Dan Ticktum’s European Formula 3 title fight stays alive as championship leader Mick Schumacher collided with team-mate Marcus Armstrong on the opening lap.
Schumacher and Armstrong, who was also in the championship battle, started ahead of Ticktum for the opening race of the weekend at Hockenheim. The pair were battling for position in the middle of the top 10 when Schumacher’s front wing made contact with Armstrong’s rear wheel.
Both cars were damaged in the incident and Ticktum took advantage and made to pass Schumacher. Despite the damage, Schumacher tried to defend the position, making slight contact with Ticktum in the process, but the Red Bull backed driver managed to pass.
Schumacher and Armstrong came into the pits as the safety car was brought out at the end of lap one.
Ticktum was running sixth when racing resumed, but was passed by Ralf Aron on the restart. He would have to wait until after a second safety car – this time to recover Ferdinand Habsburg’s stranded car – to take the fight back to the Prema driver.
Aron put up a good defence but Ticktum managed to find a way through to snatch P5. He spent a number of laps closing the gap to Alex Palou in P4 but was eventually able to challenge for the position in the closing stages of the race.
Ticktum was all over the back of the Hitech driver, trying everything to force a mistake, but Palou didn’t put a foot wrong. He took fourth, just 0.7s ahead of the championship contender.
Meanwhile, Schumacher had spent the race giving a masterclass on late braking overtakes, picking his way up the order. He finished 12th overall, but was denied one final shot at taking P11 from Julian Hanses when the chequered flag was brought out a lap early.
He now has a 39 point lead over Ticktum with just two races remaining while Armstrong, a further 30 points back, is out of championship contention.
The premature chequered flag also had an impact at the front of the race.
While Guanyu Zhou enjoyed a quiet race from lights to flag to take his second victory of the season, Juri Vips was challenging Robert Shwartzman for the runner up position. Shwartzman had defended well all race but Vips was closer than ever when the chequered flag fell and one more lap could have changed the podium order.
As it stood, Shwartzman took second and top rookie, securing the 2018 rookie title.
Ralf Aron finished fifth ahead of Sacha Fenestraz and Nikita Troitskiy.
Enaam Ahmed and championship newcomer Frederik Vesti rounded out the top 10.
