Edoardo Mortara succeeded in his aim of becoming the first driver to win the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix twice by winning the headline event of the 57th edition. The Italian fell back as far as third from his pole position, but fought back to take the historic double.
Mortara made a good getaway as Daniel Abt got past Laurens Vanthoor for second. The safety car was called into action on the first lap though after a start-line accident further back in the field. A few cars struggled to get away, including Rio Haryanto, who was collected by Carlos Munoz. As everybody attempted to avoid the slow starters, Alexander Sims rear-ended Raikkonen Robertson teammate Michael Ho, putting both out of the race. Daniel Juncadella also retired on the opening lap after hitting the wall at Lisboa.
Mortara lost the lead after the restart on lap three, with his Signature teammates Abt and Vanthoor slipstreaming past him three wide under breaking for Lisboa. A few corners later though Abt crashed heavily at the Solitude Esses, brushing the wall on the right-hand side before smashing into the barrier on the left-hand side. Vanthoor avoided the accident to take the lead of the race.
Abt's crash required another safety car intervention, and Mortara used the restart on lap seven to his advantage, getting past Vanthoor on the run down to Lisboa. From there he opened up a comfortable margin, as Vanthoor came under pressure from Valtteri Bottas.
Mortara took the checkered flag ahead of Vanthoor and Bottas. Marco Wittmann finished fourth, ahead of Renger van der Zande, Antonio Felix da Costa, Jean-Eric Vergne and Roberto Merhi.
After the race Mortara said: “Having made history with my second victory in Macau is a great honour for me. It wasn't easy, because especially Laurens, Valtteri and Daniel were tough opponents. I had to give 120 percent and drive like in qualifying to pull a gap in order to prevent the drivers behind me from getting a slipstream.”
Vanthoor said: “The second safety car intervention didn't help me, because Edoardo was able to overtake me out of the slipstream. However, I am happy with second place, Edoardo was just too fast today. He has deserved to be in the history books now.”
Bottas added: “I am especially happy for my team Prema and for Mercedes with this third place. My problem is that Marco Wittmann overtook me at the second restart. When I had finally been able to get my position back, Edoardo and Laurens were already too far away.”
