F3 Monaco: Alpine junior Tsolov controls sprint after red flag

ART driver Tsolov was rarely threatened in his lights-to-flag win, surviving two restarts and an investigation for illegal weaving.

Team-mate Laurens van Hoepen dropped to third behind Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) at the start and was unable to recover the position, despite his German rival's lack of pace.

Remarkably, Tsolov’s success means that there is yet to be a repeat winner in F3 this season, with seven different drivers having taken to the top step of the podium.

After a typical Monaco start which saw seven drivers - Sophia Floersch, Tommy Smith, Kacper Sztuka, Charlie Wurz, Martinius Stenshoorne, Cian Shields and Piotr Wisnicki – noted for track limits violations at Sainte Devote, the only real action of the day came on the first run through Casino Square.

Instigating things were Christian Mansell and Arvid Lindblad, with the Red Bull junior appearing not to see the Australian to his left as he swung wide to take the normal racing line into the right-hander of the complex.

The ensuing contact resulted in Lindblad facing backwards with Joshua Dufek, Alex Dunne and Shields getting caught up in the melee. All five drivers retired on the spot, with the initial contact between Lindblad and Mansell subject to a post-race investigation.

In the squeeze to get past, Sami Meguetounif had a lucky escape after contact with Wisnicki briefly tipped him onto two wheels.

Initially covered by the safety car, the red flags were quickly displayed with some of the cars stuck fast together. Such was the difficulty in separating Dunne and Mansell’s cars that they were pushed away while still interlinked nose to gearbox.

A fantastic start for Luke Browning went somewhat under the radar as he made a pair of audacious moves around the outside of Lindblad at Sainte Devote and championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli at Massenet.

Following a half-hour delay, Tsolov led the field away on the rolling restart and gained a quick advantage over Tramnitz, who was caught napping by the early jump.

With the race settling into a typical Monaco follow-the-leader affair, the lap count steadily ticked over until lap 13, when contact between Floersch, who was now carrying a 10-second penalty, and Sztuka resulted in race-ending damage for both, with the latter stopping on the track and causing a further safety car period.

Having again successfully negotiated the restart, Tsolov endured a heart-in-mouth moment when he was investigated for failing to follow the race director’s instructions with regard to weaving on a restart.

The penalty for weaving beyond the prescribed point is five seconds, a margin was quickly instructed to pull out over Tramnitz. But with four laps remaining, he was able to ease off when the stewards cleared him of any wrongdoing.

The effect at the top of the standings is that Fornaroli remains at the summit, although with a reduced two-point lead over Browning, who finished one place ahead of his rival in eighth.

F3 Monaco Race Results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix	25		23	-
2	T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport	7		23	+4.300 4.3	4.300
3	L. Van ART Grand Prix	24		23	+5.100 5.1	0.800
4	N. León Van Amersfoort Racing	20		23	+5.300 5.3	0.200
5	J. Loake Rodin Motorsport	31		23	+6.400 6.4	1.100
6	M. Boya Campos Racing	12		23	+6.800 6.8	0.400
7	D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam	1		23	+7.700 7.7	0.900
8	L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight	14		23	+12.600 12.6	4.900
9	L. Fornaroli Trident	4		23	+12.900 12.9	0.300
10	O. Goethe Campos Racing	10		23	+14.900 14.9	2.000
11	G. Minì Prema Powerteam	2		23	+15.300 15.3	0.400
12	C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport	29		23	+19.400 19.4	4.100
13	T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing	22		23	+20.100 20.1	0.700
14	M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport	18		23	+24.300 24.3	4.200
15	S. Ramos Trident	6		23	+24.700 24.7	0.400
16	M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight	15		23	+25.000 25.0	0.300
17	T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing	26		23	+27.400 27.4	2.400
18	S. Montoya Campos Racing	11		23	+28.300 28.3	0.900
19	C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport	17		23	+29.000 29.0	0.700
20	J. Hedley Jenzer Motorsport	19		23	+38.300 38.3	9.300
21	P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport	30		23	+46.300 46.3	8.000
dnf	S. Meguetounif Trident	5		20	3 laps					Retirement
dnf	N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing	27		15	8 laps					Retirement
dnf	S. Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing	21		13	10 laps					Retirement
dnf	K. Sztuka MP Motorsport	8		12	11 laps					Retirement
dnf	A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam	3		22						Accident
dnf	C. Mansell ART Grand Prix	23		22						Accident
dnf	J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing	28		22						Accident
dnf	A. Dunne MP Motorsport	9		22						Accident
dnf	C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		22						Accident
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