Logan Sargent takes podium finish to increase championship lead

                                                                                                                                                                                   

PREMA Racing extended its lead in the driver and team classifications in race 1 of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya. Logan Sargent was the team’s top scorer. The 19-year-old American started from pole and drove a clever race, avoiding any possible mistake and finishing in a valuable third spot which handed him good points for his title pursuit.

Oscar Piastri posted a sixth place. The Australian (19) lost one spot at the start but quickly moved back to P4. Unfortunately, he lost two positions during a safety-car restart. Piastri still got points and secured a good starting position for tomorrow’s race 2.

Coming from a difficult qualifying session, 18-year-old Danish racer Frederik Vesti started from P15 and gained ground in the opening laps until an electrical issue left him stranded on the track and with no other option than retiring from the race.

#1 OSCAR PIASTRI

“I ended up sixth in the race, not really what I was looking for. It was all going okay until the safety-car restart when I picked up some understeer and got stuck on the sausage kerb. That was pretty much game over for the rest of the race. We will try to bounce back tomorrow and try to salvage some points back for the weekend.”

Qualifying: P4

Race 1: P6

Fastest lap:  1:33.171

Fastest lap:  1:36.323

#2 FREDERIK VESTI

“Race 1 brought a DNF for me. I had a good restart and overtook another car. The pace was there but six laps in, I got a battery warning on my dash, and a few seconds later the whole car shut off without electricity. It’s a shame. I think we could have done a decent job today, even aim at the reverse grid pole. It’s not our weekend. We have to understand what’s going on and we will see what we can do tomorrow starting from the back. We are also going to work hard for the next weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.”

Qualifying: P15

Race 1: DNF

Fastest lap: 1:33.685

Fastest lap: 1:36.654

#3 LOGAN SARGEANT

“P3 is not what we were aiming for at all, but at the end of the day, we just struggled for outright pace. I’m not disappointed, I’m just going to have a look at where we went wrong. For sure we will have to make some changes for tomorrow, but if anyone can come back, it’s going to be me and Prema. Still looking forward to tomorrow, I’m trying to get as many points as I can.”

Qualifying: P1

Race 1: P3

Fastest lap: 1:32.974

Fastest lap: 1:36.051