F3: Vesti storms to F3 feature race victory

In a chaotic feature race at Monza, Prema driver Frederik Vesti stormed to his second FIA Formula 3 win of the season after starting from the ninth place.

Pole-sitter Liam Lawson had a good start and managed to fend off Matteo Nannini. After starting from the sixth place on the grid, Theo Pourchaire improved to third at the start. The Frenchman showed a great initial pace and overtook Nannini to take P2.

On lap 4, last year’s German F4 champion used his DRS to get past Lawson, taking over the lead. Behind the leading trio, championship leader Logan Sargeant outbraked himself into Turn 1. As he needed to take the run-off zone at the first chicane, he dropped back to P12.

The Variante del Rettifilio proved to be a difficult part of the track for others as well. Calan Williams span around at Turn 1 and created a block in the middle of the chicane.

Nannini tried an overtaking manoeuvre against Lawson for the second position. The Jenser driver wanted to dart through the inside, but there was no space and the pair collided. Lawson could carry on, but the Italian plummeted down the order.

On lap 10, Oscar Piastri passed Sargeant to take P8. At the front, Pourchair maintaind a gap of eight tenths of a second. On lap 12, Vesti got past Lawson for P3.

Just a lap later, Sebastian Fernandez lost the back of his car and got beached in the gravel trap at the Ascari chicane. Safety Car was deployed to move away his stricken car.

At the restart, Sargeant span around at Variante della Roggia after being tagged by Clement Novalak. The championship leader dropped to the back of the field. Novalak was handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

After passing Jake Hughes, Vesti wad adamant to overtake Pourchaire. With 3 laps to go, the Danish driver got passed the Frenchman to take his second F3 triumph.

After climbing out of his Prema car, Vesti was clearly over the moon: “We won from P9 today and it feels mega. I am very happy to be back on the top step of the podium. Last week in Spa, we finished second in Race 2 and now I am happy to be back on the top step.

“I would like to thank PREMA for a great car and for the great progress we have made.”

On just his fourth F3 start, Michael Belov will line up at the front of the grid for Charouz Racing System on reverse grid pole in Race 2 tomorrow, at 9.45am (local time).