Arvid Lindblad wins Formula 3 race 100 in Barcelona

Arvid Lindblad (pictured) on the podium after winning the Barcelona feature race. Credit: James Sutton via Getty Images

Prema Racing's Arvid Lindblad showed great class out on the circuit to win Formula 3's landmark 100th race, in the feature race on Sunday in Barcelona.

Lindblad controlled the pace out front in a dominant drive from the Red Bull junior driver as he passed pole sitter Christian Mansell on lap 5 for the race lead.

Mansell would finish in second as Leonardo Fornaroli made a last lap pass on championship rival Luke Browning for third. Browning would finish fifth behind Oliver Goethe.

Leonardo Fornaroli, with the third place podium result, is now the championship leader heading into the next round in Austria. He took it from Gabriele Mini who finished 21st.

How race 100 unfolded in Barcelona

It was time for the feature race in FIA Formula 3 and it would be a landmark race in the championship with it being race 100 in the championship's history - taking place at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya where it all started in 2019.

Mari Boya, on home soil, would take victory in Saturday's sprint race after finishing behind the safety car. He inherited the lead after the two Trident cars, Santiago Ramos and Sami Meguetounif came together.

Meguetounif retired from the race and was handed a grid penalty for the event. He would not be on his own with a grid penalty as Nikita Bedrin would also be handed one for the sprint race collision with British driver Callum Voisin.

Christian Mansell would start on pole position for race 100 after a great lap in Friday qualifying. There would be two ART drivers in the top three with Nikola Tsolov third. Mansell would be joined by Arvid Lindblad on the front row.

All 30 cars on the grid and the race 100 was underway with a good start from Chrstian Mansell who maintained the lead after Arvid Lindblad thought about a move. At the race start the top three maintained positions as there was battle ongoing throughout the field.

Onto just the second lap as a few of the drivers were hoping to gain some places and deliver a good result and Sebastian Montoya was hoping to try and make up places like he did on Saturday after the start of the race  and he was up to 22nd on lap 3.

An incident at the race start between Martinius Stenshorne and Oliver Goethe that was originally noted by Race Control. However, the Stewards quickly decided no further investigation was required.

Start of lap 5 and Lindblad made a super move for the lead of the race into turn 1 and made use of the DRS advantage to get by Christian Mansell. Meanwhile, Luke Browning also made a move for third on the ART of NIkola Tsolov.

Two ART drivers losing a position on the same lap with the top three now being Lindblad, Mansell and Browning with Tsolov down to fourth.

Sophia Floersch made a move for 22nd in her Van Amersfoort on the Hitech of Cian Shields. A move into turn 1 and making good use of the DRS advantage.

Onto lap 10 and Charlie Wurz was up into the 20th after passing Joseph Loake. Loake was then vulnerable to attack from Floersch. Loake managed to hold position for another lap at least. 

Floersch however would soon be vulnerable to attack and would be overtaken by the AIX Racing car of Joshua Dufek. Dufek passed Floersch for 22nd in a good move by the Austrian driver.

Campos' Oliver Goethe had moved up a position. He made a move for sixth place on the ART of Laurens Van Hoepen, who would be under pressure once again soon after by the Hitech McLaren junior of Martinius Stenshorne for eighth.

A pass by Josh Dufek on Joseph Loake through turn 3 with Dufek getting up into 21st with Loake running wide as the Rodin driver was struggling for grip. Floersch and Cian Shields would also get ahead of Loake, who was down to 24th.

Lap 22 and the gap was to over five seconds between the front two. Lindblad in a comfy position ahead of Mansell.

On the same lap, after persistent trying, Leonardo Fornaroli went for a pass for fourth on Nikola Tsolov and had finally got ahead of the Bulgarian. On the following lap and Tsolov was then passed by Goethe.

Nikita Bedrin and Kacper Sztuka were battling into turn 1 with Sztuka trying to get ahead of the AIX Racing car of Bedrin. Sztuka however locked up and under-steered into the side of Bedrin with both being able to continue round the track.

Bedrin would retire while the incident would be investigated by the Stewards.

Penultimate lap and Tsolov was under pressure from Van Hoepen but the Dutchman was unable to make the move and was under pressure from Stenshorne but the two came together and giving Van Hoepen a puncture and sending him down the order. race ruined for the ART driver. Stenshorne on the following lap would suffer a puncture from the incident too.

Leonardo Fornaroli had closed right up to Luke Browning, so too had Oliver Goethe in a battle for third and on the final lap into turn 1 a move from Fornaroli that was made to stick in turn 3 put Fornaroli into third and the provisional championship lead if he could finish there.

Matters got worse for Browning as Goethe then capitalised. The Williams Academy driver was demoted to fifth with the Red Bull Academy liveried Campos of Goethe up into fourth.

Out front however, it was a fantastic drive from British talent Arvid Lindblad. The 16-year old dominated out in front since taking the lead from Christian Mansell. He won race 100 in Formula 3 for Prema, who won the first Formula 3 race with Robert Shwartzman in 2019.

He took the flag with a comfy margin ahead of Christian Mansell who started from the front of the field and came home in second. Leonardo Fornaroli took third on the final lap and takes the championship lead off Gabriele Mini his fellow countryman.

Oliver Goethe came home in fourth for Campos with Luke Browning in the Hitech rounding off the top five.

Nikola Tsolov was sixth for ART ahead of the Mclaren junior Alex Dunne in seventh for MP Motorsport. Mari Boya, Dino Beganovic and Noel Leon completed the top 10.

Gabriele Mini who had the championship lead coming into the round now leaves the round in third overall, behind Fornaroli and Browning.

A true fantastic weekend of Formula 3 action at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya. A weekend where a historic landmark was reached in the championship. Mari Boya on Saturday followed in the footsteps of David Vidales and Pepe Marti in winning at their home event in Barcelona in Formula 3.

Whereas in the feature race, Arvid Lindblad showed a cool and composed head even when the weather started to throw a bit of rain in the final sector. With victory, he has pulled himself right into championship contention.

Leonardo Fornaroli will lead the championship into next weekend's round at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, with the pack closely chasing him. 

2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 5 - Spain feature race provisional result

1. Arvid Lindblad (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
2. Christian Mansell (Australia, ART Grand Prix)
3. Leonardo Fornaroli (Italy, Trident)
4. Oliver Goethe (Germany, Campos Racing)
5. Luke Browning (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
6. Nikola Tsolov (Bulgaria, ART Grand Prix)
7. Alex Dunne (Republic of Ireland, MP Motorsport)
8. Mari Boya (Spain, Campos Racing)
9. Dino Beganovic (Sweden, Prema Racing)
10. Noel Leon (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
11. Santiago Ramos (Mexico, Trident)
12. Tim Tramnitz (Germany, MP Motorsport)
13. Sebastian Montoya (Colombia, Campos Racing)
14. Charlie Wurz (Austria, Jenzer Motorsport)
15. Sami Meguetounif (France, Trident)
16. Callum Voisin (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
17. Joshua Dufek (Austria, AIX Racing)
18. Sophia Floersch (Germany, Van Amersfoort Racing)
19. Matias Zagazeta (Peru, Jenzer Motorsport)
20. Cian Shields (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
21. Gabriele Mini (Italy, Prema Racing)
22. Joseph Loake (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
23. Max Esterson (United States, Jenzer Motorsport)
24. Piotr Wisnicki (Poland, Rodin Motorsport)
25. Tommy Smith (Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing)
26. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (Thailand, AIX Racing)
27. Martinius Stenshorne (Norway, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
28. Kacper Sztuka (Poland, MP Motorsport)
29. Laurens Van Hoepen (Netherlands, ART Grand Prix) DNF
30. Nikita Bedrin (Italy, AIX Racing) DNF

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal