Fuoco Inherits Win after late Giovinazzi Penalty

Italian Antonio Fuoco took his second FIA European Formula 3 Championship victory of the season in controversial circumstances at the Red Bull Ring after race-long leader Antonio Giovinazzi was handed a drive-through penalty for breaking safety car rules after falling too far behind it.

Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver Giovinazzi had led the race from the start, and had survived the introduction of the safety car on no less than three occasions, but fell foul of the final one by not staying close enough to the car while the lights were still on, and was given a drive-through penalty. Due to the penalty coming so late in the race, Giovinazzi took the chequered flag first but was given a 20-second penalty that relegated him to sixteenth.

Prema Powerteam driver Fuoco inherited the win after getting ahead of front row starter Tom Blomqvist at the start, with the Briton moving up to second after his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team-mates penalty. The final position on the podium ultimately went to Austrian Lucas Auer in front of his home fans, with the Mücke Motorsport driver taking advantage of a clash on the run down to turn one on lap ten between his team-mate Felix Rosenqvist and Championship leader Esteban Ocon that saw both drivers retire.

Ocon’s main championship rival Max Verstappen was fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing after an eventful race for the young Dutchman. He was clipped by the Carlin of Jake Dennis along the start/finish straight, and due to being delayed by the Briton, Jordan King was able to get a run on the Dutchman, but the Briton damaged the suspension on his Carlin car by hitting the kerb into turn two that saw the first introduction of the safety car.

The second safety car was needed to remove Dennis van de Laar’s Prema Powerteam car from the outside of turn one, after the Dutchman spun while attempting a pass on Sean Galael of Jagonya Ayam with Carlin.

The third safety car, and the one that Giovinazzi fell foul of, was for a crash between Richard Goddard of ThreeBond with T-Sport and Sandro Zeller of Jo Zeller Racing. Goddard had made contact with the Mücke Motorsport machine of Roy Nissany on the run down to turn two that had broken the rear suspension of his T-Sport car, and as a passenger in a broken car ran into the innocent Zeller who was minding his own business ahead of him.

Gustavo Menezes was able to avoid all the carnage to take fifth for Van Amersfoort Racing, ahead of Ed Jones of Carlin, who took his first points since returning to the series after his back injury. Galael was seventh ahead of Nicholas Latifi of Prema Powerteam, while Jules Szymkowiak of Van Amersfoort Racing was ninth. Alexander Toril scored his first point of the season in tenth for ThreeBond with T-Sport.

Red Bull Ring Race 2 Result