Hamilton Takes Second Pau Win
Lewis Hamilton capped his perfect weekend at Pau with victory in Sunday morning's Formula Three Euro Series race, but the win was not as straightforward as his triumph on Saturday
The ASM driver had gone into the race as hot favourite for victory, after his dominant performance in the first race of the weekend, but he was left with a bit of work to do after teammate and fellow front row starter Adrian Sutil got away better at the start.
With overtaking notoriously difficult on the tight French street circuit, Hamilton knew that his best chance to grab the lead would be to force Sutil into a mistake - and he was swarming all over the back of the German's car in the first few laps.
Hamilton's efforts finally paid off at the start of lap eight when Sutil tried to take a defensive line into the first corner but ran wide on the dirty part of the track. He half-spin and brushed the crash barriers with his left rear wheel, although thankfully without causing major damage.
The incident was all that Hamilton needed to make his move and he swooped into the lead before swiftly extending his advantage. Sutil had nothing in response and the pair crossed the line just more than four seconds apart, securing a 1-2 for ASM.
Behind the front-runners, Loic Duval took a lonely third place - having got to within one second of Sutil in the middle stages of the race before backing off in the final laps.
James Rossiter had to work hard to take fourth place, after fighting off a major challenge from eventual fifth placed finisher Fabio Carbone in the early stages of the race. Franck Perera took sixth.
The most disappointed driver of the day, however, was Paul di Resta, who caused an aborted start to the race after he crashed out on the warm-up lap when he had to take avoiding action when a car in front of him braked sharply.
CLASSIFIED: Pos Driver Chassis-Engine Time 1. Hamilton Lewis Dallara F305 - Mercedes 30:15.999 2. Sutil Adrian Dallara F305 - Mercedes + 4.087 3. Duval Loïc Dallara F305 - Opel + 7.263 4. Rossiter James Dallara F305 - Opel + 8.285 5. Carbone Fabio S L C R 1 - Opel + 17.582 6. Perera Franck Dallara F305 - Opel + 19.953 7. Di Grassi Lucas Dallara F305 - Mercedes + 26.560 8. Moreau Guillaume Dallara F305 - Opel + 27.569 9. Guerrieri Esteban Dallara F305 - Tom's Toyota + 38.498 10. Bonanomi Marco Dallara F305 - Opel + 46.168 11. Vettel Sebastian Dallara F305 - Mercedes + 50.491 12. Abreu Atila Dallara F305 - Mercedes + 50.797 13. Holzer Thomas Dallara F 305 - Opel + 1 Lap 14. Antinucci Richard Dallara F305 - Tom's Toyota + 1 Laps 15. Van Der Garde Giedo Dallara F305 - Opel + 3 Laps 16. Hirate Kohei Dallara F305 - Opel + 7 Laps NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Driver Chassis-Engine On Lap Franchi Greg Dallara F305 - Opel 11 Salaquarda Filip Dallara F305 - Opel 5 Zwolsman Ross Dallara F305 - Opel 3 Di Resta Paul Dallara F305- Mercedes - Fastest Lap: Hamilton, 1:11.668
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