Norris clinches Euro F3 crown

Lando Norris clinched the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with a second-place finish behind Joel Eriksson at Hockenheim. The Briton, a protege of the McLaren F1 team, led home Carlin teammate Ferdinand Habsburg who claimed the final podium slot.

Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) started from pole position and initially led the race, but lost his position on the run to the hairpin when Eriksson successfully attacked him. Habsburg returned from the opening lap in second place, followed by Norris, Callum Ilott, Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) and Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing). On lap seven, Norris attacked his teammate Habsburg, worked his way past the Austrian and then was able to pull a gap from Habsburg. However, he was unable to attack race leader Eriksson, so that the Motopark driver brought an undisputed victory home. Norris took the flag in second place, which was enough to seal the FIA Formula 3 European Championship title early.

Behind Habsburg, Ilott finished fourth followed by Jehan Daruvala, Nikita Mazepin (Hitech Grand Prix), Tadasuke Makino (Hitech Grand Prix) and Maximilian Gunther (Prema Powerteam). The German, who was the last remaining rival for Norris in the battle for the title prior to the race, only started from 12th place and eventually had to make do with 10th position. Because Eriksson, one of Gunther's opponents in the battle for runner-up position in the championship, scored 25 points for his win while Günther only had one point, the Swede moved ahead of the German and is now second in the drivers' standings.

"Of course, I am happy that I am now the FIA Formula 3 European Champion, even though I wanted to do it at Spielberg already," said Norris. "Prior to the season, my team and I didn't expect to win the title, but we worked hard and this is the well-deserved reward. However, my rivals, first and foremost Maximilian Gunther, also made things pretty difficult for me. This title probably is the most important one in my career so far.

"In this race, my start wasn't really good, so I dropped back to third. When I then wanted to overtake Callum, we slightly tangled, allowing Ferdinand to get past the two of us into second place. When he made a mistake later on, I was able to overtake him again. Against Joel, I didn't have a chance anymore, our pace simply was too similar."