Franco Colapinto has won a frenzied FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race from Silverstone, which took place in mixed conditions.
The start of the race was in fully dry conditions, however there was a threat of rain in the air. Sebastian Montoya held onto the lead from pole position, by Jonny Edgar slumped down the order after starting on the front row.
Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto moved up two places to sixth and set after Gabriele Mini for fifth – on lap seven, he completed the move.
On the next lap however, drivers had more to think about as rain started pelting the circuit, forcing Race Control to intervene with a Safety Car.
A number of drivers made pit stops for wet tyres, however there was belief amongst the teams that the rain would only last for a handful of minutes.
At the restart, which took place on lap 13, the top 10 drivers were on slick tyres while the other 20 in the field had wet tyres fitted.
Montoya’s hopes of retaining the lead on the slick tyre didn’t last long as he spun at the first corner and dropped all the way down to 18th place.
Colapinto inherited the lead and was tasked with keeping his car on the track while rivals behind made progress on their wet tyres.
But in the latter stages of the race, the dry tyres became the more favourable and it was the wet tyre runners that were forced to hang on.
Colapinto bagged his first race win of the year, crossing the line ahead of Bortoleto, who extends his lead in the Drivers’ Championship with his fifth podium of the season.
Christian Mansell secured his first career podium in F3, producing a solid defence on Caio Collet on the final lap.
Gabriele Mini was fifth, ahead of Hugh Barter and Leonardo Fornaroli, who will start Sunday’s Feature Race from pole position.
Montoya recovered to eighth after losing the lead earlier in the race, crossing the line ahead of Ido Cohen.
Pepe Marti took the final point on offer, and was the only driver on the wet weather tyres to finish inside the top 10.
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