Jake Hughes takes FIA F3 victory in Monza as chaos reigns in championship fight
Jake Hughes has taken victory in Race 2 of the FIA Formula 3 weekend at Monza, ahead of Liam Lawson and Theo Pourchaire, as chaos reigned in the championship battle between Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant.
Jake Hughes celebrates his FIA Formula 3 victory on the podium at Monza. (Image: Supplied/Formula Motorsport Limited)
Michael Belov took pole position for the reverse-grid outing but stumbled off the line, with Lirim Zendeli taking the lead into Turn 1, closely followed by Enzo Fittipaldi.
Jake Hughes and kiwi Liam Lawson were quickly past Belov for third and fourth, with Aussie championship leader Oscar Piastri dispatching the rookie for fifth a few laps later.
Zendeli and Fittipaldi squabbled over the lead, with the German holding his position while Lawson watched eagerly from third, having advanced past Hughes.
Lawson’s patience paid off, with the two leaders tripping over each other, sending Fittipaldi down the order with a puncture, and demoting Zendeli to sixth.
Piastri was up to fourth and on the charge, before Clément Novalak locked up into Turn 1, tipping the Renault Academy driver into a spin, where he collected Belov and David Schumacher—with all but Belov forced to retire.
The moment Oscar Piastri was tipped around into the chasing pack. (Image: Twitter/FIAFormula3)
“Obviously, not what I was looking for,” said Piastri after the race.
“It started well, me and Frederik were fighting for third and then I just got taken out by Novalak in turn 1.”
“There was nothing I could have done.”
“It’s unfortunate, but it happens every now and again. For sure it’s annoying in this position. We’ve got to move on, nothing we can change about it. Heads up for Mugello where we will try to win the championship."
He was more critical on Twitter, tweeting “it would be nice if this championship was decided by the actual contenders rather than uncontrollable bullshit. What a joke”
Championship leader Oscar Piastri was forced to retire from the race. (Image: Twitter/FIAFormula3)
Logan Sargeant, having lost the championship lead on Saturday after being tipped into a spin by Novalak, was the main beneficiary, with the championship now swinging firmly in his favour.
The American had begun the race in P26, and was on an enormous recovery effort—up to sixth position once the dust settled ahead of him.
“Let’s go! I can win this!” Sargeant earnestly told his team over the radio.
After a brief Virtual Safety Car period, Hughes held firm ahead of Lawson, with Sargeant instantly making another move through the field past Zendeli.
His next obstacle was Frederik Vesti, and all gloves were off in the teammate-on-teammate battle. The pair almost came to blows through Parabolica, with Sargeant backing off to salvage his race and newfound advantage against retired rival Piastri.
Zendeli and Pourchaire took advantage of DRS and the distracted PREMAs, passing both. This lit the fire under Sargeant, who launched a new challenge on Vesti—getting past the Dane with an aggressive move under braking, but it ended in tears.
Vesti, looking for the inside line after being overtaken, attempted to pull to the inside of his American teammate, clipping his right rear tyre—sending Sargeant into the gravel and out of the race. For his efforts, Vesti suffered critical damage to his front wing, retiring from the race shortly after.
“Honestly I think this has been one of my greatest races ever, coming from 26th all the way to 4th,” said Sargeant.
“Some very impressive speed, good overtakes, and a big improvement from yesterday.”
“Obviously, it didn’t end the way we wanted. I’m really disappointed, but at the end of the day, I’m still close to the championship lead with one round to go.”
“I’m just going to look forward to trying to get pole at Mugello and go from there.”
At the front, Hughes ultimately finished 1.8 seconds ahead of Lawson.
“It has always been a dream to stand on the top step of this famous podium,” he said.
“I have come close before, but now we have finally done it. Credit to the team, the car was flying and it made the second half of the race quite comfortable.”
“The first half was pretty messy, with quite a lot going on, but I am really, really happy.”
“Especially, after Spa interrupted our good run of form. Now, I am looking forward to Mugello."
Theo Pourchaire got by Zendeli in a late dash for the final podium position.
Liam Lawson, Jake Hughes, and Theo Pourchaire on the FIA Formula 3 podium at Monza. (Image: Supplied/Formula Motorsport Limited)
Aussie Alex Peroni finished P6 after starting P16 on the grid, while Calan Williams finished in P19 and Jack Doohan was P22 after a 10-second post-race penalty.
Oscar Piastri remains in the lead of the championship on 160 points with one round remaining. Sargeant is second on 152 points, with Liam Lawson in third with 135 and Pourchaire close behind on 134.
