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Dennis Hauger was able to pull out a huge gap to the rest of the field that saw him cruise to victory ahead of second-placed Jack Doohan and third-placed Matteo Nannini at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Olli Caldwell was able to get ahead of Victor Martins as the Brit secured fourth with the MP Motorsport driver finishing fifth.
Clement Novalak made up one place to finish sixth, Frederik Vesti fell down the order as he finished seventh ahead of Caio Collet in eighth, Logan Sargeant in ninth and Hitech’s Roman Stanek rounded off the top 10.
Starting Grid
Prema’s Hauger started from pole position ahead of Doohan in second and Martins in third. Nannini was behind the MP Motorsport driver in fourth but ahead of Vesti with the ART Grand Prix driver in fifth.
The winner from race two, Olli Caldwell, qualified sixth with Novalak in seventh, Sargeant in eighth, David Schumacher in ninth and Collet rounded out the top 10.
As It Happened
The pole-sitter Hauger had a poor getaway but responded well as he went into turn one as the race leader. Behind him, Doohan dropped down to fourth as Martins and Nannini both overtook him which dropped him down to fourth.
ART’s Frederik Vesti was another driver that fell down the order as the Dane dropped from fifth to eighth with Caldwell, Novalak and Sargeant moving ahead of him.
After a poor run out of the final corner, Martins was overtaken by Nannini with the Italian moving up to second position.
Lorenzo Colombo was forced into the pits early on as he came in to change onto a fresh set of rubber which put the Campos driver a lap down.
Arthur Leclerc was on the move as in the space of a few laps he made it up to 13th moving ahead of Jonny Edgar and Juan Manuel Correa.
The Trident of Doohan made his way ahead of Martins and up to third place. At the halfway point, Hauger led the race with Nannini behind in second. Doohan hunted down the Italian in third with Martins in fourth, Caldwell in fifth, Sargeant in sixth, Novalak in seventh, Vesti in eighth, Collet in ninth and Schumacher completed the top 10.
Doohan used all of his experience with the Trident car to make his way back up to his starting position as he overtook Nannini and moved up to second.
Kaylen Frederick had to pit as he picked up a puncture which dropped the American down to 29th and a long way off the leading pack.
Rafael Villagómez was the next to pit for a front wing change and was handed a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track.
Novalak and Vesti both moved ahead of Sargeant as the American went wide at the final corner which allowed the aforementioned duo to overtake him.
Hauger was able to hold onto his race lead as the Norwegian had a substantial lead over second-place Doohan and third-place Nannini.
Quotes from the drivers
Speaking exclusively to Prost International’s Adrian Kita, Feature Race winner Dennis Hauger, second-place Jack Doohan and third-place Matteo Nannini shared their thoughts on what experiences they can take from the first weekend of the season and heading into the rest of the campaign.
Dennis Hauger:
“I think mainly the incident in race two cost me quite a few points and that’s an important lesson for the rest of the season to just always score points and not taking too many risks if not necessary for the Championship or the points.
“That’s been one of the most important things I learned this weekend and just have to keep that in mind and keep the work going.”
Jack Doohan:
“Finishing all three races is important and that’s the main one really. Obviously with this new format it is unique and you really need to be in the top 12 for race one.
“With what happened , I was out of the top 12 which kind of hurt yesterday big time. So going forwardf, making sure that doesn’t happen again and that I am inisde the top 12 and trying to score points in all three races as that looks to be important in the long game.”
Matteo Nannini:
“I agree with with them and for me is to finish all three races and to get as many points possible because at the end with what happened yesterday we lost a lot of points.
“It might be that I need those points at the end of the season so I would say for the next three races I will be focussed on finishing them all in high position and scoring as many points possible.”
What’s Next?
The next race is at the end of June at the Paul Ricard circuit in France but the F3 drivers will participate in testing around the legendary Jerez circuit in a couple of days.
Valuable experiences can be taken from this weekend as they will take part in six more Championship rounds that will determine the 2021 F3 World Champion.
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