Alexander Smolyar took victory in a frenetic season opening Formula 3 race at Barcelona. He took the lead from pole sitter Jonny Edgar early on and led from then till the end, taking his first victory in Formula 3.
He was followed home by Clement Novalak who fought his way through to second and towards the closing stages it looked like Smolyar’s tyres were dying and Novalak was catching. But the race finished under the safety car as a result of Oliver Rasmussen beaching his HWA in the gravel, which saved Smolyar from a potential attack.
Caio Collet finished as top rookie in third place, having been ahead of Novalak for much of the race but lost out after a battle with Edgar. Logan Sargeant finished in fourth ahead of Jonny Edgar who came home in fifth place.
Behind there was a lot of battling. Olli Caldwell finished as top Prema in sixth place ahead of Frederik Vesti in seventh and Dennis Hauger in eighth. Victor Martins finished ninth with Matteo Nannini collecting the final point in tenth.
David Schumacher who struggled with tyres finished in eleventh place but starts second later this afternoon. Reverse grid pole went to the Charouz of Enzo Fittipaldi. Juan Manuel Correa struggled with tyres towards the end and dropped to fifteenth whilst Arthur Leclerc picked up a puncture when fighting for reverse grid pole and finished twenty eighth.
Here is the result of the first Formula 3 race of 2021
RaceWeek 