Race 1
British driver Callum Ilott (Van Amersfoort Racing) has won the tenth round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season at the 4.326 kilometres long Red Bull Ring. Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam) finished second from Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings. The race was stopped early after an accident involving Ryan Tveter (Carlin), Zhi Cong Li (Carlin) and Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing).
Callum Ilott took the lead at the start, but had to defend his position from a charging Maximilian Günther. The two youngsters having battled for the lead on the opening lap, Ilott eventually came out in front before the safety car was deployed for the first time following an accident involving Ryan Tveter, Arjun Maini (ThreeBond with T-Sport) and Weiron Tan (Carlin) on the opening lap (Click here for Youtube clip).
After the restart, Ilott stayed in front while both Stroll and Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) managed to overtake Günther, the German dropping back to fourth. A little bit later, however, Günther countered against Jensen and moved back up into the top three again. Meanwhile, Pedro Piquet had to come in from fifth place for a drive through penalty following a jump start and dropped back considerably. Nick Cassidy (Prema Powerteam) inherited fifth place.
On lap 17, the race was stopped after an accident involving Ryan Tveter, Zhi Cong Li and Pedro Piquet. Tveter had spun through the gravel trap and returned onto the track where Li, unable to see Tveter’s car due to the dust that was whirled up, hit the American’s race car almost at full speed. The upcoming Piquet was unable to avoid the two, but the Brazilian escaped unscathed. Tveter and Li incurred injuries and were taken to hospital for further examination. The race was stopped immediately.
Thus, Callum Ilott took victory from Lance Stroll, Maximilian Günther, Mikkel Jensen, George Russell (HitechGP), Nick Cassidy, David Beckmann (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing), Ralf Aron (Prema Powerteam) and Ben Barnicoat (HitechGP). For Beckmann, the best-placed rookie who only drove his fourth Formula 3 race at the Red Bull Ring, this was his first top ten result while his fellow rookie driver Newey also scored his best result in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship to date by finishing eighth.
Race 2
With a margin of almost ten seconds, Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam) secured a dominant lights-to-flag victory in the eleventh race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season. At the 4.326 kilometres long Red Bull Ring, Callum Ilott (Van Amersfoort Racing) took the flag in second place. George Russell (HitechGP) finished third. With his second victory of the season, Canadian Lance Stroll extended his lead in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings. The Williams Formula 1 junior driver is now 25 points clear of his new closest rival, Callum Ilott.
At the start, Lance Stroll took the lead and initially came under pressure by George Russell. On the opening lap, however, the second-placed Brit lost his position to Callum Ilott and dropped back to third. On lap two, Ralf Aron (Prema Powerteam) spun, after which the front wing got stuck underneath his car. As some carbon debris were scattered on the track, the safety car was deployed.
Once the track had been cleaned up, racing resumed two laps later and three drive through penalties were issued almost simultaneously. Ben Barnicoat (HitechGP) and Nikita Mazepin (HitechGP) were both penalised for jump starts while Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing) incurred a penalty for causing a collision.
Out in front, a three-way battle between Stroll, Ilott and Russell emerged while the trio in front was already out of reach for Niko Kari (Motopark) in fourth place. He, in turn, had enough work in keeping David Beckmann (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) at bay. After an unsuccessful attack by Russell on Ilott on lap eleven, Stroll was able to pull a slight gap in front while Kari extended his margin over Beckmann at this time, too.
Stroll went on to score an undisputed win from Ilott, Russell, Kari as the best-placed rookie, Beckmann, Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam). Especially in the final third of the race, the battle for eighth position was an entertaining affair, in which Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark) eventually came out on top from Alessio Lorandi (Carlin) and Joel Eriksson (Motopark), who finished ninth and tenth respectively.
Race 3
For Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam), his second victory at the 4.326 kilometres long Red Bull Ring also was his third race win in the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Behind the 17-year-old Canadian, equally old British driver Callum Ilott (Van Amersfoort Racing) took the flag in second place while 18-year-old German Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) was classified third in the twelfth race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season. Stroll is heading home from Styria as the leader in the drivers’ standings, he is now 38 points ahead of second-placed Ilott.
Starting from pole position, Lance Stroll managed to hold on to first place at the start and led Callum Ilott and Niko Kari (Motopark) into the first corner. David Beckmann (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) also found himself among the front runners, but then dropped back to the end of the field following a collision with George Russell (HitechGP) and the subsequent spin. Due to the accident, Russell retired in the pits. On lap three, Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Alessio Lorandi (Carlin) retired. After that, Jensen’s race came to an end in the gravel trap and the safety car was deployed.
After the restart, Stroll remained in front from Ilott while Kari was involved in a hard fight with the drivers behind him. The Finnish rookie driver eventually had to admit defeat to Maximilian Günther in the battle for the final podium slot. Ben Barnicoat (HitechGP), Joel Eriksson (Motopark), Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark) and Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing) also overtook Kari at this stage of the race. Red Bull junior driver Sette Câmara overtook his Swedish team-mate for fifth soon after that. Out in front, Lance Stroll drove an undisputed victory home. Callum Ilott and Maximilian Günther joined him on the podium, Ben Barnicoat finished fourth as the best-placed rookie driver, but lost this position due to overtaking under safety car to Sette Câmara. The Briton was classified fifth from Eriksson, while Guanyu Zhou (Motopark), Kari, Ralf Aron (Prema Powerteam) and Nick Cassidy (Prema Powerteam) were in seventh to tenth place.
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