HWA RACELAB driver Jake Hughes takes his first victory of the year in Barcelona as PREMA driver Logan Sargeant extends Championship lead.
After a closely fought Friday qualifying session, race one in Barcelona promised excitement across the grid. Current Championship leader Logan Sargeant started on pole ahead of HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes and Hitech’s Liam Lawson. Sargeant’s teammate and closest championship rival, Oscar Piastri, started from P4.
As the lights went out, the top three drivers all made clean getaways from the line. However, Piastri in fourth found himself forced onto the gravel, defending his position from Clement Novalak. Piastri’s attempts to regain the position from the Carlin Buzz driver were scuppered as Bent Viscaal found himself in the gravel trap. This resulted in the deployment of the safety car.
Upon the safety car restart, Hughes pressured Sargeant for the lead, but the PREMA driver defended well and held position. Meanwhile, Piastri took advantage of a poor restart by Novalak to regain P4, allowing him to chase after the leading pack. On lap 7, after a brilliant few laps, Hughes finally managed to squeeze past Sargeant’s PREMA into turn one and take the lead of the race.
Despite the promising performances of Sargeant and Piastri, on lap 9 PREMA found themselves with mixed fortunes as Danish driver Frederik Vesti was forced to retire from the race with mechanical failure. Vesti’s PREMA came to a halt on track, resulting in the second safety car of the race.
Second Half
In a bizarre incident before the start/finish line, Piastri dropped down to sixth having been overtaken by both Novalak and Beckmann. The Australian driver had made a small error before the start/finish line resulting in his car briefly leaving the track with both Novalak and Beckmann passing him as a result. Stewards determined that no further action should be taken leaving Piastri now in P6.
By lap 16, Hughes had secured a two-second lead ahead of Sargeant who found himself with Liam Lawson in hot pursuit of P2. Lawson eventually managed to pass the PREMA on lap 20 after failed attempts on the previous laps. However, neither driver could pose a challenge to Jake Hughes who stormed home nearly three seconds ahead of the pack.
Lawson and Hughes secured the remaining podium positions whilst Piastri could only secure P6. As a result, Sargeant extends his Championship lead. In tomorrow’s reverse grid race, Matteo Nannini will start on pole ahead of Richard Verschoor and Alex Peroni.
Hughes dedicated his victory to the memory of Anthoine Hubert.
Top 10 finishers
1. J. Hughes HWA Racelab
2. L. Lawson Hitech Grand Prix
3. L. Sargeant PREMA
4. C. Novalak Carlin Buzz Racing
5. D. Beckmann Trident
6. O. Piastri PREMA
7. T. Pourchaire ART Grand Prix
8. A. Peroni Campos Racing
9. R. Verschoor MP Motorsport
10. M. Nannini Jenzer Motorsport
Featured Image Credit: @FIAFormula3 Twitter
