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Shwartzman beats Schumacher to take first European F3 win

by Craig Woollard

Robert Shwartzman out-duelled championship leading Prema team-mate Mick Schumacher to secure his first European Formula 3 win at the Red Bull Ring.

While Schumacher?s start from pole was by no means poor, team-mate Shwartzman was simply stronger off the line. The pair duelled early in the race, but Ferrari Driver Academy member Shwartzman came off best.

From then on, Schumacher pushed but was unable to force his team-mate into a mistake and finished second, 0.815 seconds behind after 25 laps. The result gives Prema the teams? title with three races to spare.

Motopark’s Jonathan Aberdein took a hard-fought third place, resisting intense from team-mate Dan Ticktum, Schumacher’s closest title rival. Red Bull junior Ticktum put the troubles of his race two crash behind him and executed a superb opening lap to vault from seventh to fourth.

Prema?s Marcus Armstrong finished in fifth, after what was mainly a low-key race. It puts him on 260 points, meaning he can still win the title if he wins all three races, Ticktum scores only one point and Schumacher goes pointless at the Hockenheim season finale.

Carlin Ferdinand Habsburg and Jehan Daruvala and Prema’s Ralf Aron had a lengthy duel, and finished in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

Motopark?s Juri Vips salvaged ninth, after being pushed off into the gravel by countryman Aron on the opening lap. He passed Alex Palou, who finished 10th, late on. Guan Yu Zhou narrowly missed out on a points finish, while Enaam Ahmed had a trying race after a terrible start, ending up 16th.

Carlin?s Sacha Fenestraz pulled off the circuit towards the middle of the race, and was the only retiree of the race.

 

Race results (25 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Robert Shwartzman Prema 35m25.183s
2 Mick Schumacher Prema +0.815s
3 Jonathan Aberdein Motopark +7.912s
4 Dan Ticktum Motopark +8.444s
5 Marcus Armstrong Prema +10.304s
6 Ferdinand Habsburg Carlin +12.541s
7 Jehan Daruvala Carlin +13.069s
8 Juri Vips Motopark +17.421s
9 Ralf Aron Prema +18.370s
10 Alex Palou Hitech GP +18.901s
11 Guan Yu Zhou Prema +23.205s
12 Fabio Scherer Motopark +24.295s
13 Keyvan Andres Van Amersfoort Racing +26.943s
14 Artem Petrov Van Amersfoort Racing +28.606s
15 Sophia Floersch Van Amersfoort Racing +29.214s
16 Sebastian Fernandez Motopark +29.831s
17 Nikita Troitskiy Carlin +33.120s
18 Enaam Ahmed Hitech GP +34.030s
19 Julian Hanses Carlin +34.673s
20 Ben Hingeley Hitech GP +36.724s
21 Marino Sato Motopark +40.760s
22 Ameya Vaidyanathan Carlin +41.435s
Ret Sacha Fenestraz Carlin
Championship Standings
1?Schumacher 329? ?2?Ticktum 280? ?3?Armstrong 260? ?4?Vips 242? ?5 Shwartzman 241? ?6?Aron 219.5? ?7?Palou 173? ?8?Ahmed 168? ?9?Zhou 167??10 Daruvala 124.5