F3 EURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Revenge succeeded: Rosenqvist wins from Giovinazzi
Season race: 20 of 33
Track: Circuit Park Zandvoort
Winner: Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam)
Pole position: Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam)
Weather: sunny and warm
In the 20th season race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam) was successful in his revenge against Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin), who had managed to defeat the Swede in the 19th race of the year. Now, it was Rosenqvist’s turn and he won at the 4.307 kilometres long dune circuit at Zandvoort with the Italian in second place. Third position went to Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam). Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing), who came to Zandvoort as the FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader, retired after an accident, but retains first place in the drivers’ standings.
The race began with an accident right after the start. Still on the main straight, Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam) and Charles Leclerc collided, putting an early end to the race for Canadian Stroll. To allow for the damaged car of the rookie to be removed from the track, race control sent the safety car out. At this time, Felix Rosenqvist was in the lead from Antonio Giovinazzi, Jake Dennis and Markus Pommer (Motopark).
Racing resumed on lap four, but two laps later, Charles Leclerc crashed into the Armco barriers due to consequential damage from the collision after the start. That caused the second safety car intervention that lasted until the start of lap eleven. At the second restart, Rosenqvist again stayed ahead of Giovinazzi, even though the Italian made it exciting. The young drivers made it through the next laps without any problems. Rosenqvist set off with fast lap times and went on to score a safe win from Giovinazzi.
Jake Dennis took the chequered flag in third place from Markus Pommer, the best-placed rookie Alexander Albon (Signature), George Russell (Carlin), Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motorpark), Maximilian Günther (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Santino Ferrucci (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Ryan Tveter (Carlin), who scored his first-ever top ten finish.
Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam): “For the first time this weekend, we have been able to show our pace, which really is good here. The start was very important and I got it right. For me, the rest of the race was trouble-free as well. After the second restart, I didn’t really feel a lot of pressure from Antonio, even though I didn’t get the restart perfectly right.”
Antonio Giovinazzi (Jayonya Ayam with Carlin): “Second place is quite all right for me, because I have scored many points and championship leader Charles Leclerc didn’t get any. At the start, I managed to take second place ahead of Jake and nothing changed after that, because it is very hard to overtake here.”
Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam): “The past four races haven’t been good for me and I am happy to be back on the podium. In the first race, I had a clutch problem which we managed to solve for the second race. At the start, I tried to attack Antonio, but I didn’t manage to do so. Then, I wasn’t able to keep up with Felix and Antonio by my own means, but I had no pressure from Markus Pommer behind me either.”