Despite the hard impact, both were able to get out of their cars without physical injuries.
With Free Practice 3 of Formula 1 about to begin, the race had to be suspended, leaving Del Pino, Deligny, and Badoer on the podium, followed by Stromsted and the Japanese driver from ART, Taito Kato, in fifth place.
Buenos Aires, March 6 (NA) – The Italian-Argentine driver Mattia Colnaghi finished in thirtieth place in the Formula 3 sprint race, which had to be suspended in the eighth lap and was won by the Spanish driver Bruno Del Pino of Van Amersfoort Racing.
According to the Argentine News Agency, the Spaniard was joined on the podium by his teammate, the French driver Enzo Deligny, while third was the Italian driver Brando Badoer of Rodin Motorsport.
The race had to be stopped before the end of the eighth lap due to a hard crash involving the Prema team's drivers, James Wharton and Louis Sharp, which ended with both of them hitting the barriers at turn five.
In a trouble-free start where Brando Badoer overtook the Danish driver Noah Stromsted, the first corner saw Wharton fall from fifth to seventh place as he ran off the track at turn three, a corner that has caused problems for more than one driver throughout the weekend.
Meanwhile, Colnaghi, who started in seventh place, lost a position at the start and tried to regain it on the next lap with a move that would destroy his chances of scoring points: the native of Monza went too deep on the brakes at the end of the lap, and upon reaching the penultimate corner, he lost the rear of his car and spun, which took him off the track and left him in last place.
After some laps with little action, the crash between the Prema team's drivers generated a red flag, under which the race would be concluded.
Louis Sharp tried to pass Wharton on the outside of turn 4, but his teammate pushed him off the track.
Having completed less than half of the laps, only 8 of the 20 required were completed, the points were cut in half, so only the first five drivers scored points.
Upon reaching the next corner, Wharton turned right onto the usual line but did not take into account the presence of Sharp on his right side, who ended up hitting him and, unable to brake in time at such speed, dragging him to the safety barriers.
