F3 Britain: Sprint race postponed due to rain

Heavy rain and standing water have resulted in the postponement of the Formula 3 sprint race at Silverstone.

The perils of the conditions became clear when Gabriele Mini dropped his Prema into the gravel at Stowe while simply travelling from the support pits to the Formula 1 pitlane.

He was followed through the gravel by two of the Rodin cars.

The race was initially scheduled to start at 9:20am BST, but prior to the confirmation that the race had been postponed, the pitlane exit opening time was twice pushed back.

Following a pair of exploratory laps by the safety car, the final decision was made to postpone the race. On his first tour, Bernd Maylander demonstrated how treacherous conditions were as he slid the Aston Martin Vantage through Club.

Van Amersfoort Racing driver Noel Leon had been set to start from pole position in the partially reversed grid from Prema driver Arvid Lindblad, whose recent form has pushed him up to the fringes of the championship battle.

Christian Mansell (ART) was confident of his chances of closing the gap to those at the front, with a fifth-place grid slot and feature race polesitter and championship leader Luke Browning (Hitech) rounding out the top 10.

The rescheduled sprint race will now take place at 6pm BST, following the conclusion of the originally planned on-track action for the day.