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Barcelona FIA F3: Shwartzman wins first race as Lundgaard penalised

Ferrari Formula 1 junior Robert Shwartzman took victory in the first race of the FIA Formula 3 era, after Renault protege Christian Lundgaard was penalised post-race for a VSC infringement

Lundgaard had attacked SMP-backed Prema Racing poleman Shwartzman on the run to Turn 1 at Barcelona, making his better start pay off with a dive down the inside.

The ART Grand Prix driver scampered away to build a cushion to put himself out of DRS range, while Shwartzman had to defend robustly from his team-mate and fellow Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong.

The top three spread out, with the only threat to Lundgaard's win a late virtual safety car for Alessio Deledda's beached Campos car at the Turn 13 right-hander approaching the chicane.

The gap between Lundgaard and Shwartzman came down to 1.4 seconds, but on the following lap Lundgaard extended his cushion and sailed to an apparently unthreatened and dominant win for the ART Grand Prix team, which had won eight out of the nine GP3 teams' titles before the series merged with European Formula 3 to form the new championship for 2019.

But as Lundgaard celebrated on the cool-down lap, he was penalised for a VSC infringement, the software being used for the first time outside of F1 and Formula 2 for this season.

Lundgaard and ART celebrated in the pits until they were cruelly informed that Shwartzman had won, ahead of Lundgaard and Armstrong.

Shwartzman didn't lead a lap, but secured the win for reigning European F3 teams' champion Prema.

Lundgaard's ART team-mate David Beckmann made a fantastic start and reeled in Armstrong after the VSC, but couldn't get close enough to mount a move and had to settle for fourth.

The third ART-run car of Max Fewtrell, the reigning Formula Renault Eurocup champion, had started eighth, but a strong start earned him fifth position.

Red Bull-backed Juri Vips made sure Hitech Grand Prix had something to cheer as a race-long battle with Jehan Daruvala for sixth went in his favour, second row starter Daruvala struggling to match his pace from qualifying.

Niko Kari passed fellow Finn Simo Laaksonen late on to put Trident ahead of MP Motorsport in eighth, with Yuki Tsunoda of Jenzer rounding out the top 10.

Pre-season title favourite Leo Pulcini had to start from the pits for Hitech after he couldn't engage first gear on the formation lap start, and took 20th.

Jake Hughes had no DRS in qualifying but fought back from last to 17th, while his team-mate Bent Viscaal was the highest HWA-run car in 13th in the famous team's first independent appearance in a junior single-seater race.

Race one result

Pos Driver Team Gap Laps
1 Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing 37m42.312s 22
2 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 2.529s 22
3 Marcus Armstrong Prema Racing 3.426s 22
4 David Beckmann ART Grand Prix 4.432s 22
5 Max Fewtrell ART Grand Prix 10.300s 22
6 Juri Vips Hitech GP 14.536s 22
7 Jehan Daruvala Prema Racing 14.928s 22
8 Niko Kari Trident 16.132s 22
9 Simo Laaksonen MP Motorsport 17.807s 22
10 Yuki Tsunoda Jenzer Motorsport 22.913s 22
11 Felipe Drugovich Carlin 25.576s 22
12 Alex Peroni Campos Racing 25.932s 22
13 Bent Viscaal HWA 29.348s 22
14 Lirim Zendeli Charouz 30.237s 22
15 Logan Sargeant Carlin 31.386s 22
16 Sebastian Fernandez Campos Racing 31.926s 22
17 Jake Hughes HWA 32.207s 22
18 Artem Petrov Jenzer Motorsport 32.743s 22
19 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 33.624s 22
20 Leonardo Pulcini Hitech GP 33.756s 22
21 Raoul Hyman Charouz 38.164s 22
22 Yifei Ye Hitech GP 40.024s 22
23 Devlin Defrancesco Trident 40.474s 22
24 Teppei Natori Carlin 42.717s 22
25 Andreas Estner Jenzer Motorsport 43.385s 22
26 Pedro Piquet Trident 45.055s 22
27 Fabio Scherer Charouz 50.378s 22
28 Keyvan Andres HWA 1m07.412s 22
- Liam Lawson MP Motorsport Retirement 14
- Alessio Deledda Campos Racing Retirement 13


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