Red Bull junior Liam Lawson took his first FIA Formula 3 victory as he held off Richard Verschoor in a two-lap sprint at the Red Bull Ring.
The Hitech GP driver started fifth and quickly made his way to the front in just seven laps and had built a gap before the safety car was deployed after Roman Stanek demolished a DRS board all over the track.
It was a race which saw the top ten drivers in one big train, much like a Moto3 race where those at the front struggle to create a gap.
Verschoor finished second with pole-sitter Clément Novalak rounding out the podium places. David Beckmann found himself in the thick of the action throughout to come home fourth ahead of his Trident teammate Lirim Zendeli.
PREMA’s trio didn’t make the progress they would’ve been hoping for with Frederik Vesti the lead car in sixth and race one winner Oscar Piastri eighth behind ART’s Aleksandr Smolyar. American Logan Sargeant suffered a puncture and fell out of contention.
The battle for the final two points position was intense throughout, especially after Alex Peroni suffered a mechanical problem that saw him stop at the side of the road. Enzo Fittipaldi was impressive to finish ninth with Max Fewtrell getting the final point.
Sebastián Fernández, who took pole for race one before crashing out, was supreme in climbing 17 places from the back to 13th, but leaves the opening round with just the four points for pole when it could’ve been so much more.
| Pos | Name | Team | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | 37:01:698 |
| 2 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | +0.417 |
| 3 | Clément Novalak | Carlin Buzz Racing | +1.302 |
| 4 | David Beckmann | Trident | +1.639 |
| 5 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | +2.232 |
| 6 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | +2.836 |
| 7 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART | +3.090 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA | +3.451 |
| 9 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | +4.098 |
| 10 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | +4.580 |
| 11 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | +4.975 |
| 12 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | +5.437 |
| 13 | Sebastián Fernández | ART | +6.206 |
| 14 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | +7.109 |
| 15 | David Schumacher | Charouz | +8.499 |
| 16 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | +9.159 |
| 17 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | +9.491 |
| 18 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | +9.864 |
| 19 | Théo Pourchaire | ART | +10.237 |
| 20 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | +10.949 |
| 21 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | +11.3 |
| 22 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer | +12.0 |
| 23 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | +12.4 |
| 24 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | +13.1 |
| 25 | Enaam Ahmed | Carlin Buzz Racing | +18.1 |
| 26 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | +30.8 |
| 27 | Logan Sargeant | PREMA | +1 Lap |
| 28 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | +8 Laps |
| 29 | Alex Peroni | Campos | DNF (Mechanical) |
| 30 | Cameron Das | Carlin Buzz Racing | DNF (Contact) |
