FIA F3 gets underway in Sakhir, Bahrain this weekend 17.03.2022: FIA FORMULA 3 Championship Sakhir Circuit, Bahrain 18-20 March 2022 The FIA Formula 3 Championship officially gets underway at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir this weekend, one of two new venues featured on the Championship’s 18-race,

FIA FORMULA 3 Championship
Sakhir Circuit, Bahrain
18-20 March 2022



The FIA Formula 3 Championship officially gets underway at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir this weekend, one of two new venues featured on the Championship’s 18-race, 9-round calendar in 2022.



The 30-strong field returns to Sakhir this weekend just a fortnight after preseason testing at the circuit, which saw Hitech Grand Prix rookie Isack Hadjar top the timesheets with the quickest time across all three days of running.



It was Trident newcomer Zane Maloney who finished at the top on the opening day of pre-season testing earlier this month, with the Barbadian driver setting the quickest time of the day during the cooler afternoon stint. Maloney had also finished in the top two in the morning of Day 1, just 0.013s off PREMA Racing's Arthur Leclerc.



Day 2 saw another rookie shine in the cockpit, with Hadjar setting the quickest time of the day in the morning session to beat out two returnees, ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins and Trident’s Jonny Edgar. Despite missing out in the morning session Martins, the highestplaced returning driver from 2021 finished the afternoon session in the lead with Hadjar two places further back in P3.



Red Bull junior Hadjar topped the timesheets for a second successive time on the third day of running, going quickest
in the morning session before a sandstorm ultimately hampered the afternoon stint.



PREMA’s Jak Crawford and ART’s Grégoire Saucy finished in second and third, as Hadjar ended the final day with a comfortable 0.381s margin over the pair. Not only was Hadjar's time of 1:47.247 good enough for the best time of the day, but it also saw him go quickest across the entire test.



Roman Stanĕk was one of several returning drivers to impress in pre-season testing, finishing in the top ten in all but one session across the three days of running.



The Trident driver finished P2 on the afternoon of Day 2 and then went on to top the timesheets in the afternoon on the final day.



Alpine Academy’s Victor Martins was another returning driver to regularly appear in the top half of the leaderboard, finishing in the top ten in four of six sessions and topping the afternoon of the second day. The ART driver’s teammate, Grégoire Saucy, also managed to match Martins’ successful run of finishes, posting four top ten times of his own.



Not only did Hitech Grand Prix rookie Hadjar manage to top two successive days, and finish testing with a time more than three tenths quicker than his nearest rival, but similarly to Martins and Saucy, he also finished in the top ten in all but two sessions.



 

- ALexa Quintin, photo Formula Motorsport Ltd