Testing report
FIA F3
Alpine F1 junior Collet tops Austria F3 pre-season test
MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet emerged fastest overall from the opening FIA Formula 3 pre-season test at Austria’s Red Bull Ring.
Tom Howard
Edited: Apr 5, 2021, 5:35 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Alpine Academy driver posted a new F3 track record 1m18.592s in the final hour of the afternoon session which proved enough to top the times at the chequered flag.
Collet had initially lit up the timing screens in the second hour before being pipped by Prema Racing’s Dennis Hauger.
However, Collet quickly responded by posting a time to move back to the top in the final hour, ending up 0.119s faster than second-placed Hauger.
The Brazilian’s effort was 0.302s faster than the benchmark set by ART Grand Prix’s Alexandr Smolyar on the opening day (Saturday).
Red Bull junior Jak Crawford was third fastest for Hitech Grand Prix, only 0.064s shy of Hauger. The 15-year-old American had enjoyed a spell at the top of the times midway through the three-hour afternoon running.
Fellow Red Bull junior Jonny Edgar (Carlin) was fourth ahead of the HWA of Matteo Nannini, who is also racing in Formula 2 this year with the same team.
Mercedes Formula 1 junior and a contender for last year’s F3 crown Frederik Vesti was sixth, while Clement Novalak (Trident), Michael Belov (Charouz Racing), Olli Caldwell (Prema Racing) and Smolyar rounded out the top 10.
Meanwhile, Juan Manuel Correa impressed on his return to competitive action following a lengthy recovery from serious injuries sustained in multi-car Formula 2 crash at Spa in 2019 that claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert.
The ART driver posted a mighty 1m19.189s effort in the morning session that placed him 11th and only three tenths adrift of the pace. He would go on to finish 19th in the afternoon outing.
The afternoon session was punctuated by three red flag periods, the last caused by Charouz's Reshad de Gerus, who stopped at Turn 10.
Only 29 of the 30 cars posted times in final test session as MP Motorsport’s Victor Martins, who was fourth fastest in the morning, was absent from the action.
Jenzer Motorsport’s Calan Williams set the pace in a snow-delayed morning session having dipped underneath yesterday’s benchmark with a 1m18.836s effort.
The Australian was pipped by 0.026s in the final two minutes by Logan Sargeant (Charouz), but the time was quickly removed for exceeding track limits.
Sargeant would end up seventh on the timing screens as Nannini netted second, less a than tenth shy off Williams, while British F3 champion Kaylen Frederick (Carlin) was third fastest.
Pre-season testing will continue with an outing at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya on 21-22 April prior to the championship opener at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix on 7-9 May.
A third test will be held after that round at Spain’s Jerez circuit on 12-13 May.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article ART’s Smolyar tops first day of Austria F3 testing
Next article Correa confident of fighting for top positions in F3 comeback
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Tom Howard
Oliver Solberg relishing Toyota’s historic Celica WRC revival for 2027
WRC
WRC
Rally Saudi Arabia
11 h
Oliver Solberg relishing Toyota’s historic Celica WRC revival for 2027
Why Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak are returning to the WRC
WRC
WRC
Why Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak are returning to the WRC
Latest news
Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
9 h
Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027
Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 9 h
Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal
Ryan Preece will switch to No. 6 for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
10 h
Ryan Preece will switch to No. 6 for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe