Reigning Formula Regional European champion Frederik Vesti dominated the first FIA Formula 3 Championship race of the weekend, which was prematurely ended just after half distance.
An increasingly wet Red Bull Ring meant the race was red flagged and not restarted with 10 laps to go.
18-year-old Danish ace Vesti maintained his race lead from his first F3 pole position on the opening lap, while Trident’s Lirim Zendeli had charged from sixth on the grid to second by Turn 1.
Zendeli pressured Prema’s Vesti on the run to Turn 3 on the first lap, but Vesti resisted and remained relatively unchallenged for the remainder of the race.
The first incident in the rain-soaked race came when Formula Renault Eurocup graduate Aleksandr Smolyar spun on the exit of the final lap and brought out the virtual safety car on the fourth lap of the race.
His ART Grand Prix-run car was recovered and the race resumed, only for a full safety car to be required three laps later when Carlin’s Clement Novalak picked up a rear-left puncture and was left facing backwards at the last corner.
Novalak was able to drive back to the pits and the race had two more laps of green flag running before the safety car was required once more.
16-year-old Roman Stanek was beached in the gravel at the penultimate corner while ART’s Sebastian Fernandez was sent spinning into the barriers a few moments later after contact with Enaam Ahmed (Carlin).
The race was red-flagged while under this third safety car period due to the worsening weather conditions and the results were counted from half distance.
This meant series rookie Vesti earned his maiden FIA F3 victory and Zendeli claimed his first-ever podium in the series.
David Beckmann took his first podium in the championship since it was rebranded from GP3, while his Trident teammate Olli Caldwell completed the top four.
Caldwell was able to pass last weekend’s race one victor Oscar Piastri (Prema) at the final restart to demote the 2019 Eurocup champion to fifth place.
MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor battled from 11th on the grid to finish in sixth place, ahead of Prema’s Logan Sargeant and last Sunday’s sprint race winner Liam Lawson.
Reigning German Formula 4 champion Theo Pourchaire earned his first points in the series in ninth place with HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes claiming the final point and reverse-grid pole for tomorrow’s race.
F3 Red Bull Ring – feature race results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |  Frederik Vesti |  Prema Powerteam | |
| 2 | 10 |  Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 2.000 |
| 3 | 11 | David Beckmann | Trident | 3.900 |
| 4 | 12 |  Olli Caldwell | Trident | 4.700 |
| 5 | 1 |  Oscar Piastri | Prema Powerteam | 5.000 |
| 6 | 17 |  Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 6.800 |
| 7 | 3 |  Logan Sargeant | Prema Powerteam | 6.900 |
| 8 | 5 |  Liam Lawson | HitechGP | 7.700 |
| 9 | 7 |  Theo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 8.600 |
| 10 | 15 | Jake Hughes | HWA AG | 9.600 |
| 11 | 29 | Alexander Peroni |  Campos Racing | 11.000 |
| 12 | 25 | David Schumacher |  Charouz Racing System | 11.600 |
| 13 | 4 | Max Fewtrell | HitechGP | 12.500 |
| 14 | 9 |  Sebastian Fernandez | ART Grand Prix | 12.600 |
| 15 | 14 |  Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA AG | 13.700 |
| 16 | 19 |  Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | 14.000 |
| 17 | 27 | Enaam Ahmed | Carlin | 15.200 |
| 18 | 18 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 16.600 |
| 19 | 31 | Sophia Flörsch | Campos Racing | 17.500 |
| 20 | 6 |  Dennis Hauger | HitechGP | 17.800 |
| 21 | 16 | Jack Doohan | HWA AG | 18.100 |
| 22 | 22 | Matteo Nannini |  Jenzer Motorsport | 19.200 |
| 23 | 24 | Igor Fraga | Charouz Racing System | 19.900 |
| 24 | 28 | Cameron Das | Carlin | 21.100 |
| 25 | 20 | Calan Williams | Jenzer Motorsport | 21.600 |
| 26 | 30 | Alessio Deledda | Campos Racing | 22.800 |
| 27 | 21 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer Motorsport | 23.700 |
| 28 | 23 | Roman Staněk | Charouz Racing System | |
| 29 | 26 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | |
| 30 | 8 |  Alexander Smolyar | ART Grand Prix | |
| View full results | ||||
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