Théophile Naël can call himself the very first winner ever on the Madring thanks to his victory in the Formula 3 sprint race. While the new circuit caused a red flag frenzy and considerable chaos during the F3 test in August, the first official race went remarkably smoothly.
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Naël had a strong start and then maintained control over the race. Behind the Frenchman, there was a battle for the remaining podium places, but major incidents were absent. This gave the drivers a much calmer baptism of fire on the Madring on Saturday than the events during the test at the end of August suggested.
Red flag frenzy
The absence of chaos was by no means a given beforehand. During the two-day Formula 3 test on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 August, the 5.4-kilometer circuit was already put to a tough test. Crashes and other incidents caused multiple interruptions, with not only the drivers but also the organization working hard.
Race control, marshals, medical services, and recovery teams were repeatedly called into action during the test days. Reportedly, the red flag was waved between eight and nineteen times over the two days. The test thus served as a solid dress rehearsal for the first official race weekend.
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Relatively calm Friday
There were also some incidents on Friday, but the major chaos was absent. In free practice, the session was briefly interrupted by a crash from Nicola Lacorte, but the qualifying sessions proceeded without major interruptions. There were some incidents, including contact between Noah Strømsted and Kanato Le and a crash by Pedro Clerot.
Saturday once again showed that the drivers had learned their lesson. Despite the high speeds, limited margins for error, and walls close to the track, the sprint race went off without major incidents.
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