At the start, Lance Stroll took the lead and initially came under pressure by George Russell. On the opening lap, however, the second-placed Brit lost his position to Callum Ilott and dropped back to third. On lap two, Ralf Aron (Prema Powerteam) spun, after which the front wing got stuck underneath his car. As some carbon debris were scattered on the track, the safety car was deployed.

Once the track had been cleaned up, racing resumed two laps later and three drive through penalties were issued almost simultaneously. Ben Barnicoat (HitechGP) and Nikita Mazepin (HitechGP) were both penalised for jump starts while Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing) incurred a penalty for causing a collision.

Out in front, a three-way battle between Stroll, Ilott and Russell emerged while the trio in front was already out of reach for Niko Kari (Motopark) in fourth place. He, in turn, had enough work in keeping David Beckmann (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) at bay. After Russel’s unsuccessful attack on Ilott on lap eleven, Stroll was able to pull a slight gap in front while Kari extended his margin over Beckmann at this time, too.

Stroll eventually crossed the finish line from Ilott, Russell, Kari, Beckmann, Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam). Especially in the final third of the race, the battle for eighth position was an entertaining affair, in which Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark) eventually came out on top from Alessio Lorandi (Carlin) and Joel Eriksson (Motopark), who finished ninth and tenth respectively.

After the race, Ilott, Beckmann, Eriksson and Mazepin were all given a five seconds’ time penalty for track limit infringements. That had the effect that both Russell and Kari moved up one place each and Ilott was only classified fourth. Beckmann had to hand his fifth place to team-mate Jensen and dropped back to seventh behind Günther. Behind Sette Câmara and Lorandi, Anthoine Hubert (Van Amersfoort Racing) was promoted into the top ten following the penalty for Joel Eriksson, who erstwhile was in tenth position.

Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam): “At the start of the race, I was able to pull a slight gap, but then the safety car came out and my margin was gone. After the restart, I first had to defend my position against Callum, but then I was able to pull clear again. From then on, my race was really good and I was able to extend my lead lap after lap. I have also extended my lead in the drivers’ standings, but I am not thinking about the title yet. I am just working from one race to another, because there is still a long way to go to the title.”