Felix Rosenqvist added the race two victory to his earlier race one triumph in a hectic second race at the Autodromo Nazionale de Monza on Saturday that saw two drivers suffer frightening looking crashes.
The Swede had to contend with three safety car periods, with the race ending under a red flag as more drivers crashed out. The win also brings him firmly back into the championship hunt as his main rivals Antonio Giovinazzi and Charles Leclerc both retired early in incidents, although only half points were awarded with less than half the race distance covered when the red flag appeared.
Van Amersfoort Racing driver Leclerc was the unfortunate victim of a first corner clash with Jake Dennis of Prema Powerteam that left the Monegasque driver with a broken front suspension. A clash on the exit of the first turn between a number of drivers, including Tatiana Calderon and Julio Moreno, littered the track with debris, signalling the introduction of the safety car for the first time.
The second safety car was called out on lap four, when whilst battling for fifth position, Giovinazzi and Lance Stroll collided on the entry of the Curva Grande which pitched Prema Powerteam driver Stroll into a scary-looking barrel roll, hitting the catch fencing but luckily landing the right way up. Stroll was able to extract himself out of his car, and got into the medical car unaided, with a neck brace on as a precaution.
The third safety car was called when the Lotus of Dorian Boccolacci tapped the Mücke Motorsport machine of Maximilian Günther into a spin at the first corner, leaving the German racer stranded on track. At the same time, Michele Beretta arrived side-by-side with another driver, with the Italian driver hitting the barrier and becoming the second car to roll in the race. As with Stroll, the Mücke Motorsport driver was able to get out of the car unaided, if not a little shaken.
The race ended under a red flag when Matt Rao of Fortec Motorsports and Alessio Lorandi of Van Amersfoort Racing clashed at turn one, with another incident at the Parabolica seeing two more racecars in the gravel.
Rosenqvist led Dennis to the flag, with Mikkel Jensen claiming his second podium finish of the day in third ahead of Mücke Motorsport team-mate Santino Ferrucci.
Gustavo Menezes survived a couple of trips across the turn one run-off to take fifth for Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, ahead of George Russell of Carlin and Brandon Maisano of Prema Powerteam, while Markus Pommer of Motopark, Pietro Fittipaldi of Fortec Motorsports and Raoul Hyman of Team West-Tec F3 claimed the final points.
Monza Race 2 Result
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