European F3 Pau: Ferrari protege Zhou leads Prema 1-2 in opener
Ferrari protege Guan Yu Zhou took a start to finish maiden Formula 3 win in the first race of the F3 European Championship season on the streets of Pau


The Shanghai racer got a better getaway than poleman Dan Ticktum, who suffered wheelspin after pre-loading the clutch too much, and Zhou was able to control the race in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes.
Zhou soon built an advantage of a few car lengths over Ticktum's Motopark car, which was being shadowed by Prema man Ralf Aron.
But a full-course yellow for the stranded Devlin DeFrancesco - his car stopped out on track after a clutch failure - gave Ticktum another chance, and when the race went green as they crossed the start-finish line he had a look to the outside of the Gare corner.
Ben Hingeley damaged his suspension after contact at the tight Lycee hairpin on the first lap after the FCY, bringing out a safety car.
At the restart, Aron's momentum carried him to the outside of Ticktum at Gare, and the Estonian pulled off a fantastic move via minor contact - which McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Ticktum described as "kamikaze" - to take second place.
Ticktum never gave up, probing for an opening on Aron before the safety car appeared again due to a crash at the exit of the Foch chicane for Keyvan Andres Soori.
There was time for just three more laps of racing once the race went green, and Ticktum had to go a little defensive to fend off Sacha Fenestraz at the restart before dropping the Carlin-run Frenchman and latching onto Aron once more.
But he ran out of time, Zhou and Aron completing a Prema one-two.
"The key of the race was to have a good start, because obviously Pau is a really tight track and it's difficult to overtake," said Zhou.
"I got a mega start, but it was a tough race with the full-course yellow and two safety cars, and it was pretty tense there with the guys putting pressure on me.
"After that I just stayed cool and avoided the kerbs."
Behind Fenestraz, Marcus Armstrong took fifth in his Prema machine, after making a stunning start to make up three places on the run to Gare.
Reigning BRDC British Formula 3 champion Enaam Ahmed was an impressive sixth from Hitech GP team-mate Alex Palou.
Ahmed won the place by spearing down the inside of Palou at Lycee, the Catalan getting squeezed out and losing a further position to Jehan Daruvala.
But Palou recovered seventh place when Daruvala suffered suspension failure and was forced out.
Robert Shwartzman ran an early fourth in his Prema car, but lost several positions immediately after the early FCY and finished eighth.
Motopark pair Marino Sato and Juri Vips completed the points scorers.
Free practice pacesetter Mick Schumacher's bid to recover from a qualifying crash-enforced 18th place on the grid was scuppered when he got caught napping at Lycee, and Fabio Scherer lanced down the inside.
The two cars ran wide, with Schumacher having to stop by the barrier before rejoining at the tail of the field.
Result - 24 laps
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Guanyu Zhou | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 34m45.458s |
2 | Ralf Aron | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.588s |
3 | Dan Ticktum | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.943s |
4 | Sacha Fenestraz | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.791s |
5 | Marcus Armstrong | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 2.980s |
6 | Enaam Ahmed | Hitech Bullfrog GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 3.689s |
7 | Alex Palou | Hitech Bullfrog GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 3.964s |
8 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 5.116s |
9 | Marino Sato | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 6.470s |
10 | Juri Vips | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 6.900s |
11 | Fabio Scherer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 7.839s |
12 | Jonathan Aberdein | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 8.572s |
13 | Julian Hanses | ma-con | Dallara/Volkswagen | 9.990s |
14 | Nikita Troitskiy | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 10.273s |
15 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 10.690s |
16 | Artem Petrov | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 11.347s |
17 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 27.410s |
- | Keyvan Andres | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | Retirement |
- | Sebastian Fernandez | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Ameya Vaidyanathan | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Ben Hingeley | Hitech Bullfrog GP | Dallara/Mercedes | Retirement |
- | Devlin Defrancesco | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | Retirement |

GP3 Barcelona: Force India's Mazepin leads ART 1-2-3 to debut win
Pau European F3: Hitech's Enaaam Ahmed gets pole, Fenestraz stars

Latest news
What racing in Australia means for the future of F1's junior series
The announcement that FIA Formula 2 and 3 would race alongside the Australian Grand Prix from 2023 came as a surprise, not only to fans but to the series’ teams too. But with Formula 1’s boom in popularity bringing more fans to the championships, team principals are relishing the opportunity
Why the Formula 3 benchmark's 2022 season hinges on qualifying
Prema Racing has long dominated FIA Formula 3, taking the teams’ title in two of the past three seasons. But its start to 2022 has been trickier than usual, and the answers lie in its qualifying performance
How the ultra-tight F3 title fight is taking shape
With just five points separating the top five after two rounds, FIA Formula 3 looks set for another thrilling season in 2022. But who stands the best chance of pulling away from that pack, and who are the contenders bubbling under?
The F3 newcomer making good on his unusual career path
Joining the FIA Formula 3 grid as a rookie with a team new to the series could prove daunting for most, but then there aren't many drivers who have the extensive experience Franco Colapinto brings from his time racing sportscars. The Argentinian explains how his LMP2 experience is already helping him in 2022
The British trio hunting for F3 title glory
The 2022 FIA Formula 3 season kicks off this weekend in Bahrain. British trio Zak O’Sullivan, Ollie Bearman and Jonny Edgar have all become proteges of Formula 1 teams, and are talents to watch this year
How an outsider demolished a rank of F1 juniors
His career has been a slowburner but Gregoire Saucy trounced a collection of F1 juniors in Formula Regional by Alpine last year, and now he’s preparing to do it again in FIA F3. Here’s how the Swiss caught the world by surprise in 2021 and how he plans to do it all over again
Ranking the top 10 F2 and F3 drivers of 2021
With a veritable feast of feeder series talent in 2021, FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 produced some of its most exciting racing yet. Although Prema Racing drivers once again dominated the respective series, drivers from other teams also stole the limelight to mark themselves out as stars of the future, or validate their highly-regarded standing
How Prema continued its dominance of F1's junior ladder in 2021
Taking three of the four titles and producing two outstanding champions in the process, Prema Racing remained the team to beat in Formula 1's feeder series in 2021. Team boss Rene Rosin reveals the traits that helped Dennis Hauger and Oscar Piastri to come out on top in Formula 3 and Formula 2