Italian Grand Prix: F3 Sprint Race Results

It’s the final round of the season and all to play for… who will claim the first win of the weekend?

James Fiorucci 4 min read

30 drivers duked it out around the historic Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the penultimate race of 2024.

Leonardo Fornaroli qualified on pole for Sunday’s Feature race (Image Credit: @Formula3 on X)

The Drivers’ Championship is very tight at the top, with six drivers still mathematically in with a chance of winning the Title. It’s especially close between the top three contenders, with Leonardo Fornaroli three points ahead of fellow Italian Gabriele Mini, who is a further five points ahead of Briton Luke Browning.

There were contrasting fortunes between the trio on Friday, as Fornaroli managed to grab pole position for Sunday’s Feature race while Mini will start the main event from P3 on the grid. Browning on the other hand could only muster 13th during Qualifying, and thus has his work cut out climbing up the field in both races.

However in another twist of the tale, all three of the aforementioned drivers have received four-place grid drops for the upcoming Sprint, as well as eight other drivers who took part in Group A Qualifying. This was due to unnecessarily slow driving exhibited by the group between Turns 6 and 7 which led to a collision between Laurens van Hoepen and Kacper Sztuka during the session.

Despite the top 12 drivers from Qualifying being reversed for the Sprint race, this has affected the order at the head of the field. Tim Tramnitz will still start on reverse grid pole but alongside him will be Dino Beganovic. Mini, Fornaroli and Browning will start from P14, P16 and P17 respectively.

Ten valuable points will be on offer for the winner of the Sprint, along with an extra point for the fastest lap. Who will put their Championship hopes in good stead as the season draws ever nearer to a close?

Opening laps

Issues immediately for Christian Mansell one of the Championship contenders, as he raised his hands out of the cockpit with gear issues. It appeared as though he would be forced to retire from the race, but managed to find first gear although an extra formation lap was necessitated. However, the Australian was obliged to start from the pitlane.

The race eventually got underway with one less lap. Tramnitz maintained position into Turn 1, defending from a fast charging Beganovic. Sebastian Montoya attempted to go around the outside of the pair of them and briefly held the lead, eventually settling into P2 behind Tramnitz.

Yellow flags were waved at the start of the second lap, which was subsequently upgraded to a full Safety Car. A crash between Noel Leon and Nikita Bedrin had left both drivers stuck in the gravel at the exit of the Rettifilo chicane. Tommy Smith was the perpetrator; clattering into the rear of Leon who then contacted Bedrin.

Fornaroli was the best of the starters in Title contention, moving ahead of Mini albeit still outside the points in P13.

Safety Car restart

With the Safety Car peeling into the pits at the end of lap five, Tramnitz bunched up the chasing pack before hitting the gas. Montoya lost the rear end of his Campos and was under pressure from Beganovic along the main straight, but managed to maintain P2.

Beganovic went from fighting for a position to defending, as he dropped behind Santiago Ramos with the latter claiming the final podium position. Meanwhile, a brilliant restart for Fornaroli, as he climbed his way into the points-paying positions by the end of lap six of 17. The following lap, the Italian driver snatched ninth place from Arvid Lindblad.

Browning was also trying to scrape together a few points from the Sprint, as he attempted to find his way past Lindblad for tenth without success. Further up the road, Ramos put himself in with a chance of race victory with a move on Montoya for second position.

Continuing his charge up the field was Fornaroli, as he performed yet another overtake, this time on Martinius Stenshorne for P8 up the inside of the Rettifilo chicane. Lap ten saw the Trident racer claim another place, demoting Mari Boya to eighth. Contrasting fortunes for Mini, the Italian still out of the points in 12th.

Focussing on the head of the field, Tramnitz held a comfortable gap to Ramos of over a second at the start of lap 11. Tramnitz’ nearest rival became Montoya as the Colombian eased past for P2 on lap 12.

A last dash to the chequered flag

More fighting further back, as Beganovic in fifth had a five-strong pack chasing him directly behind, all with DRS. Cameras focussed even further back however, as a crash between Piotr Wisnicki and Max Esterson in the same place as the earlier incident brought out the Safety Car for a second time.

Joshua Dufek joined the growing list of retirees as he came into the pits with a mechanical issue, while Mansell suffered a puncture and had to change his tyres as a result.

Only a single racing lap remained as the Safety Car period ended on lap 17 of 17. Tramnitz nailed his restart around Parabolica and kept first place, while Browning made a crucial overtake on Championship rival FornaroliВ? as well as Boya for seventh. Mini snatched tenth from Stenshorne, but out a front a great maiden victory for Tramnitz, while Montoya and Ramos completed the podium.

Sprint race final classification

1. Tramnitz

2. Montoya

3. Ramos

4. Dunne

5. Beganovic

6. Meguetounif

7. Browning

8. Boya

9. Fornaroli

10. Mini

Full race results can be found here.

Feature Image Credit: @Formula3 on X

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