Mass collision on the qualifying outlap: penalty storm after crazy Formula 3 scene

– There were crazy scenes that took place during the qualifying for the Formula 3 race in Spa-Francorchamps – and scenes that had already been anticipated beforehand. After the qualifying in Belgium, there was a true flood of penalties for the Formula 3 rookies, after several collisions occurred in the pack during the session – on the outlap!

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But what actually happened? On the way to the flying laps, almost the entire Formula 3 field had compactly gathered behind the leader on the track, Theophile Nael (Campos). Because: None of the drivers wanted to be the first to go for the fast lap, as they would have had no slipstream on the long Kemmel straight.

So it happened that Nael drove extremely slowly, but no one behind him wanted to overtake. “Watch out for penalties and remember what was said in the briefing,” his race engineer warned him over the radio. “Yes, but no one will want to overtake me now,” he replied. “Just drive slowly and then we’ll see what happens,” said the engineer.

Numerous collisions

What happened shortly after was real chaos, which had already been hinted at during practice, as a similar pack formation had occurred there before the fast laps. The trigger was Trident driver Noah Strömsted, who rear-ended Yevan David’s AIX after turn 13 and caused a true chain reaction.

Strömsted, whose right front wheel broke off, also touched James Wharton (Prema), while David was sent into the other Prema of Jose Garfias. Strömsted and David then had to park their cars on the track.

In the rear part of the field, this also led to a collision between DAMS driver Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi and Hiyu Yamakoshi (Van Amersfoort), who was sent into the track barrier.

The race control interrupted the session 9:38 minutes before the end with a red flag. Since the rain was increasing at that time and the Formula 2 qualifying session and the second Formula 1 practice were still scheduled, it was ultimately decided not to restart the session.

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The pole position thus went to Audi junior Freddie Slater (Trident) ahead of Ferrari junior Tuukka Taponen (MP) and Yamakoshi, who was stranded in the track barrier. “It’s somehow luck and somehow maybe also bad luck,” says the Japanese driver. “I think pole position would have been possible with my car, but I will never know because we didn’t properly finish the whole thing.”

Eleven drivers penalized on the grid

After the session, there was a hail of penalties: a total of eleven drivers were given grid penalties by the stewards.

Because Strömsted was seen as the cause of the collision with David, he must drop five positions in both the sprint and the main race. Wharton, Bhirombhakdi, Taito Kato (ART), Louis Sharp (Prema), and Jin Nakamura (Hitech) each received a three-position penalty because they drove unnecessarily slowly on the racing line.

This also applies to Nael, who must drop five positions because, as the leader, he set the pace and thus affected the rest of the field with his action.

Championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos) and Gerrard Xie (DAMS) also received a three-position grid penalty for both races because they too drove unnecessarily slowly on the racing line and left the track without reason, gaining positions in the queue.

Finally, Garfias and Van Amersfoort’s Bruno del Pino were also hit with a three-place grid penalty because, according to the stewards, they drove zigzag lines in the dense field during their warm-up lap, which was considered dangerous driving.

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The sprint race starts on Saturday at 10 a.m. CEST.