Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger clinched a controlled lights-to-flag win in the third Formula 3 race of the weekend in Barcelona, making amends for a difficult Saturday.
Hauger collided with Matteo Nannini in a battle for the lead in Race 2 yesterday, but the Red Bull Academy driver had a chance to claw points back as he started from P1 in today s mid-day contest – having taken pole by 0.006s in qualifying.
The Norwegian s getaway was sluggish when the lights went out, but he batted off a four-wide challenge through Turn 1 to retain the lead and by the halfway point had amassed a three-second lead.
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Aleksandr Smolyar claimed his first Formula 3 victory as he dominated the first sprint race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Starting on the front row of the grid, Smolyar made light work of Jonny Edgar into Turn 1 with the use of DRS on Lap 4.
Smolyar built a commanding lead at the front, stretching his advantage to over two second as Edgar attempted to defend from the cars behind.
Clement Novalak made an impressive start from sixth on the grid, moving up to fourth with a late lunge into Turn 1 on the opening lap.
Novalak looked to have the superior race pace as he passed Edgar around the outside at Turn 1 on Lap 14, then began his hunt for the lead of the race
As Mercedes’ only academy driver on the official Road to F1, Frederik Vesti is under no illusions as to the weight of expectation he’s now got to shoulder, but the 19-year-old Formula 3 racer has been waiting for this opportunity a long time, having initially opened discussions with the Brackley-based team more than three years ago.
In that period, Mercedes have had just one junior driver on the Road to F1 – George Russell – while Vesti has had multiple offers from other Formula 1 academies, turning each down in the belief his dream deal would become a reality.
Speaking ahead of the F3 season opener in Barcelona this weekend, the Danish racer says it’s been worth the wait.
PREMA’s Dennis Hauger came out on top of an all-Red Bull Junior Team battle for pole in Formula 3, beating Trident’s Jack Doohan by just 0.006s in the opening qualifying session of the season.
The Red Bull pairing were in a league of their own and traded places throughout the session, but it was the Norwegian who took a first pole in the third tier, carrying over his good work in practice, where he also finished in first.
A last gasp effort from Alpine Academy’s Victor Martins was the closest anyone came to the top two, but the MP Motorsport man was 0.055s off the pace.