Jack Doohan won the final Formula 3 race of the season and helped his Trident team to clinch the championship – after ignoring their pleas to hand the lead to Clement Novalak.
First and third places for Doohan and Novalak meant Trident overturned a 29-point deficit to rivals Prema and clinched the team’s title. But a series of increasingly tense radio messages made it clear they were unhappy with Doohan’s refusal to give up the lead on the way to his fourth win of the year.Doohan took pole position ahead of team mate Novalak and the two Trident drivers kept their positions at the start. But Doohan was never able to break clear of his team mate and the pair came under increasing pressure from ART’s Frederik Vesti.
Novalak attacked Doohan on lap nine, attempting to pass around the outside of turn two, but running wide. He emerged from the corner ahead but immediately ceded position back to his team mate.
Novalak kept up the pressure as Vesti, who had passed Juan Manuel Correa and Johnathan Hoggard to take third place, closed in. The Trident team became increasingly anxious about holding on to victory, and urged Doohan on the radio not to fight Novalak.
At first he complied, holding the racing line into turn two as Novalak sent another move up the inside of him. Novalak ran slightly wide, however, staying on-track but drifting out far enough for Doohan to have a run on the inside of turn three. The pair ran wheel-to-wheel again, Doohan emerging ahead, and Novalak slipping back into the clutches of Vesti after running through the tyre marbles.
Novalak was powerless to prevent Vesti drawing within range and passing him for second place. But Doohan had enough in hand to out-run the ART driver to the flag by three seconds.
With the top Prema driver Arthur Leclerc taking seventh, Olli Caldwell 11th and newly-crowned champion Dennis Hauger slipping to 24th after being spun by Oliver Rasmussen, that ensured Trident clinched the team’s championship by six points. But they remained unhappy with Doohan’s driving.
“It was risky but you won,” they told him. “Thank you.”
Doohan gave an impassioned defence of his approach. “I’m sorry guys but I race for myself,” he said. “If he’s quick enough he’ll make the move and he’ll be able to stick it.
“I’m not going to be anyone’s wing man. I’m racing my own through the year. I understand it’s the team’s championship. I want to win too. I gave him the opportunity and if makes a mistake I’m going to capitalise on it. I’m a racing driver.”
“Sorry Jack I don’t agree,” he was told. “Thank you anyway for another victory.”
Behind the podium trio, Logan Sargeant emerged from a hectic scrap early in the race to claim fourth ahead of Jak Crawford and Hoggard. Leclerc’s aggressive start helped him take seventh place ahead of Victor Martins, Ayumu Iwasa and Caldwell. Correa slipped out of the points to 11th.
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Formula 3 Russia race three results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Jack Doohan | Trident |
| 2 | 7 | Frederik Vesti | ART |
| 3 | 5 | Clement Novalak | Trident |
| 4 | 29 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz |
| 5 | 10 | Jak Crawford | Hitech |
| 6 | 27 | Johnathan Hoggard | Jenzer |
| 7 | 2 | Arthur Leclerc | Prema |
| 8 | 17 | Victor Martins | MP |
| 9 | 11 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech |
| 10 | 3 | Olli Caldwell | Prema |
| 11 | 9 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART |
| 12 | 26 | Calan Williams | Jenzer |
| 13 | 24 | Kaylen Frederick | Carlin |
| 14 | 25 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin |
| 15 | 6 | David Schumacher | Trident |
| 16 | 22 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos |
| 17 | 14 | Matteo Nannini | HWA |
| 18 | 19 | Tijmen van der Helm | MP |
| 19 | 28 | Filip-Ioan Ugran | Jenzer |
| 20 | 31 | Zdenek Chovanec | Charouz |
| 21 | 30 | Ayrton Simmons | Carlin |
| 22 | 20 | Laszlo Toth | Campos |
| 23 | 8 | Alexander Smolyar | ART |
| 24 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | Prema |
| 25 | 15 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA |
| 26 | 12 | Roman Stanek | Hitech |
| 27 | 21 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos |
| 28 | 23 | Ido Cohen | Carlin |
| 29 | 16 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA |
| 30 | 18 | Caio Collet | MP |
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jlb
26th September 2021, 9:42
Poor management by Trident.
Patrick (@paeschli)
26th September 2021, 10:36
Curious to hear what they should have done differently?
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
26th September 2021, 11:09
Well firstly they should relocate from the pit wall to the lounge room. Then they need more distance between themselves and the race track, say a few thousand km’s. Then they need to stop being full time professionals… a passing interest in the team is all that’s needed. Finally they should quit their day job and start a career completely unrelated to motorsports.
Then, and only then, will they be able to properly manage an F3 and two young, hard charging race drivers who weren’t listening to them anyway.
w0o0dy (@w0o0dy)
26th September 2021, 11:06
The guy has every right in my eyes.. Novalak got the chance and he messed it up. On top of that Doohan won and the team got the champy. Sticking to their view is extremely childish from the team. He delivered, you were wrong. Suck it up and admit he did what was needed.
Aucra (@craigs)
26th September 2021, 11:47
I’m not a super close follower of F3, so I was trying to understand why the team asked them to swap?
It wasn’t going to change the season team result.
It wasn’t going to change the championship position of either of their drivers.
So, unless there was something I was missing, I can understand why Doohan would disobey the orders, and fair enough.
If you are on pole and lead the race, your teammate in P2 can feel free to try and overtake, but if he doesn’t have the speed then that’s on him.
Am I not understanding something here?
BasCB (@bascb)
26th September 2021, 16:11
I must say that I am also a bit confused about why exactly would they need them the other way round @craigs. Maybe it was about them thinking Novalak had more pace and a better chance of winning. Or maybe it was just about Novalak being from Russia and the prospect of having a russian driver winning in Russia would really work well for the grander picture. Might even be a bonus in it from their backers.
Baleux (@baleux)
27th September 2021, 5:53
@bascb Clement Novalak is not from Russia.
RatSack
26th September 2021, 11:53
I’m only showing a passing interest in F3 this weekend but the team orders were baffling really, a hold station order would make more sense. Doohan is running ahead in the drivers championship and if they stopped fighting each other they could have probably maintained the one-two position. Though team orders aside, these guys are paying enough to be there, they have every right to say things like “I race for myself”.