F3 Bahrain: Bortoleto takes feature win after Mini penalty

Hitech driver Mini was running in third by the end of the first lap, having been passed by Bortoleto (Trident) and Gregoire Saucy (ART) off the line.

He retook second place from Saucy on lap four before passing Bortoleto for the lead on lap 10, but was handed a five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement.

Mini had looked set to retain at least fourth place before a penultimate lap safety car scuppered his chances, eliminating his lead and handing Bortoleto the win.

The Brazilian led a Trident 1-2 from fellow rookie Oliver Goethe, while reigning Formula Regional European champion Dino Beganovic took third for Prema.

An audibly frustrated Mini was relegated to eighth by the penalty, shouting over the radio and hitting his steering wheel after an unlucky race.

Saucy finished fourth, with Luke Browning in fifth for Hitech after a superb race, having charged through the field from 17th place.

Bortoleto had lined up second and took the lead down to Turn 1 as Saucy slotted into second ahead of Mini at Turn 4.

He built a 2.1s lead to Saucy while the ART returnee battled with Mini behind, the Alpine Academy driver finally passing Saucy around the outside of Turn 4 on the fourth lap.

Bortoleto had doubled his lead by lap six before the safety car was deployed, with Tommy Smith having spun his Van Amersfoort Racing car at Turn 8 while Mari Boya (MP Motorsport) had also suffered front wing damage.

It was during the break in action in which a confused Mini was handed his penalty.

Racing resumed on lap 10, with Mini taking the lead at Turns 6 and 7 from Bortoleto as he set about building enough of a gap to retain the lead.

He had broken DRS three laps later as the Prema pair of Zak O’Sullivan and Paul Aron tussled for 11th, the two drivers making contact in their points pursuit.

Goethe passed Saucy for third with seven laps remaining, taking the final podium spot down to Turn 1 as Browning made up yet another place to move into seventh, taking sixth the following lap from Kaylen Frederick.

By the penultimate lap, Saucy had been caught by Beganovic and Browning, with the former making his way through into fourth as Saucy retained fifth.

The safety car was deployed for the second time on the penultimate lap after Smith and Roberto Faria made contact, ending Smith’s race and scuppering Mini’s chances of victory.

Sprint race winner Pepe Marti finished sixth for Campos, with Frederick in seventh. Sebastian Montoya finished ninth for Hitech, with Aron rounding off the top 10.

F3 returns in Melbourne, Australia, from 31 March to 2 April.

F3 Bahrain - Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Gap
1	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident
2	6	Oliver Goethe	Trident	0.800
3	2	Dino Beganovic	Prema Powerteam	1.100
4	8	Gregoire Saucy	ART Grand Prix	1.300
5	16	Luke Browning	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1.600
6	23	Pepe Martí	Campos Racing	1.800
7	7	Kaylen Frederick	ART Grand Prix	2.100
8	15	Gabriele Minì	Hitech Pulse-Eight	4.600
9	14	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech Pulse-Eight	6.800
10	1	Paul Aron	Prema Powerteam	8.100
11	10	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	9.800
12	3	Zak O'Sullivan	Prema Powerteam	15.800
13	24	Christian Mansell	Campos Racing	18.200
14	17	Caio Collet	Van Amersfoort Racing	19.200
15	9	Nikola Tsolov	ART Grand Prix	19.200
16	27	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer Motorsport	19.600
17	26	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer Motorsport	22.000
18	20	Oliver Gray	Rodin Carlin	25.000
19	22	Ido Cohen	Rodin Carlin	25.200
20	18	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing	25.600
21	29	Sophia Flörsch	PHM Racing by Charouz	28.400
22	21	Hunter Yeany	Rodin Carlin	35.400
23	12	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	36.100
24	31	Piotr Wiśnicki	PHM Racing by Charouz	37.300
25	30	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing by Charouz	45.300
26	25	Hugh Barter	Campos Racing	1'07.500
27	4	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident
	19	Tommy Smith	Van Amersfoort Racing
	28	Alex Garcia	Jenzer Motorsport
	11	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport
View full results