Liam Lawson takes maiden FIA Formula 3 victory in Austrian GP reverse-grid thriller
Kiwi Liam Lawson has won Race 2 of the 2020 FIA Formula 3 championship at the Red Bull Ring, ahead of Richard Verschoor and Clement Novalak.
Clement Novalak, on pole for the reverse-grid race, had a solid start, while Aleksandr Smolyar in second was bogged down and completely swallowed by the field. As the race order settled in after the opening reshuffle, Liam Lawson was on a charge and up to third behind David Beckmann in second.
Some frantic battles were underway down the field, but the biggest challenge was mounted by Australian Alex Peroni, pulling alongside Logan Sargeant into Turn 3 for seventh.
Peroni was slow to exit the corner, as the chasing pack collapsed behind him, drawing down into a three-wide drag race between Sargeant, fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri, and Bent Viscaal.
Peroni held the seventh position into Turn 4, with Piastri sneaking by to join in the all-Australian overtake on his teammate. As the pack compressed, Viscaal nicked Sargeant’s right rear tyre and the American ran into the gravel with a puncture, dropping to the rear of the field.
On the next lap, Beckmann displayed his late-braking skills, diving down the inside for the lead into Turn 4. Novalak put up a fight, momentarily regaining the lead, before skidding wide on Turn 3 and promoting Lawson up into second.
By now, it was somehow Lap 6, and Lawson drew level with Beckmann on the outside of Turn 4, but the Kiwi eventually had to abandon his attempt. He replicated the move on Lap 7, this time establishing himself as the rightful race leader by Turn 4.
Lawson was a second ahead when Novolak sent his Carlin flying down the inside of Turn 3, stealing second place from Beckmann. Verschoor made the attempt in the same piece of Austrian asphalt the next lap, drawing level with Beckmann and temporarily demoting him to fourth. Beckmann fought back in the infield, working his way past Verschoor for third, before the race was neutralised under the virtual safety car.
Bad luck has struck for Alex Peroni after his podium on Saturday, suffering a sudden engine failure in Turn 3 that caught Theo Pourchaire by surprise. The young Frenchman, with nowhere to go, rear-ended the Tasmanian, losing his front wing in the process.
Lawson was beginning to run away with the race after the restart, followed by Novalak and Beckmann. Beckmann, outside of DRS range to Novalak ahead, was a sitting duck on the next lap to Verschoor, who finally despatched him for third.
Verschoor was on a charge through the field, passing Novalak for P2 on Lap 16. Novalak fought valiantly, taking the advantage into Turn 3, but Verschoor held the position and emerged from Turn 4 in second.
As this battle cleared, a large train was emerging, with every driver from P3 to P12 now less than a second away from the car ahead. The build-up of tensions came to nothing, however, when the Safety Car neutralised the field on Lap 19.
Roman Stanek had run wide in the final corner, destroying the DRS sign and distributing the wreckage across the start/finish straight. The class of 2020 were ushered through the pit lane for the first time, before eventually restarting the race on Lap 23 with one lap remaining.
Lawson was just 0.480s ahead at the restart, but was able to hold his own through the overtaking zones along the ridgeline, running away from the pack to take his maiden victory in the FIA Formula 3 championship. Richard Verschoor was second, followed by Clement Novalak.
Aussie Oscar Piastri was P8 with the fastest lap, ahead of Calan Williams in P17. Jack Doohan retired with brake issues, while Alex Peroni was out with an engine failure.
