F3: Ferrari protege Stroll gets race ban

Ferrari protege Lance Stroll has been banned from Sunday's third race of the Formula 3 European Championship round at Spa.

The Canadian has been handed the punishment after causing the accident that ended in him crashing out with Mikkel Jensen and Felix Rosenqvist as they battled for the lead of the second race. The penalty was given to the 16-year-old on Saturday evening by a panel of stewards that, for the first time, includes multiple Le Mans 24 Hours winner and 1982 European F3 runner-up Emanuele Pirro.

It is the second time in two race weekends that Danish racer Jensen has clashed with Stroll: their collision in race three at Monza ended in the race being red-flagged amid concerns over general driving standards.

Before the decision was made, Jensen told AUTOSPORT: "I don't understand what he's thinking. He's caused a lot of accidents already this year -- two more this morning [in race one, although Stroll was exonerated from one of these] and one more in this race.

"He should get penalized really badly in my opinion -- he's the reason for a lot of accidents."

Rosenqvist, who drives for the same Prema Powerteam squad as Stroll, added: "It's unfortunate that this has to happen. It was a safe double podium for us."

Another Prema driver, Brandon Maisano, has been given a three-place grid penalty for race three for his part in the accident that caused Gustavo Menezes to backflip out of the race. The Frenchman had qualified third, so will therefore be relegated to sixth in the starting lineup.

Meanwhile, Kang Ling has been ordered to start from the pitlane for triggering the shunt with Julio Moreno and Tatiana Calderon that caused the first safety car.

Originally on Autosport.com