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R07 Spa-Francorchamps - FIA Formula 3 Race 1 Report

Bearman cruises to maiden FIA F3 win for PREMA Racing

R07 Spa-Francorchamps - FIA Formula 3 Race 1 Report

Ollie Bearman secured his maiden FIA Formula 3 win today at Spa-Francorchamps. The British racer had an outstanding start from P5 and quickly stormed to the lead, also courtesy of contact between the two front-row starters. The race was disrupted by a lengthy red flag, and many of its laps were run in safety-car conditions. That made re-starts extremely challenging especially for the driver out front, but Bearman stayed in control. The 17-year-old Ferrari Driver Academy-backed racer never looked back to log 10 extremely valuable points for the championship.

Starting from P20, Arthur Leclerc maximised every chance he had, and after cruising to the top-10 early, he maximised the final part of race 1 in green-flag conditions to gain P5 at the end. The points are pivotal for the Monegasque in a tough race for some of his contenders. Leclerc is now five away from the lead.

Jak Crawford also had a brilliant comeback after starting from P30 following a qualifying mistake yesterday. The Red Bull Junior American clawed his way back to P11, showing that an even bolder recovery might be possible in Sunday's longer feature race. 

 

#4 - Arthur Leclerc
"It was a great race coming back from P20 to P5. It was extremely hard to put the car in the right place for the first few laps because there were cars everywhere and it was quite a mess. After that, we had really good pace and we could come back in P5. I'm really happy but we're not finished. Focused on tomorrow!"

#5 - Jak Crawford
"It was a very chaotic race today. I started last after yesterday's qualifying and was able to finish in P11. I made up a lot of positions in not many laps. The pace was good even though I had some tyre degradation at the end. Hopefully, we can fix it for tomorrow and finish in the points as we have a longer race." 

#6 - Ollie Bearman
"Really good race, nice defending, and my first win. It was a difficult race with lots of safety cars and the red flag, which was very challenging because after that we had to push hard while the tyres were really cold. It was tough to manage because everyone was pushing in the last few laps. It was amazing to take the win and I look forward to tomorrow."