Robert Shwartzman first winner of the new FIA F3 in Spain

For the beginnings of the FIA F3, the suspense will have been present until the end of the deceleration lap. Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix) seemed to have pocketed victory after dominating the event from start to finish, but a 5″ penalty for non-compliance with the Virtual Safety Car procedure ruined the Dane's hopes.

It is finally the pole sitter Robert Shwartzman (Prema), resident of the Ferrari Driver Academy, who won ahead of Lundgaard and Marcus Armstrong (Prema).

Before this twisty finale, the pre-race was marked by contact between Fabio Scherer (Sauber Junior by Charouz) and Keyvan Andres (HWA Racelab) when joining the grid before the formation lap, forcing the two drivers, qualified 17th and 21st, starting from the pit lane.

Similar situation a few moments later for Leonardo Pulcini (Hitech GP), 18th on the grid, who was unable to start the formation lap from the grid.

At the start, Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix) then got the better of pole sitter Robert Shwartzman (Prema) and Marcus Armstrong (Prema). Shwartzman responded quickly by setting the fastest lap in the race to begin his comeback. But the Dane from the French team responded in turn with several lap records to increase his lead to 2″4 on the 11th lap.

The march forward of the protégé of the Renault Sport Academy was only disrupted on the 15th lap with the implementation of the virtual safety car following the exit of Alessio Deledda (Campos Racing).

On the restart on lap 18, Lundgaard retained his advantage over the Prema Racing duo Shwartzman and Armstrong, and crossed the line first, before being penalized 5″ for non-compliance with the VSC. The top 5 is completed by David Beckmann and Max Fewtrell (ART Grand Prix) who pay tribute to the good overall result of ART GP.

Less success for Pedro Piquet (Trident), who made a mistake on the 7th lap, attempting an attack on Alex Peroni (Campos Racing) while braking at turn 10.

LAP 7 / 22

Piquet gets in a spin after battling with Peroni

The Trident man drops to the back of the field#SpanishGP  #F3 pic.twitter.com/DS9uk5J388

- Formula 3 (@ FIAFormula3) May 11, 2019

The second race will take place tomorrow Sunday in Spain, with Niko Kari (Trident), 8th this Saturday morning, on pole under the reverse grid rule, and provided that no further penalties are imposed.