Late penalty hands Robert Shwartzman first ever F3 victory

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Robert Shwartzman secured an unconventional first ever FIA Formula 3 race win, after on-track winner Christian Lundgaard was demoted to second place at the chequered flag with a five second time penalty.
The PREMA Racing man had been led by his ART Grand Prix competitor for the bulk of the race, but an incident during a virtual safety car period served a crushing blow to the Renault junior as he climbed out of his car in the Parc fermé. The duo finished ahead of fellow PREMA driver Marcus Armstrong.
 
The scene was set for the maiden FIA F3 race on a cool and dry morning in Spain, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Things weren’t as cool on the circuit, as the top ten was served a shakeup at the race start.
 
Shwartzman held his nerve when the lights went out to remain in P1, while Armstrong made a move on the front two down the long first straight that he was unable to make stick. With Shwartzman’s attention switched to his PREMA teammate, Lundgaard took advantage of his diverted concentration to sear around the Ferrari junior on the second corner for the race lead. 
 
PREMA lost further places at the start as Jehan Daruvala was plunged down to seventh thanks to a blistering start by ART duo David Beckmann and Max Fewtrell. Further up-field, their teammate set about extending his lead and succeeded with the fastest lap so far.
 
Simo Laaksonen and Logan Sargeant also succumbed to the top 10 shake-up and the duo were left squabbling between themselves for eighth place. Behind them, Niko Kari and Yuki Tsunoda were jockeying for 10th.
 
Lundgaard managed to squeeze further pace from his ART machine and stretch his lead to 2.786s, when Alessio Deledda spun his car and meandered into the gravel, coming to a halt. This brought out a virtual safety car. 
 
The Renault junior couldn’t be conquered when racing restarted with two laps to go and he cruised to first place in Barcelona – or so he thought. Lundgaard suffered heartbreak as his celebrations were cut short in the Parc fermé when the officials swapped his first place hoarding, with the sign for second place. He was quickly informed of a five-second penalty for VSC infringement, handing the Russian racer in second the win.
 
Behind them, Armstrong retained third, while Beckmann and Fewtrell rose to fourth and fifth to secure an all PREMA/ART front five. They were followed by Jüri Vips, Daruvala, Kari, Laaksonen and Tsunoda.
 
Trident’s Niko Kari will start on reverse grid pole when the drivers return to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya tomorrow at 10.15am local time.
 
2019 FIA Formula 3 Round 1 – Race 1 classification
 
POS  
DRIVER
TEAM
1
Robert Shwartzman
PREMA Racing
2
Christian Lundgaard
ART Grand Prix
3
Marcus Armstrong
PREMA Racing
4
David Beckmann
ART Grand Prix
5
Max Fewtrell
ART Grand Prix
6
Juri Vips
Hitech Grand Prix
7
Jehan Daruvala
PREMA Racing
8
Niko Kari
Trident
9
Simo Laaksonen
MP Motorsport
10
Yuki Tsunoda
Jenzer Motorsport
11
Felipe Drugovich
Carlin Buzz Racing
12
Bent Viscaal
HWA RACELAB
13
Lirim Zendeli
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
14
Alex Peroni
Campos Racing
15
Logan Sargeant
Carlin Buzz Racing
16
Sebastian Fernandez
Campos Racing
17
Jake Hughes
HWA RACELAB
18
Artem Petrov
Jenzer Motorsport
19
Leonardo Pulcini
Hitech Grand Prix
20
Raoul Hyman
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
21
Ye Yifei
Hitech Grand Prix
22
Devlin DeFrancesco
Trident
23
Teppei Natori
Carlin Buzz Racing
24
Andreas Estner
Jenzer Motorsport
25
Pedro Piquet
Trident
26
Richard Verschoor
MP Motorsport
27
Fabio Scherer
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
28
Keyvan Andres
HWA RACELAB
     
 
NOT CLASSIFIED
 
     
 
Liam Lawson
MP Motorport
 
Alessio Deledda
Campos Racing
     
 
OVERALL FASTEST LAP
 
 
Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix) - 1:35.209 on Lap 22
     
 
FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
 
Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix)

 

         

 

 

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