Lance Stroll survived a first lap collision with team-mate Maximilian Günther and a subsequent stewards enquiry to lead home a Prema Powerteam 1-2-3-4 in race one at the Hockenheimring on Saturday.
The Canadian started the race from pole position but found himself shuffled down to third after outbraking himself into turn two behind Günther and Nick Cassidy. The trio ran side-by-side down to the Spitzkehre hairpin, with Günther emerging ahead of Stroll, with Cassidy relegated back down to third.
Heading into the Mercedes Arena, Stroll made a robust overtake into a tiny gap, with Günther finding himself pushed out of the way, allowing the Canadian to retake the lead, while Cassidy also got passed the delayed German.
Once in the lead Stroll was unstoppable, and he eventually took the chequered flag with a 6.254 second advantage over Günther, who reclaimed second place on the eighth lap with a pass into the Mercedes Arena that was much cleaner than that made by Stroll on lap one, with the runners-up position ensuring the German secured second place in the championship standings.
Ralf Aron made early gains to run fourth, and with the Estonian staying within two seconds of Cassidy, it meant Prema locked out the top four in the race, with Sergio Sette Câmara driving a lonely race to fifth 18.860 seconds down on the race win for Motopark.
Joel Eriksson came out on top of a great battle for sixth, also for Motopark, holding off a gaggle of cars until the chequered flag, led by Anthoine Hubert of Van Amersfoort Racing, but unfortunately for the Frenchman a five-second time penalty for lining up in the wrong position on the grid relegated him to tenth behind Hitech GP trio George Russell, Nikita Mazepin and Alexander Sims.
Hubert also survived a last lap clash with Jake Hughes as the duo battled for seventh, with the British debutant riding over the rear wheel of Hubert’s car at the hairpin on the final lap and retiring on the spot with broken suspensions, although there were question marks over the way the Frenchman defended in the braking zone but no punishments were forthcoming.
With Sims eligible for points, Guanyu Zhou claims the final point for Motopark despite the Ferrari Driver Academy star finishing eleventh.
After starting from the pit lane, Lando Norris was forced to retire with six laps remaining after clashing with Pedro Piquet, while fellow debutant Daniel Ticktum was thirteenth.
