Victory for Norris as Carlin locks out podium
Lando Norris led a Carlin 1-2-3 in Monza to take his second European Formula Three race win.
Jehan Daruvala, who started on pole and led for the majority of the race, lost out to his team mate in the final few laps. The Force India junior stuck to Norris’ tail in the closing laps, but couldn’t find a way past the Brit.
After poor starts in Silverstone, Norris had been working on perfecting the first moments of the race, but again he was bogged down off the starting line. He lost out to fellow Carlin drivers Jake Dennis and Ferdinand Habsburg.
The trio, joined by Prema’s Callum Ilott, spent the first part of the race battling for second position, before Norris managed to break away and set about chasing after Daruvala.
The fight for third became a more complex affair. Dennis, Habsburg, Ilott, Joel Eriksson, and Mick Schumacher all fought for position in the chasing pack. Habsburg eventually came out on top, taking third position and his first points of the season.
Eriksson finished the best non-Carlin driver, ahead of Guan Yu Zhou, who quietly made his way up through the pack. Schumacher matched his best finish at Silverstone, crossing the line sixth.
A difficult qualifying saw Maximilian Gunther out of position on the grid. It took a while for the championship contender to pick up places, but he managed to get onto the back of the fighting pack in the later stages of the race. Contact between the Prema driver and Dennis cut short anymore progress. Dennis was forced to retire from the race. Gunther finished the race seventh.
The battle for the final points paying position was as dynamic as the battle for third. Ralf Aron, Joey Mawson, Pedro Piquet, and Nikita Mazepin all fancied a spot in the top ten. Piquet had made good progress from a poor qualifying position, and had made it into P9 when team mate Mawson sent him into a spin.
Piquet dropped to the back of the field as Mawson was handed a drive through penalty. Again, Piquet set about recovering, but retired from the race on the final lap.
Aron finished the race eighth ahead of Ilott and Jake Hughes.