Leclerc wins Silverstone F3 finale

Series rookie Charles Leclerc took a start-to-finish first Formula 3 European Championship victory in the third race of the weekend at Silverstone. The Monaco teenager kept Antonio Giovinazzi at bay throughout a high-pressure race to score the first success of the season for the Van Amersfoort Racing team.

From pole position, Leclerc swung his Dallara-Volkswagen over just in time to fend off the Carlin-run car of Jagonya Ayam protege Giovinazzi into the first corner.

The race went under the safety car after two laps, so that marshals could recover the car of Lance Stroll, who had spun harmlessly into the support race pitlane on the exit of Luffield on the opening lap. Leclerc then established a small lead of just under a second over Giovinazzi, only for the Italian to suddenly draw alongside on the Wellington Straight on the ninth lap of 18.

"I did an error at Village, and also I had an alarm for the engine on the dash," explained Leclerc. "I was a bit scared and I was screaming on the radio, 'What's going on?' What a hard race!"

Another safety car appeared late in the race, after Pietro Fittipaldi spun at Village and got beached on the curb, leaving a two-lap sprint to the flag, but Leclerc held on to win by just under half a second.

With three podiums, Giovinazzi takes the championship lead after the first round.

A sensational start from Gustavo Menezes rocketed the American from eighth to third in the early corners, and he looked comfortable running behind Carlin stablemate Giovinazzi. But after the second safety car his machine seemed to lose power and he lost the position to the leading Prema Powerteam runner in this race, Jake Dennis.

A race-long battle raged for fifth between Carlin's second-race winner George Russell and Signature-run Lotus F1 Junior Alex Albon, and the Brit finally wrested the position with a dive into Club on the final restart.

Markus Pommer completed a strong weekend with the returning Motopark team to claim seventh, with Brandon Maisano (Prema), Red Bull junior Callum Ilott (Carlin) and the leading Mucke Motorsport car of Dane Mikkel Jensen completing the top 10.

Championship favorite Felix Rosenqvist found it a bit tougher to work through the field from 35th following his qualifying exclusion than in race two, this time finishing two places outside the points in 12th.

There was a further incident on the final lap, when a scrap between last year's British F3 frontrunners ended with Sam MacLeod and Matt Rao tangling between Brooklands and Luffield corners as they slugged it out for 23rd spot.

RESULTS - 18 LAPS:

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS:

Originally on Autosport.com