In the second V1 Malta Series in the space of a week, and the last one for this calendar year, current Championship leader Ryan Carabott made it back-to-back wins. In the case of reigning champion Jake Sammut, it is a case of yet so near, yet so far – as he finished second once again, whilst Mercedes driver Michael Pace completed the podium with a third-place finish.
In the Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying began in the dry and then ended up in the wet. In this race, it was a case of the reverse, as qualifying initially began wet but quickly moved to dry conditions. In the end, it was Sammut who took pole in the Ferrari, with Carabott in second place. Meanwhile, the rest of the top 5 was: Pace in the Mercedes, Red Bull driver Wayne Schembri who qualified an impressive 4th, whilst Schembri’s team-mate Brandon Bonello qualified in 5th.
At the start of the race, Carabott got a brilliant getaway from second place and took the lead immediately going into the first corner. Sammut dropped down to third from pole on the opening lap, as he was first passed by Carabott at the start before Pace got past him for second going into turn 3. Adrian Manduca also made a good start and managed to jump up into fourth, having started in sixth place. Further behind, Simeon Nechev had an incident and lost considerable time, which resulted in him dropping down to last place. There was another incident on the opening lap involving Haas driver Kirsten Formosa and Aston Martin driver Ryan Zammit, which resulted in both pitting to change their front wing.
Sammut managed to get back past Pace into second place on lap 5. However, Sammut was handed a 3-second time penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits, which would come back to bite him at the end of the race. On lap 7, Alpha Tauri driver Kurt Friggieri crashed out of the race and this led to the Safety Car (SC) being deployed. As a result of the SC being deployed, Carabott elected to pit from the lead of the race to switch onto the hard tires.
Carabott pitting meant he dropped down to 8th place, with none of the top 7 at that pointing using the SC period to make a pit stop themselves. Other drivers who did elect to make a pit stop under the SC include: Alfa Romeo drivers Keith Vella and Daylziel Tabone, as well as Nechev in the McLaren. On the second lap of the SC being deployed, Williams driver Chris Ciantar pitted, together with Alpha Tauri driver Wayne Micallef who picked up front wing damage after colliding with Alpine driver Keith Muscat.
The SC went in at the end of lap 9, and on lap 10 Carabott immediately managed to get past Muscat into seventh place. Carabott managed to clear the traffic in front of him quite efficiently, and by lap 16 he was back up into second place without any of the other drivers having made pit stops (however, Daryl Pace did have a spin which enabled Carabott to freely gain one place). After Carabott got back up into second, he somewhat struggled against Jake Sammut who was showing some impressive pace out in front.
On lap 21, Ciantar had an accident which meant he retired from the race, and the SC was deployed once again as a result. This worked against Carabott, as Sammut in front of him had not yet stopped and thus got the opportunity to make a pit stop without losing as much time, and Carabott also pitted during this SC for fear of having a tire deficit. As a result, the order of the top 10 at this point was: Sammut, Carabott, Pace, Bonello, Micallef (as he elected not to pit during this SC having already stopped earlier for a set of hards), Manduca, Williams driver Jamie Zahra, Vella, and Mercedes driver Brendan Buhagiar.
The SC came in at the end of lap 23, but just before the drivers got going, lapped driver Anthony Calabrese in the Ferrari ran into the back of Manduca, and then, Calabrese tried to enter the pit lane and clumsily collided with Nechev, giving the latter a damaged wing as well. Meanwhile, Sammut managed to get a good restart out in front and kept the lead. Manduca quickly got past Micallef for fifth place, which was not too surprising given that he had a considerably bigger tire advantage. In fact, Micallef dropped down the order substantially due to his tire deficit and was quickly overtaken by Zahra, Vella, and Haas driver Daryl Pace.
An exciting battle was brewing out in front between Sammut and Carabott, and on lap 29 Carabott managed to get past to take the lead of the race once again. Another interesting battle was for sixth place between Zahra and Vella, as Vella initially got past Zahra before he was re-passed – and shortly afterward, Vella ended up spinning.
Watch the full action on Lap 29 –
Sammut eventually re-passed Carabott for the lead on track and went on to win the race on the road, however, due to having a 3-second time penalty, Carabott ended up as the winner of the race. Pace ended up completing the podium, whilst Bonello spun out in the last corner and dropped down into fifth, with Manduca gaining the fourth spot. The rest of the top 10 was: Zahra, McLaren driver Christian Caruana, Vella, Muscat and Formosa.
Lap 32 Sammut takes over Carabott –
Track the V1 S3 Claendar –
Re-Watch the full race here –
Do you have any requests for ONE related to e-sports? Send us an email at digital@onegroup.com.mt with your feedback or any request related.
Follow one.com.mt on our social media platforms for more interesting e-sports news.
