Lance Stroll leaves rivals standing in Red Bull Ring European F3

Williams Formula 1 team protege Stroll jumped ahead of front-row partner George Russell at the start, before Callum Ilott wrested second place from his fellow Briton into Turn 2.

Stroll's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes was 1.5 seconds in front when the safety car appeared on lap three.

After the restart Ilott kept Stroll on his toes, only for his right-front tyre to fade dramatically.

Ilott's Van Amersfoort Racing car ran wide out of the final turn on the 11th lap of 24, and Russell speared his Hitech GP machine up the inside into Turn 1, but locked up and ran wide, allowing Ilott back in front.

That extended Stroll's advantage to over two seconds, and he then pulled away dramatically in the closing stages to win by 9.9s.

"Callum was right behind me for a few laps and I had to defend in Turn 2 and 3," said Stroll.

"It wasn't so relaxing, but then they were battling behind and I pulled a bit of a gap. The car felt fantastic and we came away with the victory."

Russell, who reported a lack of straight-line speed, kept close to Ilott as top rookie Niko Kari homed in, the Red Bull-backed Finn's Motopark car finishing only just behind Russell.

Mucke Motorsport's David Beckmann was fifth throughout in just his second race weekend since turning 16 years old.

An early fight for sixth between Prema team-mates Nick Cassidy and Maximilian Gunther culminated in Cassidy snatching the position from Gunther into Turn 1.

Both lost momentum and dropped into the midfield swarm, from which Cassidy would eventually retire.

That promoted the battle between Harrison Newey and Ben Barnicoat, who had stormed through from a grid-penalised start for a collision with Joel Eriksson in the first race.

But the two Brits simultaneously served drive-through penalties - Barnicoat for a jumped start and Newey for pushing Mikkel Jensen towards the grass - so Jensen moved up to complete a Mucke five-six, with late pressure from Gunther ending when the German ran wide at Turn 1 on the last lap.

Sergio Sette Camara got away late after appearing to stall, but fought through well to eighth, despite a big slide at Turn 1 on the final lap, with Alessio Lorandi and Eriksson completing the points scorers.

RESULTS - 24 LAPS: