AutoAction
FREE DIGITAL MAGAZINE SIGN UP

F3 DRAMA AS PIASTRI RECORDS DNF

F3 Drama as Oscar Piastri records DNF - Photo: Suttons

By Bruce Williams

F3 Drama as Oscar Piastri records DNF - Photo: Suttons

F3 Drama as Oscar Piastri records DNF – Photo: Suttons

The dramatic FIA Formula 3 Championship weekend at Monza concluded with the most chaotic and attritional race of the season, which allowed Aussie Oscar Piastri to retain his championship lead despite retiring.

By DAN McCARTHY

Incredibly four of the top six drivers in the championship retired from the race resulting in an extremely mixed up result.

Piastri was spun out of the race and meant his Prema Racing teammate Logan Sargeant was set to reclaim the series lead. That was until contact between Sargeant and the third Prema Racing car of Frederik Vesti.

Piastri from eighth on the grid made a solid start as he methodically made his way up into the top five.

However, just before half race distance at Turn 1 Piastri was hit, spun and collected by Clement Novalak, in which Piastri’s machine sustained heavy damage.

The Victorian was forced to retire, handing the advantage to his teammate Sargeant. The American had to fight through from 26th position after he was ironically tapped into a spin by Novalak yesterday.

Impressively Sargeant climbed up to fourth but then got stuck, unable to overtake his aggressively defending teammate Vesti.

The duo were lucky to continue after a near miss at Turn 1, however several laps later the pair did inevitably come to blows on the approach to the Ascari Chicane.

Sargeant suffered an immediate sliced right-rear tyre and was forced to retire as Vesti was told to pit with a damaged front wing, before he also retired.

The day after winning the teams’ championship all three Prema Racing cars were out of the race.

One beneficiary was Australian Alex Peroni, after being involved in much of yesterday’s action he stayed out of trouble and leapt from 16th to finish sixth, and with it claimed three points.

The other two Australians struggled, Jack Doohan started 12th but ran through the gravel at Turn 2 and plummeted down the pack early on. Calan Williams also failed to make progress finishing 19th.

From sixth on the grid HWA Racelab driver Jake Hughes came through the field and went on to take a commanding race victory, his second of the season.

New Zealander Lawson could not match the pace of Hughes and would finish second ahead of Theo Pourchaire.

The 17-year-old Frenchman ran through the gravel early in the race and fell to seventeenth, however he stuck with it and stormed back through to finish third.

Aleksandr Smolyar overtook Lirim Zendeli on the final lap to steal fourth, Peroni just kept Pierre-Louis Chovet at bay for sixth, as Roman Stanek, Olli Caldwell and Richard Verschoor rounded out the top 10.

Heading into the final round at Mugello, Piastri still holds an eight point lead over title rival Sargeant, however Lawson and Pourchaire now find themselves with an outside chance of snatching the title.

The final round of the thrilling F3 season will take place next weekend at Mugello in Italy.

For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action. Also make sure you follow us on social media FacebookTwitter, Instagram or our weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.