F3 Austria: Crawford claims maiden win after heartbreak for Correa

Red Bull junior Crawford started third, then dropped to fourth before Correa's retirement promoted the American back to the position he started in.

He then fought past Franco Colapinto, diving down the inside on lap 10 to take second, before sweeping round the outside of Collet at Turn 10 on lap 14 for the lead.

By lap 17 the Prema Racing driver had stretched his lead to 0.7s and held on despite his MP Motorsport rival's DRS advantage to take his first series win.

Collet took second, his best result of the year so far, while Colapinto (Van Amersfoort Racing) held off a charging Arthur Leclerc for third, the Monegasque driver surviving contact with fellow Prema driver Oliver Bearman on his rise from ninth.

At the start, polesitter Collet held the lead as Colapinto emerged in front of Crawford in their tussle for third. But Correa took the lead before racing was neutralised by a safety car, prompted by Rafael Villagomez’s stranded VAR car after contact with David Vidales, who pitted for a new front wing.

Racing resumed on lap four, with the Trident pair of Roman Stanek and Zane Maloney tussling into Turn 4, while further back Bearman, Kaylen Frederick and Leclerc fought for eighth.

Hopes of a potential first win for Correa since his return from suffering multiple injuries in the 2019 Spa Formula 2 crash that claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert were dashed on lap six, as the ART driver suddenly slowed with a mechanical issue on the start-finish straight.

Jak Crawford, Prema Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Bearman and Leclerc passed Stanek into sixth and seventh on lap eight, before the virtual safety car was deployed on the following tour as William Alatalo also slowed with a mechanical issue in his Jenzer-run car.

The safety car came out again on lap 11 after Bearman and Maloney went into Turn 3 three-wide with Leclerc, with Bearman squeezed between the two and flicking Maloney into the air - which ended the latter's race.

Crawford took the lead shortly after racing resumed on lap 14 after a fierce battle through Turns 4 to 8 with Collet, and began to edge away out front. 

Behind the leading pair, Leclerc was rapidly closing on Colapinto by the penultimate lap, but was unable to make it past by the chequered flag.

Bearman had made it back up to sixth by the end of the race, but a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage during an early battle with Kaylen Frederick (Hitech) dropped him to 16th.

Stanek finished fifth, ahead of Frederick and Jonny Edgar (Trident) in seventh. Championship leader Victor Martins (ART), Alexander Smolyar (MP) and feature race polesitter Isack Hadjar (Hitech) rounded off the top 10.

F3 Austria: Race 1 results (21 laps)

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Jak Crawford	Prema Powerteam	-
2	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	0.6	0.600
3	Franco Colapinto	Van Amersfoort Racing	1.0	1.000
4	Arthur Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	1.2	1.200
5	Roman Staněk	Trident	2.3	2.300
6	Kaylen Frederick	HitechGP	6.1	6.100
7	Jonny Edgar	Trident	7.2	7.200
8	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	7.5	7.500
9	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	8.1	8.100
10	Isack Hadjar	HitechGP	8.5	8.500
11	Gregoire Saucy	ART Grand Prix	8.9	8.900
12	Zak O'Sullivan	Carlin	9.3	9.300
13	Pepe Martí	Campos Racing	9.7	9.700
14	Ido Cohen	Jenzer Motorsport	10.3	10.300
15	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz Racing System	10.5	10.500
16	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	10.6	10.600
17	Reece Ushijima	Van Amersfoort Racing	11.2	11.200
18	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	12.4	12.400
19	Brad Benavides	Carlin	16.1	16.100
20	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer Motorsport	17.1	17.100
21	Hunter Yeany	Campos Racing	19.7	19.700
22	László Tóth	Charouz Racing System	19.9	19.900
23	Nazim Azman	HitechGP	21.1	21.100
24	David Vidales	Campos Racing	21.6	21.600
25	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	50.5	50.500
26	Zdenek Chovanec	Charouz Racing System	54.4	54.400
	Zane Maloney	Trident	12 laps
	William Alatalo	Jenzer Motorsport	14 laps
	Juan Manuel Correa	ART Grand Prix	16 laps
	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing	21 laps
View full results