Home Z - Archive seriesFIA European F3 George Russell claims victory on second Formula 3 start

George Russell claims victory on second Formula 3 start

by Peter Allen
George Russell

Photo: Paul Davies Photography

George Russell beat fellow FIA F3 European Championship newcomer Charles Leclerc to win his second race in the category at Silverstone.

Starting second on the grid, Russell beat Leclerc into turn one, with Carlin team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi also getting past the Van Amersfoort driver briefly.

Giovinazzi even challenged Russell for the lead at Village but ran deep, and was re-passed by Leclerc into Brooklands.

The safety car was needed at the end of the first lap after Michele Beretta, Tatiana Calderon, Sergio Sette Camara and Sam MacLeod were all eliminated on the spot.

Russell got a good restart but Leclerc kept the pressure on and remained within around a second for much of the race before the Briton pulled away late on.

The pair took to the top two spots on the podium just hours after being involved in contact in race one before they even crossed the line to take the green flag after a safety car start.

Giovinazzi finished in third to claim his second podium finish of the day.

Prema rookies Lance Stroll and Brandon Maisano made good starts to finish fourth and fifth respectively, while Alex Albon followed up his P4 finish from race one with sixth this time around.

Race one winner Felix Rosenqvist started from 35th and last after being excluded from the results of Friday’s second qualifying session, when he had completed a pole treble. He staged an incredible recovery drive however to take seventh.

He secured that place by breaking out of a queue that had formed behind Fabian Schiller, who ran sixth after the first lap.

Pietro Fittipaldi followed Rosenqvist past the West-Tec driver for eighth, but Schiller held everybody else behind him until the penultimate corner of the race.

Jake Dennis – who started sixth but lost a lot of ground on the opening lap – tried to claim the place around the outside of Vale but contact was made, putting the British driver out on the spot with rear-left damage.

Mucke Motorsport duo Santino Ferrucci and Mikkel Jensen steered past that to take the final two points positions.

There was plenty of fighting for positions in the train behind Schiller, and included a couple of incidents of note when Dorian Boccolacci and Callum Ilott both went spinning around within a few corners – the latter after contact with Markus Pommer that broke the German’s front wing and forced him to pit.

Race results
Pos. Driver Team Time/Gap
1 George Russell Carlin 18 laps in 36:33.460
2 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing +1.723
3 Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin +5.412
4 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam +6.332
5 Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam +13.630
6 Alex Albon Signature +15.005
7 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam +22.178
8 Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Motorsports +36.821
9 Santino Ferrucci Mucke Motorsport +42.445
10 Mikkel Jensen Mucke Motorsport +43.404
11 Fabian Schiller West-Tec +44.052
12 Maximilian Gunther Mucke Motorsport +44.849
13 Nabil Jeffri Motopark +45.599
14 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing +45.928
15 Ryan Tveter Carlin +46.420
16 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing +46.592
17 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports +50.542
18 Gustavo Menezes Carlin +50.935
19 Callum Ilott Carlin +52.882
20 Nicolas Beer Eurointernational +55.323
21 Kang Ling Mucke Motorsport +56.477
22 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports +1:02.028
23 Julio Moreno T-Sport +1:03.680
24 Nicolas Pohler Double R Racing +1:05.301
25 Mahaveer Raghunathan Motopark +1:12.137
26 Matt Solomon Double R Racing +1 lap
27 Raoul Hyman West-Tec +1 lap
28 Peter Li Fortec Motorsports +1 lap
Not classified
Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam +1 lap
Markus Pommer Motopark +1 lap
Dorian Boccolacci Signature +2 laps
Michele Beretta Mucke Motorsport +17 laps
Tatiana Calderon Carlin +17 laps
Sergio Sette Camara Motopark +17 laps
Sam MacLeod Motopark +17 laps