Frederik Vesti wins chaotic FIA Formula 3 outing at Monza

Frederik Vesti has taken his second win of the FIA Formula 3 season, ahead of Theo Pourchaire and Oscar Piastri.

A rush of post-session penalties saw kiwi Liam Lawson start from pole on Saturday in Monza, with Matteo Nannini and Jake Hughes challenging him for position into Turn 1.

Lawson, hopping over the kerbs, was able to keep his lead, and Theo Pourchaire was quickly up to second behind him—from fifth on the grid.

Sebastián Fernández spun at the first turn, passing Oscar Piastri facing the wrong way in an eyebrow-raising moment as the Aussie looked to salvage his championship hopes from P15 on the grid.

With DRS activated and the slipstream in full effect, Pourchaire was past Lawson for the lead, and quickly fell to P3 behind the charging Jake Hughes.

Championship leader Logan Sargeant misjudged the first corner, navigating the maze of bollards in the run-off and emerging in front of his main rival Oscar Piastri—and the race was on.

The squabbling pair made their way into the top ten, swapping places three different times with Piastri ultimately coming off on top.

The winning moment for @frederik_vesti 🏆🍾

His victory helped claim the championship for @PREMA_Team at their home race 👏#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F3 pic.twitter.com/y3UBTTx7YHSeptember 5, 2020

Matteo Nannini, challenging Lawson for third, attempted a late move down the inside of the New Zealander into Turn 1, colliding with the Red Bull junior and retiring from the race with a damaged front suspension.

Frederik Vesti was quickly on Lawson’s tail for the final podium position—but the tense battle was brought to a halt when Fernández spun out of the race into a gravel trap.

The order at the restart was Pourchaire, Hughes, Lawson, Vesti—with the Dane on the attack, moving from P4 to P2 on the first lap back.

It was advantage Piastri in the championship battle, and the feud was blown wide open when Logan Sargeant was tipped around by Clément Novalak, spinning off the track into last place.

Vesti moved past Pourchaire for the lead on Lap 20, while Piastri, already up to fifth, was past Lawson into fourth.

With a lap to go, Piastri dispatched Hughes for the final podium position—cementing his drive as one for the FIA Formula 3 history books.

Vesti said “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.”

Pourchaire finished second, with Piastri in third, with Vesti/Piastri combo enough to push PREMA over the line for the FIA Formula 3 Team Championship.

Piastri now leads the Drivers championship on 160 points, ahead of Sargeant on 152.

“Third from 15th on the grid, it was a very good race,” he said.

“I think I made a lot of good moves, but I didn’t really rush any, they were all calculated, picked the right moment. The late safety car helped us quite a bit. Third is awesome from where it started, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Seven spots ahead of today, let’s see what we can do.”

Liam Lawson finished P6, with Aussie Jack Doohan in P12.

Fellow Aussie Calan Williams was running in a season-high fifth-place, before being tipped into a spin by Alex Peroni, and ultimately finishing P20. Peroni crossed the line in P11, but finished P17 with a post-race penalty for his efforts.