Wins to Dan Ticktum and Mick Schumacher in the opening two races of the European Formula 3 Series at Silverstone.
Ticktum (Motopark) won the first of the weekend’s three races to take the lead in the drivers’ standings. Sacha Fenestraz (Carlin) was second across the finish line from Enaam Ahmed (Hitech Bullfrog GP). Rookie driver Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing), who came to Silverstone as the points’ leader, finished sixth in the 16th race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season.
Sacha Fenestraz took the lead at the start. Initially, Guanyu Zhou (PREMA Theodore Racing) was behind him, but the Chinese lost second place to Daniel Ticktum on the opening lap already. In the opening stages of the race, Fenestraz thus led from Ticktum, Zhou and Mick Schumacher (PREMA Theodore Racing), while there were some position fights in the midfield. For instance, fifth-placed Jonathan Aberdein (Motopark) couldn’t make any mistakes as Enaam Ahmed, Jüri Vips (Motopark) and Marcus Armstrong were following closely in his slipstream.
After five laps, Aberdein had closed the gap to Schumacher who, in turn, was no longer able to keep up with the drivers in front of him. One lap later, the German retired with a puncture and Aberdein inherited fourth place.
Out in front, Ticktum overtook Fenestraz for the lead with an exciting duel on lap 15 and then drove an undisputed victory home. Zhou retired with a puncture just a little bit later, which promoted Aberdein to third. However, he wasn’t able to bring this position home: following a full-course yellow (FCY) after Ralf Aron (PREMA Theodore Racing) had spun, he dropped back to fifth behind Amhed and Vips. Behind the South African, Marcus Armstrong, Alex Palou (Hitech Bullfrog GP), Robert Shvartzman (PREMA Theodore Racing), Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) and Fabio Scherer (Motopark) completed the top ten.
In race 2 Schumacher laid the foundation for his second FIA Formula 3 European Championship race win from Jüri Vips (Motopark) and Jonathan Aberdein (Motopark), the latter scoring his maiden FIA Formula 3 European Championship podium finish. Daniel Ticktum (Motopark), who started the race as the points’ leader, finished eighth and thus maintained his lead in the drivers’ standings.
Having started from second place on the grid, Mick Schumacher moved up into the lead on the first few metres. On the opening lap, he already built a margin of more than one second from his nearest rival Fabio Scherer (Motopark), who had started the race from pole-position. Next up behind the Swiss were Jüri Vips and Jonathan Aberdein.
Source: European F3 Media
