F3: Stroll keeps hold of Hockenheim race one win

The Prema Powerteam duo clashed at the tight left-hander in the Mercedes Arena on the opening lap when Stroll went into a diminishing gap, the bump promoting Stroll to the lead and sending Gunther temporarily down to third behind fellow Prema driver Nick Cassidy.

Stewards chose to investigate the incident, though later decided that no action was warranted.

"Into Corner 7 [the Mercedes Arena] Maxi left a little bit of room, and I figured I was going to go for it, so that's what I did," said Stroll. "Once my nose was there he closed the door and pushed me to the inside of the track.

"That's racing – I saw the gap and I went for it. If there had been no gap I wouldn't have gone for it, and we had contact because he closed at the last minute."

Gunther, who recovered to pass Cassidy and bolster his current second place in the championship, said: "I saw him in the slipstream for the Mercedes Arena, and I went to the middle because I thought, 'Yeah, OK, I need a good exit to accelerate' and didn't want to be a victim.

"Honestly I didn't expect the move because we're teammates, and there was contact."

Cassidy, who was following closely having been edged wide after the trio had gone three-abreast into the Spitzkehre hairpin, added: "Fair play. That's racing. Let's get on with it."

Stewards took no action either against Ben Barnicoat following a second-lap collision with Hitech GP team-mate Alexander Sims that sent Barnicoat to the pits to replace a broken front wing.

But they did ping Mucke Motorsport driver Mikkel Jensen a three-place grid penalty for a clash with Callum Ilott that resulted in the Van Amersfoort Racing driver retiring with a leaking radiator, luckily before it caused any damage to the engine.

Originally on Autosport.com