At the 4.381 kilometres long Hungaroring near the Hungarian capital of Budapest, Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) scored his third FIA Formula 3 European Championship season victory.
Behind the German, who moved up into the lead in the drivers’ standings, Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix) and Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) followed in second and third place. Joel Eriksson (Motopark), who came to Hungary as the leader in the drivers’ standings, had to make do with tenth place in the tenth race of the season. His rival Lando Norris (Carlin), who was tied on points with him prior to this race, took the chequered flag in eighth.
Already having dominated yesterday’s first qualifying, Maximilian Gunther also turned out to be unbeatable in the first race of the weekend at Budapest. At the start, the German took the lead, gradually extended his margin and crossed the finish line almost six seconds ahead of second-placed Jake Hughes. The Brit scored his second FIA Formula 3 European Championship podium of the season, as did Jehan Deruvala by finishing third.
The Indian, who is backed by the Force India Formula 1 team, kept his rival Joey Mawson (Van Amersfoort Racing) at bay and thus prevented the Australian from scoring his maiden podium finish. Earlier on, the rookie from down under had shone with an overtaking move in which he went past his rival Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) on the outside.
Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing) finished sixth, Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam) crossed the finish line in seventh place. Just behind him, Lando Norris finished eighth.
The Brit, who had started from seventh on the grid, initially dropped back to tenth, but then worked his way up a few places again. Especially against Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam), he needed a few laps before being able to get past. Thus, Norris ended up two places ahead of Joel Eriksson, who finished the race in tenth place. Having qualified only 17th, he still made it into the points, mainly due to many positions gained in the early stages.
“For me, the weekend, that started with pole position in first qualifying, has been very good so far.” Siad Gunther “My start into the race was good and I was able to maintain the lead.”
“After that, the most important thing was to control the tyre degradation, which I managed as well. This win and the 25 points that come with it are important to me.”
“The fact that I am currently leading the FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ standings is less important, even though it is nice, of course. However, I am working from one race to another, because it is only at the end of the season when it matters.” He concluded