Alpine junior Tsolov cruises to first F3 win at Monaco after pile-up at start · RaceFans

Alpine junior Nikola Tsolov converted reverse grid pole position to win the Monaco sprint race ahead of Tim Tramnitz.

Tsolov led home Tramnitz by just over four seconds after leading every lap of the race, with Laurens van Hoepen taking third.

The race was initially red flagged following a multi-car pile up at Casino Square when Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad clipped Christian Mansell who was running to his outside. The crash claimed both drivers, along with Joshua Dufek, Alex Dunne and Cian Shields, who were all unable to take the restart.

When the race eventually resumed, reverse grid pole-winner Tsolov led the field away ahead of Tim Tramnitz and Laurens van Hoepen in third. The race was interrupted a second time by a Safety Car shortly after half distance when Kacper Sztuka pulled off track after colliding with Sophia Floersch, coming to a stop at Sainte Devote.

Tsolov led the field away at the restart but appeared to make a slight weaving motion out of the exit of Rascasse, which is prohibited by the race director’s event notes for this weekend. The stewards noted Tsolov’s actions, which earned Noel Leon a penalty at Imola last week, but determinedno further investigation was necessary.

That will have come as a relief to Tsolov, whose team advised him to pull out a five-second lead in case he was penalised, but was unable. He took the chequered flag four second ahead of Tramnitz, securing his first win and first podium appearance in Formula 3.

Tramnitz held onto second place, with Van Hoepen taking the final podium position in third. Leon finished fourth ahead of Joseph Loake, with Mari Boya sixth for Campos. Ferrari academy driver Dino Beganovic took points in seventh ahead of Luke Browning and championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli. Oliver Goethe took the final point in 10th.

Fornaroli’s championship lead falls to just two points ahead of Browning following the sprint race. Gabriele Mini will start tomorrow’s feature race from pole position ahead of Mansell and Browning.

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Formula 3 Monaco race one results