Nikita Bedrin takes maiden Formula 3 win at Hungaroring in a historic AIX Racing 1-2! Hungary Formula 3 sprint race report

A fantastic Hungary sprint race, in FIA Formula 3, saw Nikita Bedrin take his maiden victory in the category, in a history AIX Racing 1-2 on Saturday.

Bedrin won the race after starting on the front row of the grid, ahead of his teammate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak who would take his maiden points and podium in the category. Inthraphuvasak would also become the first driver from Thailand to score a podium in the category. 

AIX Racing become the 10th team to score a podium in 2024, meaning every team on the grid has done so in the first eight rounds of the season.

Dino Beganovic would finish third for Prema Racing after starting on reverse grid pole position.His teammates Gabriele Mini and Arvid Lindblad, the top two in the championship heading into the round, would fail to score.

Third in the championship Luke Browning would up to second, above Lindblad, despite only scoring three points.

How the Formula 3 sprint race in Budapest unfolded

​After a week break following on from a triple header formula 3 returning to action around eight of the 2024 championship at the hungering circuit in Budapest.

Round eight is one of two rounds before the summer break with a week at spa Francorchamps coming up in the F3 championship.

Saturday morning would see the Sprint race take place after both race grids were set in the Friday afternoon qualifying session. After Mari Boya topped free practice in the morning session qualifying would throw up some dramatic moments.

Taking pole position would be ART Grand Prix and Dutch Driver Lawrence Van Houten. He would set the fastest time by over 2/10 of a second just moments before Luke Browning brought out a red flag after crashing.

Browning because he caused the red flag, would lose his best lap time due to the new 2024 FIA F3 sporting regulations. Also in the post race investigations by the stewards, AIX racing’s Joshua Dufek would be disqualified as his car was below the minimum weight.

Both Dufek and Browning would drop out of the top 12 in classification therefore having an affect on the grid for both races including the Saturday morning sprint, where the top 12 are reversed to set the grid.

Taking the reverse grid pole position would be Dino Beganovic, the Prema driver would be in search for his second win of the year. Starting on the front row alongside him would be Nikita Bedrin of AIX Racing. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak would have his best personal start in third.

All 30 cars would take to the grid for the race with excitement building in Budapest. It was time to go racing in the sprint race at the Hungaroring in Formula 3. There would be two formation laps as the first start would be aborted. An issue for Joseph Loake initially going to a spot on the wrong side of the grid, he would try and correct it but would be parked incorrectly. Race Control therefore made the decision to abort the start. The race distance would be 18 laps.

The lights would go out and racing would be underway in Budapest and a great start for Beganovic would have him the lead into the first corner but Bedrin would get a great run out of the corner and pass around the outside of turn 2, which would be for the inside of turn 3. Bedrin taking the lead of the race.

Further back on the opening lap, Matias Zagazeta of Jenzer Motorsport would pick up suspension damage after making contact with Mari Boya. He would come to a stop in turn 11 after having contact being made with his rear by Tommy Smith of Van Amersfoort Racing. Zagazeta would pull off the road and the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) would be brought out to move the broken down Jenzer.

At the restart, Nikola Tsolov of ART and Trident's Santiago Ramos would make contact. Ramos with a puncture and front wing damage for Tsolov. Both would pit.

Joseph Loake would be handed a 10 second stop/go penalty for failing to come into the pit lane, to start the race, after he was the cause of the aborted start. A race ruining moment for the Rodin Motorsport driver, as Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak of AIX Racing would come together.

The battle was hotting up for third as Inthraphuvasak and Voisin would engage in battle on lap 6, with Voisin's move to the inside of turn 2 and the two would make small contact but would both avoid damage.Tim Tramnitz and Christian Mansell, who were fifth and sixth, were closing up on this battle.

Lap 8 of the race and Mansell would make a dive down the inside on Tim Tramnitz into turn 1, but would go too deep and went wide of the exit and would concede the place to the MP Motorsport of Tramnitz. There would also be a move from Luke Browning at that corner on Sami Meguetounif. Browning would get ahead and complete the move cleanly and would be up into ninth.

Meanwhile in the battle out front, Beganovic was getting the hurry up from Prema and was told to apply the pressure to Nikita Bedrin in a hope for a mistake from the AIX Racing driver out front.

Onto lap 10 of the race and a move was made by Beganovic as he looked to go down the inside of Bedrin in an attempt to take the lead but would clip the curb at turn 2 and misjudge the pass. He went wide and would rejoin in third place behind the AIX of Inthraphuvasak. It was an AIX Racing 1-2.

Further back, a battle would occur between Callum Voisin and Tim Tramnitz for fourth place in the race. Voisin would keep the position by going off track at turn 6 and would therefore concede the place in the risk of a penalty.

A loss of position for Voisin would not spell good for him as he would start to lose more time in the race and would drop down the order as a result of it. Lap 12 and he would drop to sixth behind Mansell, who was up into fifth.

Browning was looking to make progress after having work to do, starting in 15th for both races. He would be looking to get ahead of championship rival Leonardo Fornaroli for seventh.

Beganovic and Inthraphuvasak were beginning to drop back from the driver in front of them. Beganovic was trying to find a way to get back ahead of Inthraphuvasak for second as Nikita Bedrin was trying to measure his advantage out in front.

​Voisin was having more trouble and he would run wide at turn 11 and would thankfully just manage to keep it ahead of Fornaroli who had caught up behind him.

Out in front, Bedrin had measured the race brilliantly. It had not been the easiest season for the AIX driver and had been finding it difficult to strike consistent form in the 2024 championship of Formula 3. AIX Racing, his team, were the only team to not score a podium in the season but Bedrin would go one better.

Nikita Bedrin would see the flag first to take his maiden win in the category in his second season. It would be a fantastic moment for him but a fantastic moment too for Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak. He would become the first Thai driver to take a podium in FIA Formula 3, as he made it an AIX Racing 1-2 with his first points of his Formula 3 career.

It would be third for Dino Beganovic of Prema but after starting on pole, the Ferrari Academy driver would have been hoping for a better result. Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport and Christian Mansell of ART Grand Prix would complete the top five. Tramnitz finished fourth ahead of Mansell in fifth.

Voisin would finish sixth and managed to keep Fornaroli and Browning behind, who finished seventh and eighth respectively. Laurens Van Hoepen and Sami Meguetounif completed the top 10 in an action-packed Formula 3 sprint race at the Hungaroring.

It will be Van Hoepen who will start from pole position in the next Formula 3 race, which is to come on Sunday morning. The feature race will be the next race to take place in the 2024 championship and it will conclude round eight at the Hungaroring. 

Action will commence at 08:25 track time, 07:25 UK time.

2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 8 - Hungary sprint race provisional classification

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

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal