GP3: Ferrari junior Fuoco wins Hockenheim opener

Ferrari Formula 1 protege Antonio Fuoco claimed his second GP3 victory and first in a non-reverse-grid race thanks to a sharp virtual safety car restart at Hockenheim.

Trident driver Fuoco was running third behind ART teammates Alexander Albon and Nyck de Vries as an early VSC period ended. He pounced as soon as the race went green and able to accelerate past both before the first corner.

Poleman and championship leader Albon tried to hang on to second ahead of de Vries but ended up launching himself over the Turn 1 curb and falling to fifth.

Haas F1 test driver Charles Leclerc had been put back from second to fifth on the grid for impeding fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Giuliano Alesi in qualifying, but benefited from his teammates' tussle to surge up to second with a move on de Vries on the back straight. Leclerc then spent several laps attacking Fuoco for the lead before his pace dropped off dramatically. He had to defend hard against a resurgent de Vries and slewed wide at Turn 1 as they began the last lap.

McLaren junior de Vries easily grabbed second, while Leclerc was attacked by both Albon and Matt Parry on the back straight.

Parry had previously lost ground banging wheels with de Vries at the hairpin on the fraught restart lap, but this time he managed to get around both Albon and Leclerc in a sublime move to claim the final podium spot. Leclerc fell to fifth behind title rival Albon, with Jack Aitken chasing them home.

Jake Dennis had moved up to second on the grid after Leclerc's penalty, only to stall and force a second formation lap. He started from the pitlane and made it up to 12th.

Santino Ferrucci and Artur Janosz stormed from 17th and 18th on the grid to seventh and eighth early on, then came under attack in the closing laps.

Arjun Maini made it through to seventh as DAMS teammates Ferrucci and Jake Hughes had a close call, with Hughes coming out on top to take eighth and Sunday pole.

Tatiana Calderon moved up from last on the grid to take her first GP3 point in 10th ahead of Janosz.

The early VSC was prompted by an array of midfield incidents. The pack was bunching up as initial top-six runner Alex Palou struggled with a front wing broken in a brush with Parry, then Ralph Boschung and Steijn Schothorst came together and collected Nirei Fukuzumi in the process.

As Boschung limped to the pits, there was further contact with his Koiranen teammate Matevos Isaakyan, while Konstantin Tereshchenko went off in a separate crash.

Originally on Autosport.com