Last Race 1 FIA Formula 3 winner Alexander Smolyar wins the first race of the French Grand Prix with a last-minute battle in overtaking the rookie Victor Martins.
ART’s Alexander Smolyar secured his second win of the season after a thrilling battle between the Russian driver and MP Motorsport’s Victor Martins just a few seconds before the race ended.
Smolyar saw the chequered flag first ahead of Victor Martins, who has been trying to pressure the Russian driver to stay behind him to take his maiden Formula 3 victory at his home race.
Pole sitter Calan Williams managed to climb his way up to third after losing the race lead as he scored his first points in F3 and a podium following his way through.
Logan Sargeant ended the race in fourth fastest for ART after leading the race for seven laps in total before Ayumu Iwasa takes over.
Iwasa didn’t make it to the top 5; he received a five-second penalty while running in P3 due to an incident between him and Logan Sargeant that cost him to lose a few positions behind as he finished the race in eighth fastest.
Clement Novalak rounded out the top 5 for Trident with Juan Manuel Correa in his best race finish in sixth fastest for ART, followed by the second Trident driver Jack Doohan in seventh.
Ayumu Iwasa was eighth for Hitech, ahead of the championship leader Dennis Hauger in ninth and his teammate Olli Caldwell in tenth fastest for Prema Racing.
As the third Prema Racing driver to finish outside the top ten, Arthur Leclerc performed a brilliant drive as he climbed his way up to 12th after starting the race from the back of the grid.
The Monegasque driver will start on pole position on Race 2, which begins at 4.40 PM local time in France.
Race 1 result:
| 1 | Alexander Smolyar | ART Grand Prix |
| 2 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport |
| 3 | Calan Williams | Jenzer Motorsport |
| 4 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz Racing System |
| 5 | Clement Novalak | Trident |
| 6 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART Grand Prix |
| 7 | Jack Doohan | Trident |
| 8 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech Grand Prix |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | Prema Racing |
| 10 | Olli Caldwell | Prema Racing |
| 11 | Jak Crawford | Hitech Grand Prix |
| 12 | Arthur Leclerc | Prema Racing |
| 13 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport |
| 14 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos Racing |
| 15 | Frederik Vesti | ART Grand Prix |
| 16 | David Schumacher | Trident |
| 17 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA Racelab |
| 18 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | Campos Racing |
| 19 | Reshad De Gerus | Charouz Racing System |
| 20 | Kaylen Frederick | Carlin Buzz Racing |
| 21 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz Racing System |
| 22 | Ido Cohen | Carlin Buzz Racing |
| 23 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab |
| 24 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer Motorsport |
| 25 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA Racelab |
| 26 | Roman Stanek | Hitech Grand Prix |
| 27 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos Racing |
| 28 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin Buzz Racing |
| 29 | Tjimen Van Der Helm | MP Motorsport |
| 30 | Jonathan Hoggard | Jenzer Motorsport |
