FIA F3 - Rolex Grosser Preis von Österreich: Event Analysis
Rookie Oscar Piastri leads the way after the 1st event of the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2020, and with all 3 Premas in the top 5 positions in the championship, the Italian team once again looks to be the team to beat.
Qualifying:
Qualifying was extremely close between the front-row men, with ART’s Sebastian Fernandez taking pole by just 0.016s from Trident’s Lirim Zendeli. The result was a huge step up from 2019 for both drivers – Zendeli only scoring 6 points in FIA F3 last year, with Fernandez not scoring any.
As expected despite fielding 2 rookies, Prema were strong, with Piastri lining up 3rd, beating experienced teammate Logan Sargeant, with fellow rookie Frederik Vesti in 6th.
Pre-season favourite Theo Pourchaire failed to deliver on the hype surrounding his F3 debut, the 16 year old managing only P20. Further surprises at the back were Enaam Ahmed in P26, Sophia Floresch in P28, Enzo Fittipaldi in P29 and Igor Fraga in P30. However, expect them to improve as the season progresses, as all 5 are new to FIA F3.
Feature Race:
There was drama right at the start – both Zendeli and Piastri had very good starts, making it 3 wide with polesitter Fernandez into Turn 1, but there was a crash between Piastri and Fernandez, breaking Fernandez’s rear right suspension and putting him out on the spot.
Zendeli has all 3 Premas hounding him into Turn 3, and Piastri pulled a great move around the outside of the Trident driver. He continued to drop down the order with Sargeant overtaking him into Turn 4 on Lap 6, with Campos’ Alex Peroni taking advantage to sweep past as well into P3. A few laps later, Vesti also made his way past Zendeli.
On Lap 13, Hitech’s Dennis Hauger and Max Fewtrell were attacking ART’s Theo Pourchaire, with Hauger forcing the 16 year old Frenchman wide out of Turn 4 for P13. Fewtrell capitalised to also pass the ART driver out of Turn 4.
However Australian Oscar Piastri dominated up front, taking the checkered flag just under 2 seconds ahead of teammate Logan Sargeant, giving Prema a 1-2 finish to start the season. Alex Peroni scored an incredible podium on his return to F3, for his first race since his horrifying accident at Monza last year put him out for the season.
The full race results can be seen below:
Sprint Race:
Carlin’s Clement Novalak started the Sprint Race on pole after finishing P10 in the Feature Race, however ART’s Aleksandr Smolyar suffered an awful start from P2, with David Beckmann capitalising to go from 4th to 2nd into Turn 1. As Novalak extended his lead on Lap 1, Liam Lawson and Richard Verschoor battled Beckmann for P2, with Beckmann holding onto the position.
However by Lap 4, Beckmann was close enough to overtake Novalak into Turn 4 to take the lead for Trident. One lap later, Novalak sent a massive divebomb into Turn 2 on Beckmann but wasn’t able to get the car stopped in time. Lawson capitalised on his mistake to take P2.
Lawson then went on the charge and by Lap 7, was able to make an aggressive move on Beckmann to take the lead of the race into Turn 4.
Novalak then make another lunge on Beckmann on Lap 10, this time for second place, but this time he made it work.
However on Lap 11, a Virtual Safety Car was deployed because Alex Peroni, podium finisher in the Feature Race, had come to a halt on the back straight, retiring from the race.
After the restart, Verschoor made the move on Novalak for P2, and from then on in, the top 3 remained the same. Liam Lawson just held of Richard Verschoor, with Verschoor and Novalak taking their maiden FIA F3 podiums.
The full race results can be seen below:
The full Drivers' and Teams' Standings can be seen below:
