Williams F1 protege Stroll beats Russell to Red Bull Ring F3 poles
Williams protege Lance Stroll pipped George Russell in a thrilling second qualifying session for the Formula 3 European Championship round at the Red Bull Ring to earn a double pole

Russell was on pole for race two going into the final minute, only for Canadian Stroll to wrestle his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes to a time just 0.002 seconds quicker than the Fenlander's Hitech Grand Prix machine.
The effort came at the end of a tense session for championship leader Stroll and team-mate Gunther, who had languished down the times entering the final stages.
"It was a bit nerve-wracking," admitted Stroll. "In the beginning we actually came into the pitlane because of traffic and we came out still in traffic!
"It was, 'How the hell are we gonna get out of here?' and I said to my engineer, 'We need to find a way out of this.'
"It was only in the last two laps I had a chance to improve and I nailed both laps."
Russell's last lap began with him running wide at Turn 1 and breaching track limits, and fell four tenths short anyway as he caught up Callum Ilott over the last couple of corners.
Ilott and his Van Amersfoort Racing machine were well in the mix for pole, and the 17-year-old held it briefly with a couple of minutes remaining, but he ended up third overall.
On second-best times, Ilott's last-lap effort moves him up to a front-row start for race three, while Russell drops to sixth.
Superb comebacks from Motopark-run Red Bull junior Niko Kari and Mucke Motorsport's David Beckmann gave them fourth and fifth respectively, after Kari missed all of morning free practice and Beckmann only got out for the last 20 minutes of the morning running.
On second-best times Beckmann - another to briefly hold pole in the closing stages - lost his third on the grid for race three to a track-limits penalty, putting Kari up to third and the only-just-16 German down to fifth.
Kari's Motopark/Red Bull stablemate Sergio Sette Camara recovered from his first-qualifying crash to go sixth fastest, but drops to 11th on second-best times.
Gunther was unlucky to catch up Peter Li over the critical last couple of laps, the German ending up seventh on both grids.
Prema rookie Ralf Aron was eighth fastest, but advances to fourth on second-best times for race three, while Mucke's Mikkel Jensen and Motopark racer Joel Eriksson completed the top 10 for race two.
For race three, Eriksson moves up to eighth from Ben Barnicoat (Hitech) and Jensen.
RACE TWO QUALIFYING
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.178s | - |
2 | George Russell | Hitech GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.180s | 0.002s |
3 | Callum Ilott | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.274s | 0.096s |
4 | Niko Kari | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m23.300s | 0.122s |
5 | David Beckmann | kfzteile Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.305s | 0.127s |
6 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m23.327s | 0.149s |
7 | Maximilian Guenther | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.339s | 0.161s |
8 | Ralf Aron | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.359s | 0.181s |
9 | Mikkel Jensen | kfzteile Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.373s | 0.195s |
10 | Joel Eriksson | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m23.439s | 0.261s |
11 | Ben Barnicoat | Hitech GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.651s | 0.473s |
12 | Nick Cassidy | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.651s | 0.473s |
13 | Harrison Newey | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.691s | 0.513s |
14 | Pedro Piquet | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.740s | 0.562s |
15 | Ryan Tveter | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m23.932s | 0.754s |
16 | Alessio Lorandi | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m24.015s | 0.837s |
17 | Anthoine Hubert | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m24.035s | 0.857s |
18 | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m24.056s | 0.878s |
19 | Zhi Cong Li | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m24.209s | 1.031s |
20 | Guanyu Zhou | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m24.251s | 1.073s |
21 | Arjun Maini | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 1m24.457s | 1.279s |
22 | Weiron Tan | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m25.379s | 2.201s |
RACE THREE QUALIFYING
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.240s | - |
2 | Callum Ilott | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.319s | 0.079s |
3 | Niko Kari | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m23.439s | 0.199s |
4 | Ralf Aron | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.441s | 0.201s |
5 | David Beckmann | kfzteile Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.448s | 0.208s |
6 | George Russell | Hitech GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.479s | 0.239s |
7 | Maximilian Guenther | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.498s | 0.258s |
8 | Joel Eriksson | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m23.645s | 0.405s |
9 | Ben Barnicoat | Hitech GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.707s | 0.467s |
10 | Mikkel Jensen | kfzteile Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.742s | 0.502s |
11 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m23.748s | 0.508s |
12 | Harrison Newey | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m23.809s | 0.569s |
13 | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m24.099s | 0.859s |
14 | Anthoine Hubert | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m24.154s | 0.914s |
15 | Nick Cassidy | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m24.240s | 1.000s |
16 | Zhi Cong Li | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m24.439s | 1.199s |
17 | Guanyu Zhou | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m24.447s | 1.207s |
18 | Pedro Piquet | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m24.459s | 1.219s |
19 | Ryan Tveter | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m24.511s | 1.271s |
20 | Alessio Lorandi | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m24.695s | 1.455s |
21 | Arjun Maini | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 1m24.791s | 1.551s |
22 | Weiron Tan | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m26.750s | 3.510s |

Previous article
Prema's Gunther on F3 Red Bull Ring pole after Eriksson penalty
Next article
Gunther yellow flag violation hands Ilott Formula 3 race one pole

About this article
Series | FIA F3 |
Drivers | Calan Williams , George Russell |
Author | Marcus Simmons |
Williams F1 protege Stroll beats Russell to Red Bull Ring F3 poles
Trending
Why Correa's return is the feelgood story racing needed
Juan Manuel Correa has had a long road to recovery from that horrific day at Spa in 2019. ART's decision to give him his race return in FIA Formula 3 in 2021 is a victory in itself, but his determination will surely - in time - have him fighting for bigger things
Why Piastri's F3 title was better than results suggested
F3 rookie Oscar Piastri only just snatched the 2020 title with Prema Racing, but the setbacks he overcame to do so suggest that Renault's next Australian talent is one destined for the top
The ground-effect wonder behind a generation of F1 stars
Recently named as Autosport's greatest single-seater, Ralt's RT3 launched a plethora of superstar drivers through the early 1980s, and established the constructor as the go-to place for your single-seater weapon
The Macau GP's greatest moments
Coronavirus restrictions mean this weekend's Macau GP will have a very different feel, with the usual F3 jamboree replaced by Chinese F4. But in past years, the event has provided some seminal moments in the careers of future world champions
Rating the prospects of the 2020 F3 title contenders
With the title race finely poised ahead of the final triple-header, a category returnee who raced George Russell in his F3 days lends Autosport his thoughts on the ones to watch
Why "whirlwind" Tauranac's legacy will stand the test of time
The passing of Ralt boss Ron Tauranac last week drew tributes from around the world, not least from the bosses of three prominent teams on whom the Australian designer made a lasting impression
The young driver Red Bull couldn't ignore
Igor Fraga has a more colourful career behind him than any other driver on the FIA Formula 3 grid, and now he's beginning to become as recognised for his talents in real racing as in the virtual world
The new F3 car that has teams purring
Dallara has improved upon its old F3 car with the new 320 for this season's Euroformula Open, ensuring that single-seater competition's 'heritage’ category can race into the future