F3 Monaco: Mini claims championship lead with feature win over Mansell

Prema driver Mini moved to the top of the F3 standings for the first time this year with his first victory of 2024, surviving several interruptions by the safety car to become a record-breaking eighth different winner from as many races this season.

The poleman made a slower getaway that second-placed Mansell (ART Grand Prix) but held his line through Sainte Devote and was able to manage proceedings therein.

Luke Browning (Hitech) remains second in the standings after finishing third, while pre-race championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli followed Arvid Linblad (Prema) home to finish fifth and drops to third in the points.

Just as was the case in Saturday’s sprint race, the safety car was summoned to the track before the end of lap one, with Piotr Wisnicki handed a 10 second penalty for assisting Charlie Wurz into the barrier at Portier.

The restart had seen some drivers get a little too close for comfort and Callum Voisin was fortunate to avoid the steward’s wrath after making contact with Tommy Smith into the Grand Hotel hairpin.

As the 27-lap race settled into a rhythm, overtaking was at a premium, with the top six on the grid (completed by Prema's Dino Beganovic) remaining in their starting positions to the flag.

But Rodin driver Joseph Loake proved the exception to the rule as he put a bold move on Mari Boya into Rascasse for seventh. This came after a career-best fifth place finish in the sprint race.

But the GB3 graduate struggled to pull clear of the Campos Racing driver and a lockup into the Nouvelle Chicane on lap 13 showed that the pressure was beginning to tell as he was forced to cut across the runoff.

Things took a turn on lap 20 at Mirabeau as sprint race winner Nikola Tsolov, Noel Leon and Sami Meguetounif ended up in the barriers, although the latter was the only driver that retired at the scene.

On entry to the corner, Tsolov's ART machine had made a bold lunge on Van Amersfoort Racing driver Leon but made contact and turned his rival around. Meguetounif was very much the innocent party as he arrived on the scene to find his path blocked.

For causing the incident, Tsolov was handed a 10 second penalty.

But within a lap of the latest restart, the safety car was called into action once more after Laurens van Hoepen ran his ART entry down the barriers at Tabac when fighting for ninth with Loake.

The action began again with just one lap remaining, but there was no further incident as the remaining drivers took the chequered flag with no fresh damage.

F3 Monaco Feature Race Results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	G. Minì Prema Powerteam	2	27	-				25		2
2	C. Mansell ART Grand Prix	23	27	+0.800 0.8	0.800			18
3	L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight	14	27	+1.700 1.7	0.900			15		1
4	A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam	3	27	+2.100 2.1	0.400			12
5	L. Fornaroli Trident	4	27	+2.600 2.6	0.500			10
6	D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam	1	27	+3.000 3.0	0.400			8
7	M. Boya Campos Racing	12	27	+4.800 4.8	1.800			6
8	T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport	7	27	+5.200 5.2	0.400			4
9	J. Loake Rodin Motorsport	31	27	+6.600 6.6	1.400			2
10	O. Goethe Campos Racing	10	27	+8.000 8.0	1.400			1
11	K. Sztuka MP Motorsport	8	27	+8.400 8.4	0.400
12	T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing	22	27	+8.900 8.9	0.500
13	C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport	29	27	+9.300 9.3	0.400
14	S. Ramos Trident	6	27	+10.900 10.9	1.600
15	S. Montoya Campos Racing	11	27	+11.300 11.3	0.400
16	A. Dunne MP Motorsport	9	27	+12.000 12.0	0.700
17	M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport	18	27	+12.400 12.4	0.400
18	T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing	26	27	+13.400 13.4	1.000
19	S. Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing	21	27	+13.600 13.6	0.200
20	J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing	28	27	+14.000 14.0	0.400
21	C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight	16	27	+15.200 15.2	1.200
22	J. Hedley Jenzer Motorsport	19	27	+15.900 15.9	0.700
23	N. León Van Amersfoort Racing	20	27	+17.300 17.3	1.400
24	N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing	27	27	+17.500 17.5	0.200
25	P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport	30	27	+20.600 20.6	3.100
26	M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight	15	27	+26.400 26.4	5.800
27	N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix	25	27	+28.500 28.5	2.100
dnf	L. Van ART Grand Prix	24	22	5 laps					Accident
dnf	S. Meguetounif Trident	5	19	8 laps					Retirement
dnf	C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport	17	26						Accident
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