Verstappen takes first Euro F3 win

Max Verstappen led all the way to take his first win in the Formula 3 European Championship in the final race of the weekend at Hockenheim.

The 16-year-old Dutchman became the youngest driver ever to win a race in the series in just his sixth weekend in car racing, after four "warm-up" events in the Florida Winter Series earlier this year. The win for Verstappen's Dallara-Volkswagen was also the first for the Dutch Van Amersfoort Racing team in European F3.

Verstappen built up a 1.6-second advantage on the opening lap from Esteban Ocon, but after two laps the race went under the safety car owing to early incidents, one of which eliminated fastest qualifier Tom Blomqvist, who had started 11th due to an engine-change penalty.

Ocon kept the gap at around a second for most of the race after the restart, but in turn he had to be wary of the hovering Antonio Fuoco, his teammate in the Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes squad.

Fuoco reversed a difficult weekend, inheriting a podium spot after Felix Rosenqvist's troubled season continued when he pulled off the track on the sixth lap. This moved Antonio Giovinazzi up to fourth, but the Italian could not fend off Lucas Auer, who speared down the inside into the Mercedes Arena with five laps remaining. Jake Dennis shadowed the pair for most of the race to take sixth place.

Jordan King showed great overtaking skill from 19th on the grid. He made up three places within a couple of corners after the safety car and finished seventh.

A spate of drive-through penalties for track-limits offenses affected, most significantly, Ed Jones and Mitch Gilbert, who were both running in the points. As those drivers went through the pitlane, that elevated Sean Gelael to eighth, only for the Indonesian to have to stop to replace a front wing damaged in the early stages.

Up to eighth, therefore, came Roy Nissany, with Gustavo Menezes and Riccardo Agostini completing the points scorers.

Originally on Autosport.com