Stroll turned back into the road, Logan’s front wing was waiting for his rear right tire.
The less said about this stage of Logan’s Formula 1 career, the better. There aren’t many new points to make.
Alex took his set of mediums to lap 13, pitting from P11 and rejoining in P19 on a set of hards. He’d pit once more for another set of the white sidewall tires but in truth, his race was forgettable.
In Alex’s hands, the car may have had more pace than some of the cars it ended up behind but that’s little consolation for the team, the drivers, the fans, etc, etc. It’s a well-established fact that this stage of the journey for Williams Racing is going to last quite a while and be quite unenjoyable but some glimmers of hope need to make themselves clear soon, be that in performance or with an announcement on the driver lineup for 2025.
Right, that’s it, that’s all from Austria. See you back here for the British Grand Prix.