Lucas Fluxá is leading the Spanish F4 standings after his debut this weekend at Jarama. Meanwhile, Rodin Motorsport look to have found pace over the winter, taking their first victory in the series on Sunday.

By Juan Arroyo

Spanish driver Fluxá was the sensation of the series’ season opener at Jarama, taking two wins from the round’s three races.

The MP Motorsport driver – entered as part of the team’s subsidiary entity, KCL – claimed pole position in the first qualifying session on Saturday and followed that up with a lights-to-flag victory in race one.

Rodin rookie Thomas Strauven capitalised on pole position for race two by taking the team’s first victory in Spanish F4. Multiple front-runners were taken out in an incident at the start of the race when Maciej Gładysz spun Fluxá into Turn 1. Campos Racing’s Ernesto Rivera braked to avoid the incident and was hit from behind by Mattia Colnaghi, who mounted the Mexican’s car before landing atop Fluxá’s.

Fluxá took victory in race three despite being involved in a second incident with Colnaghi that brought out the red flag with five minutes plus one lap remaining. Fluxá ended up in the barriers at Turn 4, while Colnaghi lost his front wing and dropped to 16th by the time the drivers entered pit lane.

The results leave Fluxá atop the standings with 52 points, ahead of Strauven on 35. MP likewise leads Rodin in the teams’ standings, while Campos is in third after an underwhelming opening to the season.

Feeder Series analyses the key talking points from the weekend.

Fluxá wins despite causing red flag

There was widespread confusion as to who won race three when it was declared over by the race directors.

After the MP teammates clashed, Rivera took the lead of the race. He entered the pits shortly after, but Campos team personnel were wary of celebrating as he had not been declared the winner.

Article 35.7 of Spanish F4’s sporting regulations states that when the race is suspended after 70 percent of the scheduled time minus the additional lap has elapsed – 21 out of the 30 minutes, in this case – the results are taken from “the penultimate lap completed by the leader before the suspension”. 

It meant that, despite the fact his crash brought out the red flag, Fluxá was declared the winner of race three. Colnaghi was reinstated to second place before receiving a 10-second penalty for causing the initial contact at Turn 2 prior to Fluxá’s crash. That penalty promoted Rivera to second, with teammate Jan Przyrowski in third.

The rule is present in some form in practically every series up to F1. It has never been abused in Spanish F4, nor should it be. But hypothetically speaking, a driver leading a race in a must-win scenario could strategically crash out in the closing stages in a manner that causes a red flag, handing themselves the victory.

Such a scenario is unlikely to pass, but taking the results from the order behind the safety car or excluding cars responsible for a race’s suspension could eliminate the possibility entirely.

Where was Campos?

The rules no doubt hurt Campos Racing in race three. Had the race ended under safety car, the team would have taken a 1-2-3 finish, with Rivera, Przyrowski, and Nathan Tye on the podium.

Still, Campos was marginally lagging behind MP Motorsport and even the Rodins of Strauven and Bouzinelos throughout the weekend.

The Spanish team’s best finisher in the first qualifying session was Rivera in seventh. Then, in the first race, Nathan Tye led the team in seventh. James Egozi mustered fourth in the second race, though it took Fluxá and Colnaghi’s first-lap incident to free up several positions ahead. Rivera finally managed to break into the podium positions in the third race.

Considering his title-contending form in Formula Winter Series, Peru’s Andrés Cárdenas struggled, only scoring points in the second race with sixth place. Red Bull junior Enzo Tarnvanichkul, with less experience but equally lofty expectations placed upon him, managed a best finish of seventh.

The Thai driver was up to sixth in the third race when he lost his front wing attempting to overtake Cárdenas on the second lap of the race. Cárdenas later retired in an unrelated incident when he went off into the gravel at Turn 2.

Though Campos was faster in practice, MP Motorsport looks to have the pace advantage this year, at least for now. The Dutch team dominated the tests at Portimão in April, so it may prove to be a tough start to the year for Campos’ drivers, some of whom have a lot to prove.

Where has Rodin’s pace come from?

Rodin were consistent top-10 finishers in their maiden Spanish F4 season last year, but the team only managed one podium thanks to Alex Ninovic’s third place in the third race at Valencia.

This weekend, they reached the podium twice.

Thomas Strauven finished third with the fastest lap in the first race and followed it up with victory from pole in the second race. The Belgian finished 10th in the third race to wrap up the weekend.

Teammate Peter Bouzinelos, meanwhile, finished fourth in the first race and fifth in the second before retiring from the third when he spun out at Turn 12. The extensive experience he has gained in F4 categories – Australian Formula Open, F4 SEA, F4 UAE, and Formula Winter Series – since last summer is seemingly paying off.

Strauven and Bouzinelos were nowhere near this pace in Formula Winter Series earlier this year. The Belgian, to his credit, did take a win, but he was outside the top 10 in most other races. A similar story applied to Bouzinelos, who scored one point over the winter while racing for MP, and Preston Lambert, who has not scored in either series. 

It seems that the Surrey-based team found something in March, prior to Spanish F4’s first collective test. Strauven was high up in the timesheets in pre-season testing at Le Castellet, Portimão and Jarama in the weeks preceding this round.

It’s early, but Strauven and Bouzinelos showed it could be a promising year for Rodin. Can they keep it up? The visit to Portimão next month will yield some answers.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency