Mick Schumacher came out on top of a three-way tussle to take his maiden FIA European Formula 3 Championship victory on Saturday morning at Spa-Francorchamps, in a race that started with track damp in places, especially at the end of the Kemmel Straight and through Les Combes.
Schumacher survived another first lap clash with team-mate Guan Yu Zhou, who spun to the back of the field as a result after contact at Les Combes, and then shadowed both Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman until, with track conditions ever improving, he passed both on lap ten, Armstrong through Eau Rouge and Shwartzman on the run down to Les Combes.
Armstrong had lost out to Shwartzman on the run to Eau Rouge before Schumacher forced his way ahead, with the slipstream the German found following the Russian enabling him to take the lead, a lead he would retain until the chequered flag for a popular win at a circuit where his father, the legendary Michael Schumacher, was a multiple winner in Formula 1.
Shwartzman took his best result of the season so far with second place, while Armstrong returned to the lead of the championship with third, with the result ensuring Prema Theodore Racing locked out the podium places for a third time in 2018.
Jüri Vips took fourth after making a great start from eleventh on the grid to run sixth before the end of the first lap, and then was able to pass both Enaam Ahmed and Jehan Daruvala to take fourth, although the Motopark driver was unable to make any gains on the trio ahead of him.
Daniel Ticktum, who went into the race on top of the standings, could only finish fifth for Motopark, with the Red Bull Junior also getting the better of his fellow Briton Ahmed, with the Hitech Bullfrog GP driver forced to settle for sixth, just ahead of two more Motopark drivers, Jonathan Aberdein and Sebastian Fernandez, the latter having by far his best drive of the season.
Alex Palou found himself down in ninth for Hitech Bullfrog GP, while Fabio Scherer completed the top ten and ensuring Motopark had five drivers inside that top ten, despite being involved in a first lap incident with Nikita Troitskiy that saw him spin almost to the rear of the field. Troitskiy was handed a drive-through penalty for the offence, which left him at the very rear of the field.
Daruvala dropped outside the points in the closing laps, finishing eleventh ahead of Carlin Motorsport team-mate Ferdinand Habsburg, while Ralf Aron, who had taken over the lead of the championship after his race one podium, could only finish fourteenth, just behind team-mate Zhou, who recovered to thirteenth after his first lap spin.
Spa-Francorchamps Race 3 Result
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