Mick Schumacher took a third victory in as many FIA European Formula 3 Championship weekends after leading from start to finish in race one at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on Saturday.
The Prema Theodore Racing driver led home a team 1-2-3-4, much like he did in Friday’s Qualifying session, with Schumacher withstanding mid-race pressure from Marcus Armstrong before edging away in the closing laps to win by 2.224 seconds.
A sluggish start from Armstrong gave Schumacher a significant advantage at the start, and despite the New Zealander having good speed throughout to slightly close down the gap, it always appeared that the German had pace in hand to remain in front.
Behind the front two, the battle for the final spot on the podium went the way of Robert Shwartzman who withstood pressure from Prema team-mate Guanyu Zhou, with the Chinese driver ultimately settling for fourth after a lock-up just before half distance forced him to back off from attacking the Russian.
Daniel Ticktum was keeping tabs on the Prema quartet ahead of him but lost fifth on lap thirteen when Motopark team-mate Jüri Vips made a move into turn eleven and twelve, with the Estonian keeping up the momentum from Silverstone last weekend to deny the Briton a top five finish.
Ticktum ultimately was forced to withstand pressure from the fifth Prema driver, Ralf Aron, in the closing laps for sixth, while Alex Palou took eighth for Hitech Bullfrog GP after a strong drive from twelfth on the grid as he passed Sacha Fenestraz, Jonathan Aberdein and Jehan Daruvala to finish on Aron’s tail.
Daruvala took ninth for Carlin after losing positions to both Vips and Palou, while Motopark’s Aberdein denied Carlin duo Fenestraz and Ferdinand Habsburg to take the final point.
All twenty-two starters finished the race, but aside from Palou, it was a terrible race for Hitech Bullfrog GP after contact between team-mates Enaam Ahmed and Ben Hingeley relegated the former to the back of the field and earned the latter a drive-through penalty, which ensured he finished twenty-second and last.
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli Race 1 Result
[table id=3357 /]
