Bianchi wins race one at Zandvoort
Jules Bianchi survived a late-race restart to cap a dominant performance at Zandvoort with victory in the first Formula 3 Euro Series race of the weekend
The championship leader had opened a lead of nearly seven seconds in nine racing laps over title rival Christian Vietoris by the time the safety car came out on lap 15. He then played the restart well, as Vietoris then came under attack from Valtteri Bottas, who snatched second place at the first corner to complete an ART 1-2.
Vietoris had to settle for third ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay, who spent most of the race defending from Esteban Gutierrez, with Henkie Waldschmidt close behind.
The points were completed by Jake Rosenzweig and Sam Bird, who will share the front row in Sunday's reversed-grid race.
After a stunning start from Bird vaulted him from 15th on the grid to 10th, the pair had been scrapping outside of the top eight in the early stages. But they were promoted up the order when Roberto Merhi and Christopher Zanella were penalised for jumping the start.
The top 10 was completed by Atte Mustonen and Brendon Hartley, who raced his way up from 19th on the grid and was one of the few drivers to pull off multiple overtaking moves during the race.
There was more good news for Bianchi's title charge, as Stefano Coletti and Mika Maki collided on the first lap and both had to retire, dropping them a long way behind the Frenchman in the title race.
Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap 1. Jules Bianchi ART D/M 31m04.337s 2. Valtteri Bottas ART D/M +2.109 3. Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M +3.004 4. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V +4.852 5. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M +5.198 6. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M +6.937 7. Jake Rosenzweig Carlin D/V +7.532 8. Sam Bird Mucke D/M +7.701 9. Atte Mustonen Motopark D/M +8.148 10. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/V +9.273 11. Adrien Tambay ART D/M +10.072 12. Marco Wittmann Mucke D/M +10.596 13. Alexander Sims Mucke D/M +11.302 14. Pedro Nunes Manor D/M +11.888 15. Johnny Cecotto Jr HBR D/M +15.954 16. Basil Shaaban Prema D/M +16.961 17. Cesar Ramos Manor D/M +16.966 18. Roberto Merhi Manor D/M +17.386 19. Johan Jokinen HBR D/V +17.838 20. Matteo Chinosi Prema D/M + 1 lap 21. Christopher Zanella Motopark D/M + 5 laps Retirements Andrea Caldarelli SG D/M 9 laps Mika Maki Signature D/V 0 laps Nick Tandy Kolles D/V 0 laps Stefano Coletti Prema D/M 0 laps Tiago Geronimi Signature D/V 0 laps Fastest lap, Bianchi 1m31.076s
About this article
| Series | FIA F3 |
| Author | Glenn Freeman |
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