Pourchaire beats Piastri for second FIA F3 win in Hungary

Theo Pourchaire took victory in the first FIA Formula 3 race of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend – a race that was interrupted by a red flag for spilled oil.

The race began with Alex Smolyar on pole in the ART. He got off the line well before being taken out by Logan Sargeant in the PREMA at Turn 1. More carnage occurred between the other PREMA drivers of Frederik Vesti and Oscar Piastri, along with Jenzer’s Calan Williams and Olli Caldwell in the Trident.

The Safety Car was immediately deployed, as Smolyar pulled into the pits and retired. Vesti and Williams went no further either.

Pourchaire led the field from third on the grid ahead of Piastri, Sargeant, Liam Lawson, Sebastian Fernandez, Bent Viscaal, Max Fewtrell, Richard Verschoor, Dennis Hauger and Enzo Fittipaldi.

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After the restart, Jack Doohan in the HWA Racelab collided with Lirim Zendeli’s Trident, damaging the Australian’s front suspension and eliminating him from the race in the pits.

Almost simultaneously, Fernandez braked hard to avoid fourth place Liam Lawson on Lap 5 at Turn 1 but the reason for that became clear. Lawson’s Hitech was leaking oil onto the racetrack and caught fire at the back of the car, temporarily turning into a flamethrower, before the New Zealander pulled off at Turn 2.

The Safety Car came out again before the red flags brought the race to a halt to give the marshals the opportunity to clean up the oil in the first sector of the lap.

By this point, Pourchaire was still in the lead with Piastri in second. Sargeant was third and Fernandez up to fourth, with Viscaal, Verschoor, Fewtrell, Fittipaldi, Alex Peroni and Hauger making up the top ten.

After a wait of approximately 30 minutes, the Safety Car led the field for a couple of laps before green-flag racing finally got underway again. Pourchaire continued to lead, whilst Fittipaldi, who was ninth on the restart, overtook Peroni and Fewtrell with a brilliant double overtake. It was all in vain though for the Brazilian, as he picked up a drive-through penalty for not being in the fast lane during the race suspension.

Lap 12 and Hauger passed Fewtrell for eighth into Turn 1, as the field continued to settle down for the rest of the race. Three laps later, Verschoor made a lunge down the inside of Fernandez at the same corner to move up into fourth before his team-mate and compatriot Viscaal replicated the manoeuvre on the following lap.

The MP Motorsport drivers went head-to-head on track, as Viscaal was able to power his way past last year’s Macau Grand Prix winner up to fourth on the final lap of the race.

With a lead of over ten seconds in front, Theo Pourchaire cruised over the line for his second Formula 3 victory in a row and earning the extra two points for getting the fastest lap out of those in the top ten. The two PREMAs of Piastri and Sargeant were second and third in front of Viscaal, Verschoor, Fernandez and Peroni in seventh.

Dennis Hauger was eighth ahead of Clement Novalak, who had completed a brilliant drive from 26^th on the grid to ninth position. David Beckmann collected the final point in tenth and will be on reverse-grid pole for the second race of the F3 weekend on Sunday morning, which starts at 08:45 BST.

Oscar Piastri extends his lead in the Drivers’ Standings to 13 points over second-place Logan Sargeant.