Swede Felix Rosenqvist returned to Formula Acceleration 1 at Monza and claimed his first victory in the series. The European Formula 3 driver started the race from pole position and eventually won by over 11 seconds from Dutchman Nigel Melker, while Italian Mirko Bortolotti was third.
At the start, Rosenqvist lost the lead to another Italian in Sergio Campana, but the lead was short-lived as both Melker and then Rosenqvist took the lead within a couple of laps.
“I started from pole but the start wasn’t that good – like it seems to happen to us often in this series,” said Rosenqvist. “We need to work on that! Afterwards I kept a good connection with the top two. Both Sergio Campana – who had the lead at that time – and Nigel Melker were close to me.”
Melker held onto second, but it was clear to the Dutchman that the Swede was the fastest driver on track, and Melker made no attempt to hold him back.
“In the beginning I was quicker than the others and after two laps I was leading the field,” said Melker. “Then I saw Felix coming close and like the qualification this morning, he was incredibly fast. I let him pass without a fight, since I thought about the championship.”
Third placed Bortolotti climbed from sixth place on the grid to take the final podium spot, making some decisive overtaking manoeuvres on both Dennis Lind and Richard Gonda on track.
“Starting from P6, I had a decent start and got passed Dennis Lind on the first corner,” said Bortolotti. “Then I tried to pass Richard Gonda, but that didn’t work at first. Finally I got a run on him and managed to pass him. The three leaders were still close to me, so I decided to do my pit stop which was quite good.”
Slovakian Gonda ultimately ended up just off the podium in fourth place, ahead of Campana in fifth. The race marked the first time since Formula Acceleration 1 began that all twelve entrants that started the race saw the chequered flag.
Monza Race 1 Result
| POS | DRIVER | NATION | TIME/Laps |
| 1 | Felix Rosenqvist | Sweden | 30m03.400s |
| 2 | Nigel Melker | Netherlands | +11.439s |
| 3 | Mirko Bortolotti | Italy | +12.434s |
| 4 | Richard Gonda | Slovakia | +15.424s |
| 5 | Sergio Campana | Italy | +25.160s |
| 6 | Marco Barba | Spain | +28.192s |
| 7 | Dennis Lind | Denmark | +31.379s |
| 8 | Alessio Picariello | Belgium | +36.233s |
| 9 | Sebastian Balthasar | Germany | +54.444s |
| 10 | Michael Dorrbeckker | Mexico | +58.081s |
| 11 | Steijn Schothorst | Netherlands | +58.714s |
| 12 | Picho Toledano | Mexico | +1m27.800s |
