Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited
Prema driver Logan Sargeant has been awarded a time penalty after Saturday’s FIA Formula 3 Championship race at the Hungaroring, giving MP Motorsport’s Bent Viscaal his maiden podium.
Sargeant’s penalty is for an incident at Turn 5 prior to the red flag, when he was defending his third position from Hitech’s Liam Lawson.
In the process he ran wide and off into the run-off, which was grippier than the damp racetrack itself, and held onto the position.
The stewards found Sargeant gained a lasting advantage by going off track and awarded him a five-second time penalty, which dropped him from third to sixth.
Viscaal gains his maiden FIA F3 podium following his late battle with his team-mate Richard Verschoor, who also moves up a spot together with ART Grand Prix’s Sebastian Fernandez.
During the race, Sargeant had escaped a penalty after he took out pole-sitter Alexander Smolyar at the first corner, eliminating the ART driver.
Sargeant admitted afterwards he was “not really sure” whether he was surprised at that outcome, and “would have respected the decision of the stewards, whatever they decided.”
The penalty promotes race winner Theo Pourchaire to second in the championship, one point ahead of Sargeant, with Oscar Piastri’s championship lead increasing from 13 to 19 points.
Meanwhile, Jack Doohan has been penalised for causing a collision with Lirim Zendeli that led to both drivers retiring from the race, receiving a three-place grid drop for race two.