Who can believe it’s only the second weekend of Formula 3! After a really long break, Formula 3 is back, and the usual chaos was at the party as well. In the end, a rookie won that eventful Sprint Race, leading from start to finish.

Under the sun of Monaco, it was a beautiful morning to see some track action. And one thing about Formula 3, is that it will never disappoint. Starting in Pole Position after the reverse grid, Hiyu Yamakoshi kept the lead at the start and kept Xie behind him. Half of the grid cut the first Turn to avoid a crash so it was a rather clean start. Clean until Tuukka Taponen tried to overtake in Fairmont but took two cars with him. Cars behind them brake but few drivers were surprised. Benavides found himself into the wall. Race control deployed the safety car, but a red flag followed quickly after as Taponen’s car stopped in the tunnel.

Not the only safety car

After a bit of time, a rolling start was called. Pedro Clerot let Del Pino through to avoid a potential penalty. The restart was clean. Nakamura tried to overtake Naël, but the Frenchman closed the door to stay in front. Yamakoshi created a bit of a gap, 0.8 seconds, to the car behind, especially when Del Pino was closing the gap on Xie. A second safety car was called as Freddie Slater made the same move as Taponen earlier in the race at Fairmont. He took Rivera’s Trident with him, and Naël behind couldn’t avoid them.

Second restart, and Yamakoshi still kept the lead. Freddie Slater took a 10-seconds penalty for his move at Fairmont. They called a virtual safety car as some debris was near La Piscine, from a Trident. We later found out it was Slater’s front wing. Green flag was waved quickly after, with 6 minutes remaining on the clock. Rivera went back into the pit and DNF. Del Pino came really close to Xie, battling for P2, with two laps remaining, but he slightly touched the wall in Mirabeau. By only a 0.2 margin, the DAMS Lucas Oil driver managed to keep his second place. Hiyu Yamakoshi, who started in pole, won the sprint race, for the first time in his Formula 3 career.