McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner and Red Bull Formula 1 junior Daniel Ticktum dominated from pole to win the opening race of the European Formula 3 weekend at the Hungaroring.
Motopark’s Ticktum led every lap during the course of the race, progressively extending a lead over Prema Racing’s Ralf Aron in second.
Ticktum only briefly lost the lead at Turn 1 on the opening lap. Marcus Armstrong had the inside line at the first corner after having launched well from fifth on the grid.
Armstrong attempted to defend his position on the inside at Turn 2. However, after Ticktum had made clipped his left rear tyre at the first corner, Armstrong had a puncture developing. His team-mate Aron followed Ticktum through.
Armstrong pitted at the end of the lap for a fresh set of tyres, while Ticktum carried on in the lead. The Turn 1 incident is, however, under a post-race investigation.
Aron’s vault from seventh on the grid to second place by Turn 2 was helped by a jump start. The Pau Grand Prix winner received a five-second time penalty as a result.
He dropped from second to fifth at the end of the race, promoting Guan Yu Zhou to second and Robert Shvartzman to third.
Shvartzman battled with Ferdinand Habsberg on the opening lap. Carlin’s Habsberg had lept from 11th on the grid to fifth at the start but made contact when attempting to squeeze passed Shvartzman at the tight chicane.
The subsequent damage to Habsberg’s car eventually resulted in retirement.
Mick Schumacher ended up fourth, beating Aron by less than a second after his penalty was applied. Schumacher reeled in Shvartzman over the course of the race but was never close enough to attempt an overtake.
Juri Vips was sixth to ensure Motopark ended up with two cars in the top six. Enaam Ahmed finished in seventh.
Having entered the weekend as championship leader, Renault academy driver Sacha Fenestraz finished eighth. He recovered from 13th on the grid after a difficult qualifying session.
Fenestraz has slipped to fourth in the championship, which is now led by race winner Ticktum. Aron is half a point behind in second.
Alex Palou, who started the race on the front row, slipped to 13th by the end of the opening lap after almost stalling at the start. He finished 12th.
