PIASTRI EQUAL POINTS HEADING INTO TITLE DECIDER
Oscar Piastri equal on points heading into title decider – Photo: Suttons
Aussie Oscar Piastri finished just outside the top 10 but remains in the lead, albeit equal on points to his major rival, heading into the final race of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Mugello tomorrow.
By DAN McCARTHY
The Prema Racing driver had to start from 16th after receiving a grid penalty for an incident at Monza. Initially, the Victorian was unable to make any passes, but on lap 3 began to make progress.
Tenth position was crucial for Piastri as it would have given him not only one championship point, but vitally also handed him pole position for the inverted top 10 grid race tomorrow.
Piastri had to fight for each place and was lucky to survive without damage when he was thrown onto three wheels after contact with Dennis Hauger, while making his way throw the field.
On lap 18 of 21 Piastri took 11th position and set about trying to catch 10th place driver Liam Lawson, but sadly he came up just 0.9s short.
His Prema Racing teammate and key championship rival Logan Sargeant finished in sixth position and as a result, has drawn level with Piastri in the championship.
The third contender Theo Pourchaire took a very impressive podium finish and remains a championship outsider, nine points back from the Prema pair.
Along with Piastri the other three Australians finished outside of the points, Jack Doohan sat in the crucial 10th position for much of the race but faded late and finished in 13th.
Three-time podium finisher Alex Peroni was on the verge of the points but a collision with Michael Belov saw the Tasmanian finish down in 20th, just behind West Australian Calan Williams in 19th.
The race was won by the third Prema Racing driver Frederik Vesti from third on the grid. Vesti was involved in a great scrap for the lead with Jake Hughes and eventually came out on top taking the lead one final time on the final lap.
HWA Racelab driver Hughes led much of the race and came home in second ahead of Pourchaire.
Pole sitter Lirim Zendeli led many laps early in the race but faded to finish fourth ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi who scored his best finish of the season in fifth, after overtaking Sargeant on the final lap.
Aleksandr Smolyar, David Beckmann, Sebastian Fernandez and Lawson rounded out the top 10.
Piastri will start tomorrow’s final F3 race where he finished today from p11, Sargeant who is level on points starts from fifth, with Pourchaire in eighth.
The pivotal final Formula 3 race begins at 6.25pm AEST tomorrow and can be viewed live on Fox Sports 506.
For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action. Also make sure you follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or our weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.
