Bedrin rebuffs Beganovic to lead AIX one-two in sprint race · RaceFans

Nikita Bedrin passed Dino Beganovic and withstood an attack from the Prema driver to win the Formula 3 sprint race in Hungary.

The 18-year-old Russian driver, who races under an Italian licence due to the restrictions introduced by the FIA after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, claimed his maiden victory and the first for the AIX team.

AIX took a one-two in the partial-reverse-grid race, as Tasanapol Inthrapuvasak claimed second place. He took the position when Beganovic ran wide at turn two on lap 10 in a failed attempt to pass Bedrin for the lead.

Beganovic lost his advantage from pole position as Bedrin clung on around the outside of turn two on the first lap, claiming the inside line for turn three. Aside from Beganovic’s lap 10 lunge, Bedrin was never headed from then on, as the field ran in a tight DRS train behind him. Beganovic, seemingly frustrated by what he considered a late move by Bedrin under braking, had to settle for third place.

Tim Tramnitz and Christian Mansell rose to finish fourth and fifth after passing Callum Voisin. The Rodin driver was compromised by Beganovic rejoining ahead of him on lap 10 and came under attack from Tramnitz at turn six. Voisin cut the chicane trying to keep the Red Bull junior driver behind him and was told by his team to surrender the place when he returned to the pit straight.

Mansell later passed Voisin then launched an attack on Tramnitz at turn one on lap 15, but ran wide and lost the position.

Leonardo Fornaroli held off Luke Browning for seventh place. Browning, who dropped nine places on the grid to 15th after his quickest time in qualifying was deleted for causing a red flag, produced a useful recovery drive, crucially passing points leader Gabriele Mini on the first lap. He added three points to his tally while Mini finished out of the scoring positions in 14th, one place lower than he started.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Laurens van Hoepen and Sami Meguetounif, who who were both passed by Browning, completed the points-scorers in ninth and tenth respectively. No driver scored the bonus point for fastest lap as Joseph Loake set the fastest time but finished 26th after causing the original start to be abandoned when he lined up in the wrong grid spot, then collecting a penalty for failing to take the restart from the pits.

Formula 3 Hungary race one results