F3: How 16 year old Pourchaire Benefitted from Late Drama in Styria

Formula 3 returned to the Red Bull Ring for the second of a season opening double header in Austria this weekend. The first round of the season saw debut victories for the Prema of Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson’s Hitech, but with multiple weather conditions expected for the weekend, the potential for a thrilling weekend was palpable.

Friday’s qualifying session was interrupted with two red flags. The first saw Sebastian Fernandez looking for a second consecutive pole position lose control at turn seven, putting his ART into the gravel. The Spaniard was at the time leading the timing screens, but would eventually drop to 10th on the grid.

The second red flag was for Igor Fraga who’s Charouz came to a halt on the pit-straight. Fraga will no doubt be in the eyes of the ‘sim-racing’ community this season, as the Brazilian driver was part of the inaugural 2017 F1 Esports Championship and Gran Turismo Championship in 2018 and 2019.

However as the chequered flag came out at the end of the session it was the Prema of Frederik Vesti who took his first pole position in Formula 3, whilst Trident’s David Beckmann had another good session to put himself on the front row of the grid.

Saturday’s weather was a stark contrast to Friday’s blue skies and summer heat, as the drivers left for the formation lap the Austrian skies opened and the rain that was expected over-night suddenly engulfed the circuit.

Vesti held onto the lead into turn one as the field nervously made their way around the opening lap, while behind a poor start for David Beckmann dropped the German behind a fast starting Oscar Piastri. Beckmann would get third back at turn three as the cars tip-toed their way around the Red Bull Ring.

Lirim Zendeli challenged Vesti, but with conditions on track getting steadily worse there was a lack of movement with several drivers complaining the track was becoming more and more un-safe.

The whole field was incredibly cautious during the first third of the race. The track-surface became more and more treacherous with each lap, and firstly it was Alexander Smolyar who fell foul of the conditions as he spun out of the final corner and clipped the wall, whilst the Carlin Buzz team mates of Enaam Ahmed and last weeks podium finisher Clement Novalak came into contact and cause Novalak to spin out with a puncture.

Novalak would recover to the pits, but the resulting safety car came in on lap 13 with the track in incredibly poor conditions. The standing water was very evident and the subsequent spray was becoming more and more an issue for the field. The restart only lasted one lap as drivers started falling off the track with Roman Stanek first at turn nine, and then ART’s Sebastian Fernandez who un-sighted by the spray ran into two cars on the straight between turn one and two.

The dual incidents caused the race control to throw a red flag on the race on lap 14. The circuit had visibly become incredibly dangerous and with water running in channels down the hilly circuit. The cars parked in the pit-lane and watched as the rain intensified,

Twenty minutes later confirmation that race one was ended early was given by race control. The race result saw Prema’s Frederik Vesti take his first victory in Formula 3, ahead of the Trident pair of Lirim Zendeli and David Beckmann.

It became Formula 3’s third new winner this season, whilst Trident were happy as they scored a 2-3-4 with Olli Caldwell’s bold move on Oscar Piastri after the safety car restart moved the Brit into fourth.

Sunday’s sprint race was in much better conditions compared to Saturday’s wash-out, and with a lap count-back going in his favour after Saturday’s red flag, the HWA Racelab of Jake Hughes lined up on pole position for race two.

The 25 year old who won race two in Austria last year bogged down off the line which allowed the ART of 16 year old Theo Pourchaire to take the inside line and hold the lead into turn one. Pourchaire and Hughes would be joined by the sprint race winner from last week Liam Lawson as the trio fought over the opening laps.

Lawson then made a sensational overtake from third on both Hughes and Pourchaire with the trio three wide into turn four. However, the experienced Hughes would stay with the New Zealander as the two continued their battle late into the race.

Sophia Floersch was entering her second race weekend in Formula 3 and after steadily improving over the three previous races was looking at moving forward, but contact with the ART of Alexander Smolyar would spin the young German out of the race and brought out the safety car.

The resulting safety car restart allowed Hughes to once again go on the offensive on Lawson’s Hitech, and with four laps to go the British driver went to the outside at turn four, but with Lawson riding the kerb and drifting into Hughes, both drivers would dramatically retire with broken suspension with just a handful of laps remaining.

The inconsolable Hughes would sit on the track-side and watch the end of the race knowing that he could have taken another victory at the Red Bull Ring.

His victory in Austria last year came due to the Prema team-mates of Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman clashing late in the race, so it was bitter irony that it would be Hughes who would suffer the safe fate this season.

However, it was the rookie Pourchaire who would benefit from the top two colliding as he followed the safety car home and finished the race under yellow to win his first Formula 3 race. The 16 year old French driver was ecstatic as he crossed the line, and gifted or not, he found himself in a winning position, and would become the fourth different winner this season.

He was followed home by Prema’s Logan Sargeant and the Trident of David Beckmann who has enjoyed a good start to the season in Austria.

Saturday’s wash-out meant that only half points were awarded for the result, but with Sunday’s sprint race completion the championship is already looking in favour of Prema as they cover the top three places in the standings.

Oscar Piastri leads his team mates Vesti and Sargeant with the Italian outfit already with a commanding 48 point lead in the F3 title race as the field head to Hungary this week for the final weekend of a triple header to open 2020.

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