F3 Britain: Lindblad dominates delayed sprint race, Browning suffers puncture

Arvid Lindblad topped the Formula 3 podium in the Silverstone sprint race, becoming the first British driver to win on home soil since George Russell in 2017.

The Prema driver had started second and was rewarded for his early aggression on polesitter Noel Leon (Van Amersfoort Racing), who also dropped behind Matias Zagazeta in the opening exchanges.

The race had been delayed by near nine hours due to extreme wet conditions in the morning, but taking place under blue skies, Lindblad was unchallenged at the front.

Behind him, however, a number of collisions stopped the race from ever developing any flow.

The first was a heavy crash for Max Esterson (AIX) and Oliver Goethe (Campos) at Copse, with the pair tangling on the approach to the high-speed right-hander before skipping across the gravel and into the tyres.

Following the resulting safety car intervention, championship leader Luke Browning found himself in strife when Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) locked up into The Loop and slammed into the side of the Williams junior’s Hitech entry.

Browning, who will start Sunday’s feature race from pole after setting the pace in qualifying, pitted with a puncture but continued to finish 25th and last of those left running.

The final incident came on lap 12, when Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport) and Charlie Wurz (Jenzer) came to blows down the Wellington Straight. The incident was somewhat clumsy; Dunne allowed Wurz past moments earlier after originally gaining a place off the track, before attempting to move back up through a gap that never existed.

Wurz was out on the spot, while Dunne pitted and finished 22nd.

At the front, the order remained unchanged throughout, with Lindblad triumphant from Leon and Zagazeta – who scored his first points of the year.

Also scoring for the first time was GB3 graduate Callum Voisin (Rodin) in fourth.

Browning remains at the top of the standings, but Gabriele Mini (Prema) closed the gap by finishing sixth, gaining a place after the chequered flag when ART driver Christian Mansell was demoted five seconds for a track limits infringement.

Alpine junior Mini was thwarted in his efforts to claim another position from ART’s Nikola Tsolov at Woodcote on the final lap, as the Bulgarian moved up to fifth with Mansell’s penalty.

F3 Britain Sprint Race Results

1	A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam	3		18
2	N. León Van Amersfoort Racing	20		18		6.500
3	M. Zagazeta Jenzer Motorsport	19		18		1.900
4	C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport	29		18		1.000
5	C. Mansell ART Grand Prix	23		18		1.400
6	N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix	25		18		0.500
7	G. Minì Prema Powerteam	2		18		0.100
8	S. Montoya Campos Racing	11		18		0.300
9	S. Meguetounif Trident	5		18		0.200
10	L. Van ART Grand Prix	24		18		0.200
11	L. Fornaroli Trident	4		18		0.500
12	D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam	1		18		4.900
13	J. Wharton Hitech Pulse-Eight	15		18		3.300
14	N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing	27		18		0.800
15	P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport	30		18		0.400
16	J. Loake Rodin Motorsport	31		18		0.700
17	M. Boya Campos Racing	12		18		0.500
18	C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		18		0.500
19	S. Ramos Trident	6		18		11.500
20	T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing	26		18		0.800
21	T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing	22		18		13.100
22	A. Dunne MP Motorsport	9		18		24.900
23	J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing	28		17
24	L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight	14		17
25	T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport	7		17
dnf	C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport	17		11						Accident
dnf	K. Sztuka MP Motorsport	8		6						Retirement
dnf	M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport	18		3						Accident
dnf	O. Goethe Campos Racing	10		3						Accident
dnf	S. Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing	21		2						Retirement