Norris edges Daruvala for Monza Euro F3 win

In the fourth race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season at Monza, British driver Lando Norris came out on top against Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala of India, who had started from pole position. Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin) finished third. (Watch video highlights below.)

While 17-year-old Norris already scored his second win of the season, 18-year-old Daruvala and 19-year-old Habsburg both scored their first FIA Formula 3 European Championship podium finishes. In the drivers' standings, Norris and Joel Eriksson (Motopark) are now tied on points, but based on his two victories against the single win for the Swede, the British rookie currently is the championship leader.

"Once again, I didn't have the best of starts. Then, however, I did my utmost and finally I was able to overtake Jehan after a battle that went on for several laps," related Norris. "I am happy with my victory and also with the fact that Carlin drivers locked out the first three places. For the team, such a result is very important, especially after last year that didn't go too well. For this race, our team boss had given us only one instruction, which was to avoid a collision. The rest, we had to settle between ourselves on the track."

Daruvala, a protégé of the Force India Formula 1 team, took the lead from pole while Norris initially slotted into fourth place behind Daruvala, Jake Dennis (Carlin) and Habsburg. Soon, however, the McLaren junior started making his way up to the front and already showed up in second place after lap three. Later on, the two rookie drivers Daruvala and Norris became involved in a duel in which Norris overtook his teammate for the lead on lap 16. Even though he was unable to pull clear from the Indian, Norris's second win of the season was not under threat.

Behind Norris and Daruvala, Habsburg and Eriksson battled for the final slot on the podium. The Swede was in third place for some laps, but with three laps remaining, the Austrian overtook the best rookie from 2016 again so that Eriksson eventually finished fourth.

Jake Dennis, who had to defend his fifth place from charging Prema drivers for many laps, had even more work to do. He eventually had to park his car in the pits after contact. Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam) was classified fifth from Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam) and Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam). Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix), Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) and Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix) rounded out the top 10.