Already having won the FIA Formula 3 European Championship title, Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam) is still hungry for victories, something he proved in the 27th race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season at the 4.909 kilometres long Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in an impressive way. Behind the Canadian winner, George Russell (HitechGP) and Callum Ilott (Van Amersfoort Racing) crossed the finish line in second and third place respectively. Thus, drivers from three different teams made it onto the podium. Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) finished eleventh and thus didn’t score any points, but remains second in the drivers’ standings behind already-crowned champion Lance Stroll.

Lance Stroll made the best of his pole position and took the lead as the race got underway. Behind him, George Russell pipped Callum Ilott in the battle for second. The trio completed the race in this order, with Stroll pulling clear from his two rivals more and more. Eventually, the development driver of the Williams Formula 1 team had a margin of more than seven seconds from British driver Russell.

Behind the top three, Ralf Aron (Prema Powerteam) finished fourth as the best-placed rookie in a race that didn’t provide a lot of action. Behind him, Joel Eriksson (Motopark), Anthoine Hubert (Van Amersfoort Racing), Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Nick Cassidy (Prema Powerteam), David Beckmann (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Guanyu Zhou (Motopark) were classified in fifth to tenth place. German rookie driver Beckmann, in particular, had to work quite hard to defend his position, but safely brought his ninth place home. With three races remaining, the Swede Joel Eriksson is leading the rookie standings, 39 points ahead of Estonian Ralf Aron.

Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam): “On one hand, it was a relaxed race for me, having already sealed the FIA Formula 3 European Championship title. On the other hand, I wanted to win this race, too, of course. Because I didn’t want to risk any penalties for track limit infringements, I was rather cautious almost throughout the entire race. I only took more risks in the closing stages and posted the fastest lap time on the final lap of the race.”

George Russell (HitechGP): “Compared to the second race, we made some changes on the car. However, we had expected at least one safety car intervention again, but that didn’t happen. All in all, I scored solid points and I was able to reduce my gap to Maximilian Günther for second place in the drivers’ standings.”

Callum Ilott (Van Amersfoort Racing): “Third place is a good end of a weekend that wasn’t excellent altogether. My start wasn’t perfect and during the race, I was getting more and more troubles with the car. I almost lost it three times, but eventually, it all worked out and I am happy with my podium finish.”