A very hectic race saw Frederik Vesti claim victory in F3’s final race of the weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix

Credit: Formula 3

Frederik Vesti was able to take the race victory as he overtook Championship leader Dennis Hauger to take the win. The Norweigan ended up finishing in second with Prema Racing teammate Olli Caldwell rounding off the podium in third.

Hauger has extended his lead at the top of the Championship with the fantastic Norweigan claiming three podiums in the same amount of races.

Starting Grid

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Championship leader Dennis Hauger lined up on pole position after his fantastic qualifying lap placed him at the front of the field.

Frederik Vesti joins the Norweigan on the front row of the grid as the Dane qualified second with Aleksandr Smolyar in third.

Caio Collet rounded out the second row with the Brazillian in fourth ahead of Hitech Grand Prix’s Jak Crawford in fifth and Trident’s Clement Novalak in sixth.

Jack Doohan was joined by Olli Caldwell on the fourth row of the grid with Arthur Leclerc and Victor Martins rounding off the top 10.

As It Happened

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Hauger got a clean getaway as he retained the lead into turn one. Collet stalled on the line which dropped him to the back of the grid, but the Brazilian was able to get his engine up and running again as he looked to fight back through the field.

On lap two, Novalak made the move on Crawford which promoted the Trident driver up to fourth with Martins getting up ahead of Doohan to claim sixth.

Two laps later, Hauger had to go on the defensive as Vesti hunted down the race lead into turn three. On lap five, the Dane was able to get the move done as he sailed past the Norweigan into turn four.

Martins compromised himself as the Frenchman clattered into the curb on the exit of turn one. This allowed Caldwell to move ahead of him into sixth.

Leclerc carried on making up positions as the Monegasque driver moved up into seventh on lap seven. Further ahead, Smolyar made the move on Hauger which dropped the pole man down to third.

Crawford lost out on two positions with the American making a mistake allowing both Caldwell and Leclerc to get past him which dropped him down to seventh.

On lap 11, Smolyar made the move for the lead of the race but Vesti regained first with the young Russian dropping down to third behind Hauger.

At the halfway point, Vesti was first ahead of Hauger, Smolyar, Caldwell, Novalak, Leclerc, Martins, Crawford, Doohan and Nannini rounded out the top 10.

After Leclerc ran wide, Martins was able to claim sixth. The battle continued down the straight and into turn four. The Monegasque driver was forced onto the grass as he lost control of his car smashing into the innocent with both drivers retiring from the race and the Safety Car released.

The green flag was waved once more on lap 18 as Vesti lead the drivers over the start/finish line.

Caldwell was able to move up into the podium positions as the Prema driver made the move on Smolyar into turn four.

With two laps to go, Crawford and Doohan tangled with each other. The former lost his front wing with the latter getting a puncture.

Subsequently, the Virtual Safety Car was released due to Crawford’s front wing stricken at the middle of the track.

In the end, Vesti crossed the line in first place ahead of the two Prema’s of Hauger and Caldwell. Smolyar came fourth with Nannini in fifth, Iwasa in sixth, Collet in seventh, Sargeant in eighth, Williams in ninth and Edgar in 10th.

What’s Next

Formula 3 returns in three weeks time with the Hungaroring the next challenge for the young generation of drivers.

Dennis Hauger will once again be on the hunt for a good points haul as the Red Bull Academy driver looks pretty at the top of the Championship after round three.

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