Crawford cruises to maiden FIA Formula 3 Championship win
Jak Crawford claimed his first FIA Formula 3 Championship today at Red Bull Ring. The 17-year-old Red Bull Junior driver started the Sprint Race from the third spot of the reverse grid and managed to storm to the front taking also the advantage of an early safety car. After taking the lead with an outside move, he held the lead of the race until its conclusion. For Crawford, it's the eighth consecutive points finish and the fourth podium of the year.
Arthur Leclerc delivered a great comeback as he ended just 2-tenths of a second away from the podium with a spirited drive from P9. The Ferrari Driver Academy racer also set the fastest lap of the race, inching closer and closer to the lead of the driver championship.
Ollie Bearman had a more challenging race starting from P10. The British racer, also an FDA-supported driver, battled his way through the pack after contact involving teammate Leclerc and another driver cost him track position. A penalty for further contact eventually dropped him back to P16.
#4 - Arthur Leclerc
"I had a difficult start as I didn't find the right bite point with the clutch, but then there was plenty of action in the race, and we had great pace so we were able to overcome that. We did good overtakes and I'm really happy with P4 and the fastest lap. It's good points for the championship but as in all events, it's the feature race counting the most, and we'll focus on that."
#5 - Jak Crawford
"It was a good race. I lost a position at the start but I knew I had to keep patient as at Red Bull Ring the races are long. I had a good speed and I was able to make up positions. On the VSC restart and on the safety-car restart I had a good battle with Caio. I took the lead, and the last five or six laps were very stressful as the DRS is super powerful. In the end, I managed to keep the lead even if we were starting to struggle a bit, but I'm really happy!"
#6 - Ollie Bearman
"Difficult race. I felt I had a really strong pace I managed to make some spots up at the start, then I had a coming together with Arthur and Zane Maloney. I don't think there was much I could do, I got squeezed from both sides. It was tough and there was some damage for the rest of the race. I still had pace and managed to come through. It was unfortunate for the penalty I took for the incident with Frederick, but I learned a lot and we will go again for the feature race."