It’s time to get back down to business as the sixth round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship in Budapest - expect fireworks as the quest to be crowned the 2022 Drivers’ Champion goes up a notch.

After securing his maiden pole position and Feature Race victory last time out in Spielberg, Isack Hadjar will want to pick up where he left off. Entering the final round before the summer break, the whole field will be craving success around the Hungaroring, aiming to end the mid stage of their campaigns on a high before the season-concluding trip header gets underway in a month’s time.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Championship battles don’t come much fiercer than this with only seven points splitting the top three in the Drivers’ Standings. While the advantage is with long-time leader Victor Martins on 98 points, it’s Isack Hadjar who has the momentum. The Hitech Grand Prix driver has been steadily rising up the order, with his perfect score in the Spielberg Feature Race seeing him square up to his ART Grand Prix rival. A single point stands in his way of him knocking his fellow Frenchman off the top spot.

Arthur Leclerc still remains in the hunt in third, 21 points clear of PREMA Racing teammate Jak Crawford. Trident’s Roman Stanek dropped down one place and rounds out the top five.

Three drivers inside the top six in the standings has allowed PREMA to extend their lead over the Teams’ Championship on 220 points, but the top five remain unchanged. ART Grand Prix continue to hold off Hitech in third by 11 points. Trident and MP Motorsport complete the top five, fourth and fifth respectively.

Finally, two new names are getting their F3 debuts this weekend in Hungary. Christian Mansell joins Charouz Racing System for the rounds in Budapest and Spa, taking over from Zdenek Chovanec. After sustaining a broken wrist during the Spielberg Sprint Race, Campos Racing’s Hunter Yeany has been replaced by Oliver Goethe for Round 6.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

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WHERE TO WATCH THE SESSIONS

FROM THE GRID – László Tóth, Charouz Racing System

“The Hungaroring is one of my favourite tracks, it’s my home race so obviously it’s a special event for me. It’s also a historic track with a tricky layout, which is quite challenging, but it has a good rhythm and I think it is a really nice track to drive so I’m really looking forward to it.

“Overtaking at the Hungaroring is a tricky one because it’s only got one DRS activation zone. So, if you have DRS on the main straight and you can make an overtake it’s really good because out of Turn 1 you’ll still have DRS and that’s also a good place to overtake. You can also do some pretty good moves in Turn 3 as well, but I think the best place to overtake is the main straight.

“Round 6 is going to have some of the hottest races this season. It’s quite demanding for the tyres, and for us as well, to drive in the heat. It is also a track which uses quite a bit of rubber but like at all the tracks this year you just have to find a way to manage it.

“I would say the Hungaroring is a track I know decently well. It’s not a track where I raced more than any others. In fact, it’s one of the tracks where I’ve had fewer opportunities to drive there but I think I do know it quite well and hopefully, we can get some good results there. It would be nice to finally get some points, and it would be really fantastic to do it at my home race.”

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LAST TIME OUT – SPIELBERG

True to its, name the Red Bull Ring played host to a triumphant weekend for two Red Bull juniors. Slippery conditions that had impacted Free Practice were nowhere to be seen in Qualifying as Hadjar claimed his first pole position in Formula 3 by two-tenths. It was an all-French front row lockout with Martins ending the session second ahead of Oliver Bearman, who produced his best Qualifying result of the season so far.

They say good things come to those who wait and that was certainly the case for Crawford who brought home his highly sought-after maiden win in the third tier in the Sprint Race. Capitalising on a second Safety Car restart, the American driver braved it out to snatch the lead from Caio Collet around Turn 7. The blue MP Motorsport car crossed the line in second and Franco Colapinto rounded out the podium with his second podium of his rookie campaign.

Hadjar converted pole into victory with an unshakeable performance in the Feature Race. Neither wet conditions nor a Safety Car could stand in the Hitech driver’s path to the top step of the podium, leaving rival Martins to trail behind in second. Bearman saw off a challenge from Leclerc to secure podiums in back-to-back rounds.

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TYRE TALK

Balancing between the circuit’s comparatively low average speeds and succession of tight corners, the yellow-walled medium compound will be returning for the first time since Imola. In addition, due to the wet weather running in Spielberg, a set of red-walled soft tyres remain available for the drivers to play with in Practice.

Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director

“The Hungaroring provides a different challenge to the Red Bull Ring with higher demands placed on the tyres by the series of non-stop corners, with no long straights to cool them. As in previous years, the P Zero Yellow medium tyre is nominated as it’s well-suited to those demands, although drivers will also have a set of the P Zero Red soft tyre carried over from the previous round to use in Practice. Temperatures are often high and with no pit-stops in the Formula 3 races, some management will likely be needed.”

KEY STATS

  • There have been five pole sitters in five rounds, with Franco Colapinto, Zane Maloney, Roman Stanek, Zak O’Sullivan and Isack Hadjar all one a piece.
  • Isack Hadjar achieved a perfect score in Sunday’s Feature Race picking up 25 points for the win, plus two for pole and one for fastest lap. He is one of only six drivers in the history of the Championship to do so.
  • The top four drivers in the Championship, Victor Martins, Isack Hadjar, Arthur Leclerc and Jak Crawford have all scored points in every round of the season to date.
  • Hadjar has the most consistent points scoring record of the season so far, finishing in the points in nine of ten races.
  • The lap record at the Hungaroring is 1:31.761 set by Christian Lundgaard with ART Grand Prix in 2019.
  • The 4.381 KM track is the second shortest on the 2022 calendar, beat only by Zandvoort at 4.259 KM.

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