Marcus Armstrong takes dominant first FIA F3 win at Hungaroring

Photo: FIA Formula 3

Marcus Armstrong became the third Prema driver to win a FIA Formula 3 race at the Hungaroring, while championship-leading team-mate Robert Shwartzman had a nightmare race.

Ferrari junior and poleman Armstrong initially came under pressure from Hitech GP’s Leonardo Pulcini, with the pair banging wheels, but he very quickly then started to pull away and stretched out a lead of 12.670 seconds by the end of the race.

Pulcini, who had taken second by cutting across Carlin’s Felipe Drugovich at the start, settled into second place after his contact with Armstrong.

Drugovich meanwhile had to work hard to defend his third place from title contenders Shwartzman and Juri Vips (Hitech GP) during the first half of the race. Eventually Shwartzman ran out of patience and attempted a move, but he ended up making contact and Drugovich ended up with a puncture.

Also receiving damage was Shwartzman, who was quickly passed by Vips, ART Grand Prix’s Max Fewtrell and HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes. Fewtrell then had a problem of his own and fell the down the order, while Shwartzman retired his car.

This left a new battle for third between Vips and Hughes, which was decided conclusively in the latter’s favour.

Feature race winner Christian Lundgaard ended up taking fifth, avoiding the drama ahead, and just holding off Yuki Tsunoda.

Having missed out on the points in the feature race, Prema’s Jehan Daruvala rose from 11th to finish seventh, but it is Vips who is Shwartzman’s closest rival now.

Race results (22 laps)