Red Bull F1 junior Lawson claims second F3 win at Silverstone

Red Bull Formula 1 junior Liam Lawson claimed his second victory of the 2020 FIA Formula 3 season at Silverstone, beating championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Lawson started second on the grid but swept into the lead at the end of the opening lap with a stunning pass around the outside of polesitter Logan Sargeant at Stowe in a move that would prove crucial.

The Hitech Grand Prix driver resisted attacks from Renault F1 protégé Piastri at mid-distance, before the race ended under the Safety Car during a messy end to the Silverstone opener.

The first Safety Car was deployed after Jack Doohan’s HWA Racelab became the incident party and was collected by an out-of-control Bent Viscaal, who had made contact with F3 newcomer Ben Barnicoat.

After less than two full laps of green flag racing, a second Safety Car was called following a nasty shunt involving Trident’s Olli Caldwell, Max Fewtrell and Lukas Dunner.

Caldwell was spun around following light contact with Fewtrell at the Vale chicane, before an unsighted Dunner smashed into the rear of his Trident, destroying the rear-end of his car.

All three drivers were unharmed in the incident, which neutralised the race and enabled Lawson to enjoy a drama-free conclusion to the 20-lap event. A bizarre end to the race saw all the drivers take the chequered flag via the pitlane due to the clear-up operation at the final corner.

Piastri had to settle for his fourth rostrum appearance of the year behind the race-winner to maintain his points lead, while Prema teammate Sargeant completed the podium in third.

Fourth place went the way of Jake Hughes, with the HWA Racelab racer splitting the Prema trio ahead of Frederik Vesti, who rounded out the top five.

Campos’ Alex Peroni was sixth, ahead of Sebastian Fernandez and Carlin’s Clement Novolak, while David Beckmann and Alexander Smolyar claimed the final points on offer in P9 and P10 for Trident and ART Grand Prix respectively.

The second FIA F3 race at Silverstone takes place on Sunday morning at 8.45am, with the top-10 positions reversed, meaning Smolyar will be on pole position.