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Tag: F3
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Dennis Hauger scores 2nd win for Prema Racing: F3
Barcelona, 9 May 2021: Dennis Hauger scored PREMA Racing’s second win of the weekend in Race 3 with a controlled lights-to-flag victory over Trident’s Jack Doohan and HWA RACELAB’s Matteo Nannini at Barcelona.
Recovering from a sluggish getaway when the lights went out, Hauger was assured out in front and crossed the line with a near 4s gap over Doohan for his first win in Formula 3. The Trident racer getting over a difficult start of his own to take a first podium at this level.
At one stage, Matteo Nannini appeared to be Hauger’s most likely challenger, but the Italian couldn’t sustain the pace and fell back behind Doohan.
AS IT HAPPENED
Lining up from pole, Hauger was desperate to make amends after colliding with Nannini in a battle for the lead in Race 2 on Saturday. His start was far from ideal though, the PREMA struggled off the line and found himself in a four-wide battle for the lead heading down to Turn 1.
Nannini, Victor Martins and Doohan all pulled up alongside him, but the PREMA began to respond, benefitting from the lengthy 600m run-up to the first corner and breaking daringly late to drag himself narrowly ahead.
Of the four drivers, Doohan was the one to luck out, falling from second to fourth as Nannini snatched P2 ahead of Martins. Hauger began to pull away as Doohan dusted himself off and got back ahead of the Frenchman for the final spot on the podium.
Doohan looked to have rediscovered the pace that secured him second in Qualifying, quickly pulling into DRS range of Nannini, before picking off the HWA ace at the first corner.
Race 2 winner Olli Caldwell pulled off a DRS-fuelled move over Martins for fourth, stealing the racing line at Turn 1 and making the most of the MP man’s heavily worn tyres.
The top three remained unchanged at the line, but there was a late shuffle further down in the top 10. Logan Sargeant and Clement Novalak began a battle for sixth, but the Charouz Racing System driver was struggling for grip and lost out to the Trident, before falling all the way to ninth, with Frederik Vesti and Caio Collet also clambering ahead of the American.
With less than a lap to go, there wasn’t enough time for Roman Stanek to get ahead of Sargeant as well, with the Hitech racer too busy defending the final points’ place from Alex Smolyar.
KEY QUOTE – DENNIS HAUGER (PREMA RACING)
“Really happy with Race 3, we finally got the win in the end, and it was in the race that gives you the most points. We got back in the Championship and I am really happy with that. I have to keep the momentum going in Round 2 at Paul Ricard, but I will enjoy this moment now.”
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Smolyar takes victory from Novalak in frenetic season’s 1st race
Barcelona, 8 May 2021: Alex Smolyar sealed an impressive first victory in Formula 3 for ART Grand Prix, scampering ahead of Jonny Edgar in the early stages before managing out the remainder of Race 1 to finish ahead of Trident’s Clément Novalak and MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet.
After a convincing opening stint, Smolyar was spared a late encounter with Novalak as the race ended under Safety Car conditions, following a spin from Oliver Rasmussen. The Trident had risen from fourth and begun to close the gap to P1, but wouldn’t get the chance to have a go at him.
MP rookie Collet briefly dropped off the podium but recovered to seal a rostrum on his first start in F3, ahead of 2020 title challenger Logan Sargeant.
Despite dropping down to P5 at the flag, 17-year-old Edgar did at least come away with plenty of points on his debut, finishing ahead of PREMA’s Olli Caldwell.
AS IT HAPPENED
Lining up on reverse grid pole, Edgar’s first F3 race start was delayed by an issue for his teammate, Ido Cohen, who had struggled to a stop on the formation lap. The Israeli was pleased to get his Carlin going, albeit from the pitlane, as the grid were forced into a second formation lap, shortening the action from 22 laps to 21.
The additional formation lap meant Edgar had plenty of time to think about his start, and he made no mistake when the five lights did eventually go green, thundering off into the distance with a great getaway.
Smolyar brushed off a challenge from Collet to hold onto P2, as Novalak and Logan Sargeant tussled their way through to fourth and fifth.
Having kept his cool at the start, Smolyar was picking up the pace and fast catching the race leader, Edgar. The polesitter had spoken about tyre management in the leadup to his debut, saying that he wouldn’t fight an overtake if it meant destroying his Pirellis, and that bore out on Lap 4, as Smolyar glided past with the aid of DRS.
Further down the order, Smolyar’s teammate Frederik Vesti was struggling to keep Caldwell at bay. The PREMA had dropped back at the start, but recovered to go on the charge, picking off Vesti and David Schumacher for P6 within a matter of laps.
An all-rookie battle was emerging for P2 between Edgar and Collet, but the duo’s clash took them away from the racing line and allowed the more experienced Novalak to sneak in between them, after Collet skewed ever so slightly onto the marble.
Having briefly managed to hold off Novalak, Edgar eventually succumbed to the Frenchman, who clinically swept around the outside at the first chicane for P2. The Briton was visibly struggling and watched on as Collet and Sargeant followed Novalak past.
Having looked so controlled out in front for much of the race, Smolyar’s lead was suddenly under threat from Novalak, who was nearly within DRS range after eating into the gap between them. So, Russian was relieved to see a Safety Car come out with three laps to go, after Rasmussen spun off into the gravel.
The length of the clear-up meant that the Safety Car led the drivers over the finish line, allowing Smolyar to clinch a maiden victory over Novalak and get his title challenge up and running.
He may not have been able to hold off Collet and Sargeant, but the late drama ensured Edgar kept P5, ahead of Caldwell and Vesti. Friday’s form driver, Dennis Hauger, took P8 ahead of Victor Martins and Matteo Nannini. Enzo Fittipaldi will start Race 2 from reverse grid pole, ahead of Schumacher.
KEY QUOTE – ALEX SMOLYAR (ART GRAND PRIX)
“My first win of the season and I am really happy with the race. I had quite a comfortable lead at the beginning, but then had to fight off the pace of Novalak.
“I am quite pleased with the win and I will now try and keep earning as many points as I possibly can this weekend.”
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Hauger takes first F3 pole beating Doohan
Dennis Hauger continued his excellent start to life with PREMA Racing to take his first ever pole position in Formula 3, beating out Trident’s Jack Doohan by 0.006s. The Red Bull juniors traded places throughout the session, but it was the Norwegian who came out on top, with MP Motorsport’s Alpine prodigy Victor Martins nabbing third late on.
Barcelona, 7 May 2021: Track temperature had risen from 28 to 39 between Free Practice and Qualifying and the majority of the field opted to head out at the first opportunity. At the front of the queue were Hitech Grand Prix, with Jak Crawford the first to complete a flying lap, but it was Trident’s Doohan who set the standard, beating the fastest time from Free Practice with a run of 1:33.580.
The fastest man from practice, Hauger, very briefly nabbed first with a storming final sector at the start of his second run, going round at 1:33.138, but Doohan responded by reclaiming the position at the first opportunity.
Hauger had more luck on his third run, with the Red Bull junior setting a purple middle sector to snatch pole from Doohan by 0.006s.
The top two were in a league of their own, but there was a flurry of late activity behind them, as Frederik Vesti and Matteo Nannini both briefly held third, before falling to fourth and fifth. The duo were dropped down the order thanks to a last gasp effort from Martins, who came within 0.055s off the front two, beating Nannini by two tenths.
Olli Caldwell and Clement Novalak beat 2020 title challenger Logan Sargeant to sixth and seventh, with the final Trident of David Schumacher settling for P9. Caio Collet completed the top 10 ahead of Alex Smolyar.
Jonny Edgar beat Juan Manuel Correa to reverse grid pole for Race 1 by less than a tenth, with the Carlin Buzz racer finishing 12th.
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Oscar Piastri clinches F3 Drivers’ Championship
Mugello, 13 Sept 2020: Oscar Piastri clinched the FIA Formula 3 Drivers’ Championship in an incredible battle to the wire at Mugello, as Liam Lawson dominated Race 2 for his third win of the season. The New Zealander finished 7.8s ahead of David Beckmann, while Théo Pourchaire fought his way to third to fall agonizingly short of the title, finishing just three points shy of Piastri in the standings.
Logan Sargeant started the day second in the Championship order, level on points with Piastri, but was forced out of the race on the very first lap after a coming together with Trident’s Lirim Zendeli. A tantalizing two-way fight for the crown ensued between Piastri and Pourchaire, which did not disappoint.
Piastri began the day in 11th, but battled up to seventh at the chequered flag to ensure the title was his despite Pourchaire’s best efforts.
Lawson’s win wasn’t enough to net him fourth in the Championship, with the Kiwi falling to fifth after Frederik Vesti followed up his Race 1 win with P9 and the fastest lap in Race 2.
AS IT HAPPENED
Lawson was confident and composed off the line, smoothly getting away from Sebastián Fernández who tucked in behind him. However, all eyes were locked firmly on the three-way title battle between Piastri, Sargeant and Pourchaire.
Level on points with Piastri, but starting ahead of his teammate on the grid, Sargeant had one hand on the crown heading into the first corner, only to see his title bid fall apart. The PREMA racer touched wheels with Zendeli at the second corner of the first lap, and the pair were dumped into the gravel trap and forced to retire.
Piastri had been handed an almost dream scenario. The Australian had made up four places when the lights went out and found himself in seventh place, ahead of Pourchaire, with Sargeant out of the race.
The Safety Car led the field around the track for the next three laps as the PREMA and the Trident were cleared away by the marshals. The order was given an almighty shuffle at the restart, as Piastri stuttered and fell back to P10. Pourchaire grabbed sixth, but that wasn’t enough for him to win the title.
As it stood, Pourchaire needed at least third place to take the title, but was stuck behind the HWA RACELAB of Enzo Fittipaldi. He was given a slight helping hand as Alex Smolyar was passed by the Brazilian, and then didn’t put up much of a fight as Pourchaire followed through.
This was the impetus the Frenchman needed, finally getting ahead of Fittipaldi and moving into fourth, directly behind teammate Fernández. Vesti, immediately in front of Piastri, was told to either get on with overtaking Jake Hughes, or to let his teammate through.
Smolyar had started to fall through the field, dropping behind Hughes and into the pathway of Vesti. The Russian proved much easier to overtake than the Briton, as the Dane dashed ahead and into eighth.
Pourchaire managed to finally tussle his way in front of Fernández for third, who was reluctant to surrender a maiden podium. This briefly put Pourchaire first in the Championship, but Piastri darted ahead of Smolyar to reclaim it seconds later. The Australian followed this up with a move on his teammate for eighth and Pourchaire now needed at least second, or fastest lap bonus points.
Piastri already had his hands on the title as they entered the final corner, but the Australian wanted to make sure of it. Fernández had tumbled down the order and Piastri fired past the Spaniard down the main straight and across the line.
So intense was the title battle, that it could have been easy to forget that Lawson was after a third win of the year. The Kiwi had been so calm, measured, and controlled out in front, that his victory had never looked in doubt. In the end, Lawson crossed the line with a solid 7.8s advantage on Beckmann.
Pourchaire clinched the final podium spot, with Fittipaldi in fourth for his best ever F3 result. Richard Verschoor sealed fifth ahead of Hughes and Piastri. Fernández held on to eighth, with Vesti in ninth and Smolyar 10th.
Piastri secures the crown with a tally of 164 points, three ahead of Pourchaire. Sargeant falls just four points short in third, with Vesti fourth on 146.5. Lawson takes fifth on 143. In the Teams’ standings, champions PREMA finish the season with 470.5 points, ahead of Trident on 261.5. ART Grand Prix are third, with Hitech Grand Prix fourth, and HWA RACELAB fifth.
KEY QUOTE – LIAM LAWSON (HITECH GRAND PRIX)
“Just had the last race of the year in Mugello and we were able to win, which was a really nice way to end the year. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with the overall results, as it is frustrating not to achieve our goal this year, but it is still nice to finish the year in this way.
“It has been very, very up and down, but I am very, very happy to win the last race of the year, so a massive thank you to Hitech and Red Bull for making this year possible.”
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Hughes clinches victory ahead of Lawson in dramatic F3 Race 2
Monza, 6 Sept 2020: Sunday’s action in Monza was the type of race which comes around once, maybe twice in a decade. A race so manic, so chaotic, that it’s difficult to make sense of it. Round 8’s FIA Formula 3 Race 2 was that race. Jake Hughes won from sixth, Lawson sealed second from P5 and Pourchaire completed the podium from ninth, but that barely even scratches the surface of the story.
None of top three from the grid finished in the points, all three of the PREMAs retired, Alex Smolyar took fourth from 20th, Alex Peroni nabbed sixth from 16th, Pierre-Louis Chovet clinched seventh from 18th for his first F3 points, while Olli Caldwell snuck into the points from P29.
At one point, Oscar Piastri was on course to stretch his Championship lead, but a four-car collision forced him to retire and robbed him of points.
Logan Sargeant was handed first place in the Drivers’ standings as a result, with the PREMA racer somehow finding himself in fifth having started from 26th. But it proved to be temporary, as the American was also forced to retire after a coming together with teammate Frederik Vesti, which dramatically took them both out of the race.
All the while, Hughes calmly stretched his lead out in front, letting the drama play out behind him, keeping his nose clean ahead of Liam Lawson. The duo would close out first and second, with Pourchaire making a late assault on the podium to finish in third place.
AS IT HAPPENED
Starting from reverse grid pole on just his fourth F3 outing, Michael Belov stuttered off the line and fell behind his more experienced rivals at the first corner. Round 7 race winner Lirim Zendeli fired his Trident up from fourth when the lights went out, taking a tow into Turn 1 and sending it down inside of the Charouz driver.
Enzo Fittipaldi’s getaway was decent as well, just not quite as strong. The Brazilian dove down the opposite side of Belov and powered his way ahead, but Zendeli’s Trident had the racing line and claimed first place.
Hughes and Lawson were well away themselves, launching past Belov from fifth and sixth to steal third and fourth. Piastri took a couple more laps but made his way past the Charouz driver too.
Zendeli was furiously trying to break the tow down the back straight, but Fittipaldi was hot on his heels and giving him no respite – his engineer telling him on the radio to chase the lead and forget about his tyres for now. The duo went back and forth in their fight for the win, as Fittipaldi initially mugged the German of P1 at the second chicane, before Zendeli recovered it on the main straight.
Lawson had tussled his way ahead of Hughes and was sitting patiently behind the battling front two, who continued to dice back and forth between first and second.
The Hitech racer was right to remain patient. The front two went side-by-side through the final corner as Fittipaldi edged ahead, but Zendeli fought back on the main straight and clipped the HWA’s rear left tyre.
Fittipaldi wobbled and tumbled back, quickly realising he had a puncture, while Lawson skipped ahead of them both for the lead. Zendeli escaped any damage himself but slumped to sixth.
Behind them, Piastri had wrestled his way up to fourth and was eying a third race win but his hopes were dashed by Clément Novalak, who had a weekend to forget having taken out Piastri’s teammate, and Championship rival, Sargeant in Race 1.
The Carlin Buzz racer locked up into Turn 1 and tagged the back of Piastri’s PREMA. The Australian was spun 180 degrees and collected Belov, leaving David Schumacher with nowhere to go. All bar Belov were dumped out of the race and forced to retire.
The main beneficiary of all this? Piastri’s title rival, Sargeant. The PREMA racer had begun the day in P26, seemingly with little of a points finish, but found himself up in sixth place with the Championship leader out of the race – an exact reversal of Race 1. “Let’s go I can win this,” screeched the American on team radio.
The marshals were quick to clear up the debris during a Virtual Safety Car period, and Hughes darted off into the distance at the restart having quietly taken the lead from Lawson during all of the chaos.
Sargeant instantly fired ahead of Zendeli, but was held up by teammate Vesti. The American was getting frustrated and attempted a lunge down through the inside of Parabolica, but the Dane refused to surrender the position and forced Sargeant to back off, with the two nearly coming to blows.
Having very nearly collided, Sargeant opted to ease off, knowing how disastrous a pointless finish would be to his title hopes. With DRS, Zendeli and Pourchaire both worked their way past him.
The pair got past Vesti too, which revived the PREMA duo’s battle, but this time it would end in disaster. The American clambered past, but Vesti clipped his right rear tyre and dumped his teammate into the gravel with an instant puncture. Vesti had suffered damage to his front wing and both drivers were out of the race.
Throughout all of this, Hughes was blissfully skipping towards the finish line, building up a 1.8s buffer to keep Lawson at bay. Pourchaire made a late dash past Zendeli for the final podium spot, with the Trident then losing a place to Alex Smolyar as well.
Alex Peroni sealed sixth. Chovet was seventh, ahead of Roman Stanek, Caldwell and Richard Verschoor.
In the Drivers’ Championship, Piastri remains in first place on 160 points, eight ahead of Sargeant. Lawson is up to third with 135 and Pourchaire fourth on 134. David Beckmann is fifth with 124.5. In the Teams’ title fight, champions PREMA are first with 429.5 points, ahead of Trident on 225.5. ART Grand Prix are third, ahead of Hitech Grand Prix and MP Motorsport
KEY QUOTE – JAKE HUGHES (HWA RACELAB)
“It has always been a dream to stand on the top step of this famous podium, I have come close before, but now we have finally done it. Credit to the team, the car was flying and it made the second half of the race quite comfortable.
“The first half was pretty messy, with quite a lot going on, but I am really, really happy. Especially, after Spa interrupted our good run of form. Now, I am looking forward to Mugello.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Just eight points separate the top two in the Drivers’ Championship heading into the season finale at Mugello, where we will crown the second F3 champion. After the chaos of Round 8, who takes the title is still anyone’s guess.
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Frederik Vesti wins from ninth; Prema clinches team title: F3
Monza, 5 Sept 2020: Frederik Vesti drove a phenomenal race from ninth on the grid to seal his second FIA Formula 3 win of the season and emphatically clinch the Teams’ Championship for PREMA Racing on home soil with a round to spare.
The Dane left it late at Monza, having carefully picked off those starting in-front of him, to dispatch of Théo Pourchaire with two laps to go and cap off arguably his best performance in F3.
Pourchaire settled for second at the chequered flag, but drove a sublime race of his own, putting a difficult Friday behind him to rise from sixth.
Vesti’s PREMA teammate Oscar Piastri made up the most places of the top three, stealing a podium place late on having started all the way back in P15. In doing so, the Australian regained the Championship lead from teammate Logan Sargeant. The American suffered a disastrous race, finishing 26th after contact from Clément Novalak spun him off track.
Despite an initially strong getaway, pole-sitter Liam Lawson fell down the order, before contact with fellow front row starter Matteo Nannini rid him of any momentum he had left, eventually finishing in P6.
AS IT HAPPENED
A manic Qualifying session, which saw no fewer than nine drivers handed post-session penalties, was followed up by a manic start to the race. Lawson surged off the line in controlled fashion, but there was all sorts of action behind him.
Jake Hughes flung off the line and was initially looking down the left of the Hitech Grand Prix driver, but locked up and fell back to fourth. From second, Nannini looked right, and then left, but couldn’t see any way past Lawson. The Italian tried his luck again around the second turn, but again just couldn’t find the room.
Pourchaire – who had initially taken pole on Friday before being handed a five-place grid drop – enjoyed a sterling start, firing his ART machine off the line and into third at the end of the first chicane.
It didn’t take the Frenchman long to nip ahead of Nannini either, who had lost momentum in his attempts to overtake Lawson. In amongst all of this, Sebastián Fernández spun at the first turn and fell to the back of the grid.
Three laps in and Pourchaire was challenging Lawson for the lead. The Frenchman was on the warpath and had already set the fastest lap in his bid to bridge the gap. He lined up behind the Hitech on the main straight, using DRS to pass the Kiwi for the lead at Turn 1.
Just behind them, Hughes had managed to tussle ahead of Nannini into third, and then dispatched of Lawson a lap later for P2.
Sargeant misjudged the first corner and was forced to funnel through the run-off area, coming out directly in-front of PREMA teammate, and main title rival, Piastri, in 12th. The two managed to fight intothe top ten, and thrice swapped places – with Piastri coming out on top.
Nannini’s chances of a podium disappeared as a battle for third place with Lawson ended in collision. The Italian attempted to take the inside line going into Turn 1, but the space wasn’t there and the two touched front-wings. Nannini suffered damage and was forced to pull over and retire.
The Kiwi had lost precious time and now had Vesti following in his wheel tracks. The PREMA made a move around the second chicane and both men were briefly forced off track – Vesti at the turn and the Kiwi down the straight – with Lawson just about clinging on to the final podium spot.
The action was brought to a halt by a Safety Car as Fernández dumped his ART in the gravel trap. Pourchaire kept an eye on Hughes at the restart, but the Briton was too busy defending an attack from Vesti to bother the race leader. The Dane had already fired ahead of Lawson and successfully slipped ahead of Hughes as well.
The Championship battle was blown wide open as Sargeant was tagged by Novalak and spun off track. The American managed to get going again, but had plummeted to last, with his main rival Piastri up to sixth.
PREMA enjoyed a sterling Lap 20, as Vesti finally made a move on Pourchaire for the lead. The Dane held his nerve at the first chicane and braked later than the Frenchman, gathering it together at the exit to steal first place.
Behind them, Piastri had already nicked fifth from Beckmann and then fourth from Lawson, and now had Hughes in his sights as well. It took the Australian another lap, but he managed to edge ahead of the Briton.
Vesti coolly held on at the chequered flag ahead of Pourchaire and Piastri. Beckmann fought up to fourth at the end to push Hughes down to P5, while Lawson fell to sixth. Lirim Zendeli, Bent Viscaal, Enzo Fittipaldi and Michael Belov completed the top ten.
Piastri now leads the fight for the Drivers title by eight points, on 160, ahead of Sargeant who has 152. Pourchaire is up to third on 124 points, ahead of Beckmann and Lawson. PREMA have clinched the Teams’ Championship with a mega tally of 429.5 points, ahead of Trident on 217.5 and ART Grand Prix. Hitech are fourth, ahead of MP Motorsport.
KEY QUOTE – FREDERIK VESTI (PREMA RACING)
“We won from P9 today and it feels mega. I am very happy to be back on the top step of the podium. Last week in Spa, we finished second in Race 2 and now I am happy to be back on the top step.
“I would like to thank PREMA for a great car and for the great progress we have made.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
On just his fourth F3 start, Belov will line up at the front of the grid for Charouz Racing System on reverse grid pole in Race 2 tomorrow, at 9.45am (local time).
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Logan Sargeant reclaims lead with dominant F3 win
Spa Francorchamps, 30 August 2020: Logan Sargeant reclaimed the Championship lead in emphatic fashion, taking his second win of the season in a PREMA one-two in the FIA Formula 3 Race 2 at Spa-Francorchamps. The American brushed off a late challenge from teammate Frederik Vesti to finish 0.8s ahead at the chequered flag.
Sargeant lost first place in the standings to fellow PREMA racer Oscar Piastri in Race 1 on Saturday, but battled back in resounding style by rising from third place in the early stages and managing out a convincing victory.
Title rival Liam Lawson recovered from a difficult start to nab the final podium place, but was never really in a position to challenge the top two, finishing nearly 8s behind.
Piastri worked hard but could only manage sixth place after a 5s time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage curtailed his attempts to get further forward.
AS IT HAPPENED
The cars lined up on a cold and foggy morning in Spa, but Richard Verschoor was hot off the line, pulling away smoothly when the lights went out. Lawson looked to be feeling the chill – he was sluggish at the start and had fallen to fifth by the first turn.
Sargeant gladly collected second from the Hitech Grand Prix racer and set about challenging Verschoor for the lead. The PREMA man ensured he got through the first corner cleanly, and then lined up the Dutchman at the second. Darting down the left-hand side of him, Sargeant ran out of road and was forced on a trip through the run-off. He returned to the tarmac ahead of Verschoor but handed back the place as it was gained off-track.
The American only needed one more lap to finish the job, lunging ahead of the MP Motorsport man down the main straight and clinching the position at La Source. His teammate was making moves too. Vesti picked off Lawson first, before flinging his PREMA down the side of Olli Caldwell for a place on the podium. A couple of laps later and he had Verschoor in his pocket as well, firing past the reverse polesitter for second place behind Sargeant.
The field were given a breather as Pierre-Louis Chovet dumped his Hitech into the barriers and brought out a Virtual Safety Car. The Frenchman was quickly out of the car, and out of the race.
Caldwell couldn’t sustain his early pace when racing resumed and began to plummet down the order, falling all the way to ninth behind teammate David Beckman. It was a similar story for Verschoor, whose time in first place had become a distant memory. The MP man dropped to sixth as a DRS train of Théo Pourchaire, Lawson and Alex Smolyar all dived ahead.
Pourchaire was so busy battling for second, that he was caught off guard by Lawson behind him. The Hitech driver had quickly caught up and put his DRS to use with a gentle dive down the side of him.
The ART Grand Prix driver then immediately fell into the clutches of teammate Smolyar, dropping from third to fifth in a matter of corners. It didn’t get any better for him in the final laps, as Piastri flung around the side of him two laps later.
Having looked so measured out in front since passing Verschoor, Sargeant was under pressure for the first time on Sunday as Vesti began to reel him in. The American was trying to manage the gap, but couldn’t keep him out of DRS range. PREMA certainly weren’t about to hold them back, as Vesti’s engineer told him on the radio, “you can do this, come on!”
In the end, Vesti couldn’t make it work, and was forced to settle for second at the chequered flag behind Sargeant. Nearly 8s back, Lawson claimed the final podium place ahead of Smolyar. Piastri’s 5s time penalty, for leaving the track and gaining an advantage during his earlier overtake of Verschoor, dropped him to sixth behind Pourchaire. Verschoor managed seventh, ahead of Lirim Zendeli, Beckmann and Sebastián Fernández.
Sargeant now leads teammate Piastri by seven points in the Drivers’ Championship, with 152 overall. The Australian is second ahead of Beckmann on 111 points, just 0.5 ahead of Lawson. Pourchaire sits in fifth place. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA remain first with 387.5 points, ahead of Trident on 199.5 and ART Grand Prix on 172. Hitech are fourth ahead of MP Motorsport.
KEY QUOTE – LOGAN SARGEANT (PREMA RACING)
“Fortunately, we were able to get the win today, which was super important after the technical problems that we had yesterday. It was a tough race as I had Fred pushing really hard behind me, but we were able to withstand the pressure and take our second win of the season.”
F3 Top-three – Podium result: 1. Logan Sargeant, Prema Racing, 37:52.233; 2. Frederik Vesti, Prema Racing, 37:53.034; 3. Liam Lawson, Hitech Grand Prix, 38:00.969.
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Trident’s Lirim Zendeli takes maiden F3 win
Spa, 29 August 2020: Trident’s Lirim Zendeli took his first ever FIA Formula 3 win with a faultless lights-to-flag performance around the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, finishing 4.7s ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire.
The German ensured there could be no repeat of his last lap denial at Silverstone, when Bent Viscaal past him on the final turn of the race, by putting a solid gap between himself and Pourchaire in P2.
Trident’s day got even better when David Beckmann took the final podium position, while Olli Caldwell claimed his third points finish in seventh.
Alex Smolyar also sealed his best ever finish in F3, taking fourth ahead of new Championship leader Oscar Piastri. The Australian made the most of mechanical troubles for Logan Sargeant, getting ahead in the final few laps and taking first place in the standings with it. The American eventually dropped down to eighth.
AS IT HAPPENED
Heavy rain had fallen over the circuit during the night, but the track was dry when the lights went out, and Zendeli got a clean getaway off the line.
The Trident zipped forward, while Pourchaire got himself stuck in a bunch behind him. The Frenchman initially went left, but there was no room to manoeuvre, so swung to the right, and found himself surrounded. He hung on to P2 but had lost ground in his fight for first.
The top five remained unchanged on the opening lap, but Richard Verschoor lost a place to Liam Lawson after going wide on the run down to the first corner.
There was a brief Virtual Safety Car period when Alessio Deledda lost control at the chicane and beached his Campos in the gravel trap. Zendeli made little fuss of the restart, darting back off ahead of Pourchaire, who was battling to remain in DRS range.
The second Trident of Beckmann was locked in battle with Smolyar for the final podium position. The German jostled ahead at the restart, but the ART Grand Prix driver wasn’t backing down and wrestled himself back in front. Their duel continued for another lap, but Pourchaire pulled out of DRS range from the Russian and there was little Smolyar could do to prevent Beckmann lunging past at Turn 7.
Piastri had no trouble getting ahead of Verschoor for sixth, but the battle to catch his title rival, Lawson, was proving a little more troublesome. The duo went wheel-to-wheel and kissed tyres, which forced them both wide. Piastri found himself ahead when they returned to the road, but let the Hitech man back in front in a bid to avoid a potential penalty.
Sargeant warned his team he was having issues from fifth, as Piastri overtook Lawson cleanly. The Kiwi was also on the radio telling Hitech he was having issues. Sargeant was desperately battling to avoid the same outcome, well aware that if the Australian passed him he would take the Championship lead.
Eventually Sargeant succumbed, as Piastri roared down the left of him ahead of Eau Rouge, making it stick as he entered the turn. The third PREMA of Frederick Vesti compounded the American’s misery, sliding past with ease – Sargeant was now facing a fight just to remain in the points.
Out in front, Zendeli eased to an untroubled first victory, 4.7s ahead of Pourchaire, with the second Trident of Beckmann taking the final podium position. Smolyar clinched fourth ahead of Piastri, with Vesti sixth and the final Trident of Caldwell in seventh. Sargeant dropped back to eighth, ahead of Lawson and Verschoor, who had also tumbled down the order.
Piastri now sits in first place in the Drivers’ Championship on 140 points, five ahead of Sargeant. Beckmann is up to third with 109.5, while Lawson is fourth on 101, and Pourchaire fifth on 100. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA remain first with 353.5 points, ahead of Trident on 194.5 and ART Grand Prix on 157. Hitech Grand Prix are fourth, followed by MP Motorsport.
KEY QUOTE – LIRIM ZENDELI (TRIDENT)
“It’s been a really good weekend, with pole position and a win. The team have done a really, really good job. They gave me a car to get pole and they gave me a car today stay in front. I am just really happy, and I hope tomorrow we can keep the pace and maybe even make some places up.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Verschoor will start from reverse grid pole in Race 2 tomorrow, while Sargeant will attempt to reclaim the Championship lead from Piastri, from third on the grid. Lights go out at 9.45am local time.
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Theo Pourchaire of ART, become F3’s youngest double winner
Budapest, 18 July 2020: Formula 3’s youngest race winner Théo Pourchaire became the Championship’s first double victor of the season, taking a resounding Race 1 win at the Hungaroring by a mega margin of 11.9s over Championship leader Oscar Piastri.
For the second race in a row, Pourchaire was handed first when the race leaders collided in front of him, but there would be no safety car escort to the chequered flag, as he enjoyed in Spielberg. Polesitter Alex Smolyar and Logan Sargeant came to blows from the front row into Turn 1 on the opening lap of the race.
With more than 20 laps to go, and Championship leader Piastri directly behind him, Pourchaire had to display nerves of steel. Pulling away at a rate of a half-a-second a lap, he displayed a maturity well beyond his tender age of 16.
Despite his involvement in the Lap 1 incident, Sargeant was able to cling onto third and kept MP Motorsport pairing Bent Viscaal and Richard Verschoor at bay behind him, with the Dutch duo more focused on squabbling amongst themselves.
Clément Novalak was mightily impressive around the Hungaroring, making the most of the chaos around him to climb 17 positions for ninth place. Behind him, David Beckmann recovered well from a difficult Qualifying session to climb four places and take the final points position, and reverse grid pole.
AS IT HAPPENED
Rain had continued to fall overnight in Budapest, stopping in time for the race, but this left the track in a damp and dusky condition for F3, and it showed at the start.
Polesitter Smolyar had initially made a strong getaway, but was thrown out of contention when Sargeant lost the rear of his car at Turn 1. The American just couldn’t find the grip as he entered the corner and collided with the front wing of the Frenchman’s ART machine.
Calan Williams and Frederik Vesti were caught up in the collision and ended up tangled into one another at the corner as well, ending their races.
Smolyar and Sargeant managed to get going again despite the damage. The American somehow held on to third, but Smolyar fell to the back of the field.
The safety car was deployed as the damage and debris were cleared off the track. When action resumed, Pourchaire kept the lead, but the running was once again halted after the rear of Liam Lawson’s car caught fire, leaving a trail of oil from Turn 1 to Turn 2.
The race was red flagged to allow the marshals to clear up the oil and get the race back underway behind the safety car. The added wait allowed the track to dry that little bit more and Pourchaire was able to get away cleanly when the SC headed back in. Piastri did have a look down the inside, but opted to air on the side of caution and sat behind.
Pourchaire set two fastest laps in a row to increase his margin at the front of the field to 1.7s, as DRS was enabled.
With the win quickly slipping away from him, Piastri’s focus was forced to switch to defending second from his teammate, Sargeant. The American wasn’t safe himself: he was stuck in a DRS train with Fernandez, Verschoor and Viscaal. Verschoor made the first move, taking the inside line to pass Fernandez into fourth, and he was followed through by Viscaal.
Sargeant managed to pull away from the battling cars behind, but Piastri was struggling. The Australian had changed two of his tyres during the red flag period and hadn’t quite got them up to temperature. Piastri also didn’t have the advantage of DRS that those behind him did, with Pourchaire pulling further and further ahead in front of him, increasing the gap to a massive 10s.
Piastri would hold on though, and the only change to the order on the final laps was for fourth, as Viscaal dived ahead of Verschoor at the very last opportunity, on the final lap.
Pourchaire coolly cross edthe line first ahead of Piastri and Sargeant, with Viscaal in fourth and Verschoor fifth. Fernandez took sixth ahead of Alex Peroni, Dennis Hauger, Novalak and David Beckmann.
Piastri holds on to the Championship lead with 62 points, ahead of Sargeant in second on 49. Pourchaire’s win lifts him to third, six points behind. Vesti and Verschoor complete the top five. PREMA retain P1 in the Teams’ Championship, on 148.5 points, ahead of Trident on 68.5. ART are third, followed by MP Motorsport and Hitech Grand Prix.
KEY QUOTE – THEO POURCHAIRE (ART GRAND PRIX)
“I am really happy to win my second race in Formula 3 – the second race in a row. It is Race 1 this time, so it comes with more points. I qualified in P3 and had a really good start. I was P1 all of the race, and at the end I was quite fast. I want to thank the team for the car and thank Sauber Academy as well.”
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F3: Vesti wins for Prema but loses half points to rain
Spielberg, 11 July 2020: Frederik Vesti is off the mark in Formula 3, taking his first victory in Race 1, but it’s not quite how the Dane would have envisaged it, with the race ending nine laps early due to a hazardous downpour of rain
With more than 25% of the race left to run, only half points will be awarded to the grid, leaving Vesti with a sense of frustration on a weekend where he has shown real pace.
Trident enjoyed their most successful race in the Championship with their driver trio proving their abilities in the wet, as Lirim Zendeli and David Beckmann took second and third for their first F3 podiums, and a late lunge from Olli Caldwell saw him earn his best finish of fourth.
It wasn’t quite such a successful afternoon for the other two PREMAs, as Oscar Piastri fell from fourth to fifth, and Logan Sargeant dropped from third to seventh.
AS IT HAPPENED The weather was far from conclusive ahead of the race start. Patches of the track were wet, but the main straight remained dry with just drops of rain falling on the Red Bull Ring as the cars lined up for the formation lap. This prompted plenty of discussion down the field as to which tyres to start on. The majority of the grid opted to air on the side of caution with the wets, but the likes of Federico Malvestiti and Cameron Das at the back were tempted to risk the slicks. The formation lap put this notion to bed, and they returned to the pits to switch to the wet Pirellis. Poleman Vesti was pretty much untroubled off the line, but his teammates struggled with the conditions. The Tridents however revelled in them. Beckmann calmly hung on to second despite an attempted lunge from Piastri down the left, before teammate Zendeli launched from P6 to P2 and into the rear-view mirror of the race leader, who suddenly had to go on the defensive, just clinging on to first.
The rain was getting fiercer and Max Fewtrell clearly wasn’t happy, telling his team that he could barely see from 15th. The third Trident of Caldwell didn’t appear to be having quite the same struggle, fighting well to pass Logan Sargeant and Theo Pourchaire.
Liam Lawson looked to have a handle on the conditions and eyed up Alex Peroni, but things got a little heated between the pair. Lawson made his move and the two tapped wheels. The overtake was clean, albeit aggressive, but the Kiwi wouldn’t have minded too much as the position was his. The conditions began to get too much tougher and Alex Smolyar was the first to fall foul of the downpour. The Russian lost grip on the final corner and spun into the barriers, bringing out the first safety car of the morning, but certainly not the last. Vesti got away cleanly at the restart, with the field looking reluctant to risk a move in the conditions.
Piastri had brief glance down the side of Beckmann, but opted against it. The safety car wasn’t in the pits for long, as Clement Novalak lost control of his Carlin and suffered a puncture which sent him wayward. Racing resumed and the front three remained firmly locked in place, with nobody wanting to take unnecessary risks. Those further back were slightly less wary and Caldwell made a late move on Piastri for fourth, squeezing past him down the inside of Turn 2. Richard Verschoor also made up a position, tussling his way to sixth, for his fifth overtake of the morning. The safety car would return for the final time the following lap, with Roman Stanek spinning wide and Sebastian Fernandez losing control down the main straight. This was enough for race control to wave the red flag and the decision was made shortly after to end the race early, with conditions only getting worse as the morning wore on. That handed a Vesti a first win in F3, albeit in difficult circumstances. It confirmed a fantastic afternoon for Trident, who took their best ever finish, with Zendeli, Beckmann and Caldwell following Vesti in the order, ahead of Piastri in fifth. Verschoor hung on to sixth, ahead of Sargeant, Lawson and Pourchaire.
Jake Hughes will start on reverse grid pole for HWA RACELAB in Race 2 on Sunday, having climbed from 16th . With only half points given, Piastri remains first in the standings on 35 points, but is just half a point clear of Vesti in second. Lawson is joint third with Zendeli on 25 points, ahead of Beckmann on 21.5. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first on 90.5, ahead of Trident on 52.5. Hitech Grand Prix are third, ahead of MP Motorsport and Campos Racing
