Race Report
2024 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix
FIA F3 CHAMPIONSHIP
Circuit: Monaco (MC), Length 3,340 km, 23rd - 26th May 2024, Rounds 7 + 8
www.acm.mc
JENZER MOTORSPORT 2024:
Charlie Wurz (A), Max Esterson (USA), James Hedley (GB)
First time experience for our rookies in Monaco
Free Practice
Thursday, 23.05.24, 13.10 – 13.55, Weather: Cloudy, 19°C
Monaco, the most prestigious race on the Formula One calendar, spells glamour, but also inevitably very difficult working conditions for the teams. The FIA F3 paddock was set up next to the Monaco Country Club Tennis, which meant that the powerful race cars had to drive the long way round to the pitlane in a slow procession, followed by all the team‘s tyre and tool vans, in front of grandstands which were slowly filling up. Our drivers, who were competing on this narrow, demanding, but spectacular track for the first time, had to get used to the extreme conditions. Here the smallest driving error can lead to an encounter with the barriers, and then the damaged cars have to be abandoned and valuable session time is lost. This meant that they had an especially difficult task to full fill.
Our regular driver Matias Zagazeta had to undergo an unexpected appendectomy the day before the event began. James Hedley, a 19-year-old Brit from Poole near Bournemouth, took over the steering wheel of our racing machine number 19. He is currently competing in his third season in the GB3 championship, but has no experience with the FIA F3 car so far and, like our other two drivers, has never driven in Monaco. A big task was waiting for him.
As the drivers made their way towards the pit lane for the first time, dark clouds began to build and rumbles of thunder could be heard. At first the track remained dry, but soon raindrops began to fall. Our drivers were able to benefit from just one single fast lap in the dry before Inthraphuvasak slid into the barrier in Turn 1. After the restart, it didn't take long for Voisin to get stranded in the same place. Now the drivers switched to rain tyres, and of course it was no longer possible to improve the lap times. It was now raining harder and shortly before the end of the session Meguetounif also crashed into the barrier. Not much driving could be experienced in this session!
In these difficult conditions, our drivers achieved the following placements: Max 16th, James 17th and Charlie 20th.
| Free Practice | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gabriele Mini (I) | Prema | 1:27.400 |
| 2nd | Leonardo Fornaroli (I) | Trident | 1:27.491 |
| 3rd | Dino Beganovic (S) | Prema | 1:28.669 |
| 16th | Max Esterson (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:32.923 |
| 17th | James Hedley (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:35.268 |
| 20th | Charlie Wurz (A) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:34.762 |
Race One Qualifying
Friday, 24.05.24, 11.05 – 11.21 (Group A), Weather: Sunny, 20°C
Friday, 24.05.24, 11.29 – 11.45 (Group B)
In order to allow enough track space to all the 30 drivers of the FIA F3 field, the qualifying format got changed for this round. The drivers got split into two groups: Group A consisted of even-numbered cars while Group B of odd-numbered cars. Each group had a 16-minutes session and the aggregated results determined the grid for the Feature Race on Sunday. As per usual, the top 12 were reversed for the Sprint Race on Saturday.
Max was part of the first group to hit the track late Friday morning. After yesterday's minimal driving training, Max managed to gradually improve. In the end he finished 12th in his group. Then it was Charlie and James' turn to get into their cars. Unfortunately, James already made contact with the barrier on his 3rd lap and caused an interruption with the red flag. He made it back to the pitlane, but was unable to continue the session. Charlie was stuck in traffic and was slow to improve his time. Shortly before the end of the session, when he was on his fastest lap he also fell victim to the first corner and the red flag had to be waved again. With only a few seconds left on the clock, the session did not restart. This left group A the fastest. In the overall ranking of the two groups, Charlie qualified in 22nd place, Max right behind him in 23rd and James was 30th.
| Group A times | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gabriele Mini (I) | Prema | 1:23.942 |
| 2nd | Luke Browning (GB) | Hitech | 1:24.230 |
| 3rd | Leonardo Fornaroli (I) | Trident | 1:24.295 |
| 12th | Max Esterson (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:25.995 |
| Group B times | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Christian Mansell (GB) | ART | 1:24.921 |
| 2nd | Arvid Lindblad (GB) | Prema | 1:24.640 |
| 3rd | Dino Beganovic (S) | Prema | 1:24.357 |
| 11th | Charlie Wurz (A) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:34.762 |
| 15th | James Hedley (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:00.304 |
| Race One Grid | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Nikola Tsolov (BUL) | ART | |
| 2nd | Laurens van Hoepen (NL) | ART | |
| 3rd | Tim Tramnitz (D) | MP Motorsport | |
| 22nd | Charlie Wurz (A) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| 23rd | Max Esterson (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| 30th | James Hedley (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
FIA F3 Championship
Race One (Sprint-Race, 40 Minutes)
Saturday, 25/05/24, 10.45, Weather: Sunny, 19°C
The race started on time, but after just a few corners, in the Casino section, there was an incident involving five cars. Fortunately, the rest of the field got through the bottleneck and past more or less well. Charlie had a damaged front wing and came to the pitlane to have a replacement fitted. He rejoined the race at the back of the field. After “yellow” “Safety Car” was displayed, but soon afterwards the race was stopped with a red flag. All vehicles returned to the pit lane to wait for the restart. It turned out that the officials needed quite a bit of time to clear away the five vehicles. Half an hour after the first start, the remaining vehicles drove back out onto the track behind the safety car and the restart took place “rolling”. At this point, Max was in 17th place, James was 20th and Charlie was 25th. Floersch and Sztuka made contact and both had to retire in the pitlane with damaged vehicles. Smith stopped on the track with a puncture, which triggered a brief safety car phase. After the restart, Max had moved up to 15th, James had been surprised by Inthraphuvasak and was 21st, and Charlie had moved up to 22nd. After the restart, eight laps of racing remained, which were completed without incident. Our drivers did a good job and didn't allow themselves to be bothered much by the deteriorating tyres. They finally got the on-track experience they had wanted in free practice! After this exciting race, Max reached the finish in a respectable 14th place, Charlie had overtaken James and finished the race in 19th place. James saw the checkered flag right behind him, in 20th position.
| Results Race One | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Nikola Tsolov (BUL) | ART | 59:09.511 | |
| 2nd | Tim Tramnitz (D) | MP Motorsport | Gap | 4.328 |
| 3rd | Laurens van Hoepen (NL) | ART | Gap | 5.173 |
| 14th | Max Esterson (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| 19th | Charlie Wurz (A) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| 20th | James Hedley (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| Fastest lap: Dino Beganovic (S) in 1:24.919 | ||||
| Race Two Grid | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gabriele Mini (I) | Prema | 1:23.942 |
| 2nd | Christian Mansell (GB) | ART | 1:24.921 |
| 3rd | Luke Browning (GB) | Hitech | 1:24.230 |
| 4th | Arvid Lindblad (GB) | Prema | 1:24.640 |
| 5th | Leonardo Fornaroli (I) | Trident | 1:24.295 |
| 6th | Dino Beganovic (S) | Prema | 1:25.078 |
| 22nd | Charlie Wurz (A) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:25.762 |
| 23rd | Max Esterson (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:25.995 |
| 30th | James Hedley (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:00.304 |
FIA F3 Championship
Race Two (Feature-Race, 45 Minutes)
Sunday, 26/05/24, 08.00, Weather: Sunny, 20°C
The main race in Monaco started very early on Sunday morning, under sunny skies and already pleasant temperatures. The start went well, but there was an attack by Wisnicki on Charlie in Portier, which didn't go well. Charlie landed in the barrier and his race was already over. In the end, Wisnicki received a time penalty of 10 seconds, which unfortunately didn't help Charlie. The safety car had to take over the field briefly. Max was now 20th, James was in 29th place. The large field drove very consistent, long laps and no one seemed to want to take a big risk for an overtaking maneuver. Only from the middle of the race were there small movements, and also another accident in which three vehicles were involved. The safety car took over the field again, but this time it only took one lap before the green light was showed again. Max was now in 18th place, James had moved up to 24th. Because Van Hoepen had an accident during the restart, the safety car was immediately activated again. When the restart was given, there was still enough time for exactly one last lap. Max happily reached the finish line in 17th place and James, who had mastered his very first outing in the FIA F3 car well, saw the checkered flag in 22nd place. Gabriele Mini, who won the main race last year, confidently repeated that today.
| Results Race Two | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gabriele Mini (I) | Prema | 44:15.883 | |
| 2nd | Christian Mansell (GB) | ART | Gap | 0.802 |
| 3rd | Luke Browning (GB) | Hitech | Gap | 1.720 |
| 17th | Max Esterson (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| 22th | James Hedley (GB) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| DNF: | Charlie Wurz (A) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
| Fastest lap: Luke Browning (GB) in 1:25.172 | ||||
Championship standings after 8 out of 18 races:
1st Gabriele Mini (I), 72 points; 2nd Luke Browning (GB), 68 points; 3rd Leonardo Fornaroli (I), 64 points; 4th Dino Beganovic (S), 58 points; 5th Arvid Lindblad (GB), 44 points; 6th Oliver Goethe (D), 43 points; 17th Charlie Wurz (A), 10 points; 22nd Max Esterson (USA), 5 points
Charlie Wurz (A)
Max Esteron (USA)
James Hedley (GB)
2024 FIA F3 Meisterschaft
| 29 Feb 01/02 March | 2024 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix | Sakhir (BHR) |
| 22/23/24 March | 2024 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix | Melbourne (AUS) |
| 17/18/19 May | 2024 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix | Imola (I) |
| 23/24/25/26 May | 2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix | Monte Carlo (MC) |
| 21/22/23 June | 2024 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix | Barcelona (E) |
| 28/29/30 June | 2024 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix | RedBull Ring (A) |
| 05/06/07 July | 2024 Formula 1 British Grand Prix | Silverstone (GB) |
| 19/20/21 July | 2024 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix | Hungaroring (HU) |
| 26/27/28 July | 2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix | Spa-Francorchamps (B) |
| 30/31 Aug 01Sept | 2024 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix | Monza (I) |
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