F3

Australian Grand Prix: F3 Feature Race Results

Formula 3 returned for the second round of the 2024 season, which was not without red flags and safety cars

Abby Bathurst 5 min read

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The F3 Feature Race around the Albert Park circuit saw Dino Beganovic of PREMA Racing take victory ahead of Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriele Mini.

F3
The Formula 3 Feature Race in Melbourne. (Credit: X @Formula3)

Formula 3 returned to Melbourne this weekend for the second year running to complete Round Two of the 2024 season. Earlier in the weekend, red flags were a common appearance; free practice saw Cian Shields of Hitech Pulse-Eight spin into the barriers as well as a collision between Nikola Tsolov and Alex Dunne.

Qualifying featured another red flag as Sam Meguetounif crashed on the exit of the final corner and then in the Sprint Race, there was a Safety Car. Tommy Smith collided with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak. However, there were several penalties issued once the chequered flag was flown.

For the Feature Race, the grid was set by the qualifying results and for the top 12 in F3, it was as follows:

But what happened in the F3 Feature Race that led to Dino Beganovic being victorious and taking the race win?

Lights Out and a Safety Car

The start of the race Leonardo Fornaroli maintain the lead into Turn 1 with Gabriele Mini keeping hold of P2. Dino Beganovic attempted to get ahead of Mini, but was very much in P3 after the first few corners.

However, whilst the front runners had a good start, Inthraphuvasak brought out the yellow flags after going into the barriers at Turn 2. Tim Tramnitz then reported that he had a puncture, whilst Arvid Lindblad, who made up places on the start to get into P6, locked up after attempting an overtake.

The green flags were brought out after Inthraphuvasak got going again. However, it didn’t last long as Smith and Joseph Loake collided and ended up in the gravel at Turn 12. The replay showed Loake attempting to go round the outside of Smith, who had Shields on his right and there was simply no room for three cars into that corner without colliding.

On lap two, the Safety Car was finally deployed.

Whilst the Safety Car was out on track, the F3 broadcast showed that Sophia Floersch had gone off and parked by the barrier at Turn 10 as well. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver got going again but took her car back to the pits and was out of the race.

The top 10 after two laps of the Safety Car was: Fornaroli, Mini, Beganovic, Bedrin, Browning, Lindblad, Boya, Goethe, Mansell and Van Hoepen.

Safety Car Restart

The Safety Car ended on lap five and Fornaroli led the pack down the start/finish straight. Browning and Bedrin went side by side on the restart with the Williams Academy driver getting ahead into P4. Lindblad followed Browning to get ahead of Bedrin, dropping the PHM driver to sixth.

The two ART Grand Prix cars of Mansell and Van Hoepen went side by side. But the Australian driver stayed ahead of his teammate.

It was then a battle between the Campos drivers of Goethe and Boya; Goethe got ahead of Boya and then was chasing Bedrin. Goethe was forced wide by Bedrin on lap eight, which allowed Boya to get back past his teammate, but it didn’t last long as the two Campos Racing drivers soon switched back positions. With regards to the incident, the stewards decided no further action was required.

Further back, Charlie Wurz overtook Van Hoepen to steal the final points position. Contact was made between Martinius Stenshorne and Noel Leon, both drivers losing places as they made their way back on track from the grass.

Unfortunately for Santiago Ramos a puncture forced him into the pits on lap nine whilst his teammate, Fornaroli was under pressure for the lead of the race. Mini was within DRS of Fornaroli as the Trident driver struggled to put a big enough gap between P1 and P2.

Final 15 laps

Mini soon fell out of DRS, having just over a second gap to Fornaroli. However, in P3, Beganovic was closing in on his teammate.

The battle for P7 was then on as Boya was not giving up on battling Goethe. The Spaniard overtook his teammate at Turn 9 whilst Wurz overtook Mansell, just behind the Campos duo. Sebastian Montoya then joined the fight, overtaking Mansell and eventually Wurz to get into P9.

Over the radio, PREMA instructed Beganovic that he could attack Mini if need be. The Swede listened to his team and at Turn 9, he overtook his teammate and was in P2. Soon, Beganovic was within DRS to catch Fornaroli whilst Browning overtook Mini for the final podium position.

Further back, Dufek fell back to P24 as he spun at Turn 10, prompting those behind to avoid the PHM car.

A change for the lead

Lap 14 saw a change for the lead of the race. Beganovic overtook Fornaroli in a relatively easy move. As this overtake occurred, Race Control announced that Ramos had a five-second time penalty for re-joining unsafely.

Bedrin found himself falling through the positions as  Boya and Montoya overtook him. This was soon followed by Wurz overtaking Bedrin. Both Montoya and Wurz then set their sights on Boya and the two worked their way up into P5 and P6 respectively.

Stenshorne radioed that he had  puncture, and to make his race worse he received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Final five laps

Beganovic still had the lead. However, Fornaroli was within DRS and Browning was 1.082 seconds behind in P3. Mini was also putting the pressure on, being less than a second behind Browning.

Wurz was in fifth, 12 seconds behind the front four. But the Jenzer Motorsport driver was the highest-placed rookie, being the only one in the top 10.

As the race began to draw to a close, most of the field settled down with few positions being switched and the most action being at the front.

Mini tried an overtake on Browning but didn’t quite get it done on his first attempt at Turn 3. On lap 21, the Alpine Academy driver had DRS wide open and was able to make the move stick going around Turn 8 and into Turn 9.

Just ahead, Fornaroli fell out of DRS range with Beganovic and so, it was the Ferrari Academy driver who took victory in the F3 Feature Race.

Results

The fourth race of the 2024 season is complete and the results of the F3 Feature Race around Albert Park at the time of the chequered flag were:

1 – Dino Beganovic

2 – Leonardo Fornaroli

3 – Gabriele Mini

4 – Luke Browning

5 – Charlie Wurz

6 – Sebastian Montoya

7 – Mari Boya

8 – Nikita Bedrin

9 – Oliver Goethe

10 – Christian Mansell

Headline image: GettyImages

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