Aussie Watch: Doohan, Mansell hoist silverware at Silverstone
Monday, 10 July 2023
It was a great British Grand Prix weekend for most of the Australians in action in FIA Formula 2® and FIA Formula 3®, with a pair of podiums and a brace of season-best results.
The Australians in the Formula 1® feeder-series categories showed speed at Silverstone, with Jack Doohan and Christian Mansell taking podiums in the FIA Formula 2® and FIA Formula 3® categories at the British Grand Prix, while F3® compatriot Hugh Barter recorded a season-best finish.
Doohan came to Silverstone, where he won the F2® Sprint race in 2022, in a confident frame of mind after a strong drive to fourth in the Austrian Feature race the previous weekend, and the Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver immediately set himself up for a strong weekend in England by qualifying fourth, which became a sixth-place starting position for Saturday's reverse-grid 19-lap Sprint.
On a track soaked by pre-race rain, Doohan engaged in a spirited battle with Oliver Bearman (Prema) for the majority of the Sprint, firstly for fourth place and then for the final podium place after both drivers overtook a fading Isack Hadjar (Hitech) with four laps remaining.
Doohan then made his decisive pass of Bearman with three laps left after being forced wide on several previous attempts – waving to the British driver as Bearman sailed wide at the Vale corner on lap 17 – and secured his second podium for the year soon after, finishing third and 19.4secs adrift of race-winner and championship leader Frederik Vesti (Prema).
Doohan started Sunday's 29-lap Feature from fourth and battled with Bearman and Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin) in the opening laps before his teammate Amaury Cordeel spun and caused a safety car on lap six.
Two further safety car periods saw the race boil down to a 10-lap dash to the flag, with Doohan in seventh place after being shuffled down the field during the pit stop phase. He dispatched both Clement Novalak (Trident) and Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) with clinical moves at the Stowe corner at the end of the back straight on laps 21 and 23 respectively and gained fourth place with four laps to go by overtaking Iwasa's teammate Arthur Leclerc.
Doohan finished just 1.8secs behind Theo Pourchaire (ART) for the final spot on the podium, with Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins winning from pole, the Frenchman's maiden F2® success.
Doohan's sixth successive points finish saw him climb to seventh in the world championship standings on 72 points, with 16 of the season's 26 races completed.
In F3®, Mansell enjoyed a breakout weekend which – like Doohan – began with momentum carried into Silverstone from Austria, where he'd claimed a season-best seventh in the Feature race last weekend.
The 18-year-old qualified his Campos Racing machine in fourth place – 10th in Austria was his previous-best showing in qualifying – and came through from ninth in the reverse-grid 18-lap Sprint race on Saturday to finish third, holding off Brazilian Caio Collet on the last lap by four-tenths of a second for his maiden world championship podium.
The race was won by Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), with Mansell 5.8secs behind the Argentinian driver at the chequered flag.
In Sunday's Feature, Mansell dropped one place from his starting slot of fourth and stayed in fifth for much of the duration of the 22-lap race, finishing 5.9secs behind race-winner, Danish driver Oliver Goethe (Trident).
Three consecutive points finishes for Mansell sees him advance five places in the drivers' championship to 13th with 29 points, with six of the season's 18 races remaining.
Barter, Mansell's Campos Racing teammate, qualified 14th at Silverstone and drove superbly on slick tyres on a damp track to finish sixth in the Saturday Sprint, the best result of his rookie campaign and a second straight points-scoring effort after he finished eighth in the Feature race in Austria.
Sunday's Feature was more of a struggle, Barter finishing 15th to sit 19th in the championship standings with nine points.
The fourth Australian in action, Van Amersfoort Racing's Tommy Smith, made a stunning final charge in Sunday's Feature race. The 21-year-old Melburnian finished 28th from 22nd on the grid in Saturday's Sprint, and was in 24th place when he clashed with Brazilian Robert Faria (PHM Racing) with six laps remaining in Sunday's Feature, electing to pit for wet-weather tyres during the resultant safety car period with rain beginning to fall across Silverstone.
When racing resumed with two laps left, Smith used the benefit of his grippier rubber to scythe through the pack, storming from 26th on lap 20 to 18th with a lap to go, and then passing seven rivals on the final lap to finish just 0.1secs away from his first world championship points in 11th, his best finish this season.
Then came the letdown: Smith was penalised after the race for multiple track limits breaches, dropping him back to 25th in the classification.
Smith sits 23rd in the F3® standings, with both F2® and F3® next in action at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest (July 21-23).
Did Tommy Smith just go from P26 to P11 and 0.174 seconds off his first points with two laps to go? 😱#BritishGP #F3
— F1 Australian Grand Prix (@ausgrandprix) July 9, 2023
