Jehan Daruvala takes his sixth podium; Piquet wins Race 1

David Bodapati August 31, 2019

913 4 minutes read

File photo of Jehan Daruvala with Prema Racing in 2019. Photo Prema Racing

Jehan Daruvala takes the sixth podium on Saturday in Race 1. Photo Prema Racing

Spa Francorchamps, 31 August 2019: Indian racing star Jehan Daruvala finished on the podium taking a well-deserved third in the first race of the FIA F3 Championship, part of the Belgian F1 Grand Prix weekend. This is Jehan’s sixth podium and along with two wins, he is currently second in the championship behind the Russian.

Pedro Piquet claimed his maiden FIA Formula 3 victory thanks to an immense start at Spa-Francorchamps, in Race 1. The Trident man immersed himself in battle with polesitter Jehan Daruvala off the line, making his move on the PREMA ace midway through the first lap, before pushing for a gap. Daruvala eventually finished in 3^rd behind teammate Robert Shwartzman, who gained vital points in his race for the Drivers’ title.

Jehan Darulava, right, takes third in Race 1 on Saturday. An FIA image

There was action throughout the 30-strong grid when the lights went out at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, as Piquet attempted an overtake on Daruvala who managed to cling on to the position at the first corner. Shwartzman – starting 4^th – made the same move on Yuki Tsunoda for 3^rd, but the Jenzer man also managed to claw the place back.

Jake Hughes was flung off track when Logan Sargeant nicked the back of his HWA RACELAB machine, while Devlin DeFrancesco collided with Campos’ Alexander Peroni, who ended up rammed into the barriers.

Piquet had emerged ahead of Daruvala when a Virtual Safety Car was issued, but it was Leonardo Pulcini who made the greatest ground, claiming a remarkable six spots on his way to P2. Tsunoda made the most of his opportunities at the end of the VSC period, lunging ahead of Pulcini for 2^nd. The duo was still within sight of former leader Daruvala, who climbed back ahead of them both shortly after to retake his place behind Piquet.

The gap between them was much bigger now though – the Brazilian had taken advantage of the four-way tussle behind him to build a 4s strong gap and put air between them. This enabled him to ease off and avoid the risk of burning out his rubber.

Further back, Marcus Armstrong was eyeing a repeat of his success in Budapest, when the Kiwi started 13^th and rose to reverse grid pole, before earning his first F3 win in Race 2. It would be a more difficult proposition this time around, starting from P19, but by lap 6, he was already in 11^th.

The battle for the podium was ongoing, as Jüri Vips and Tsunoda went back and forth for 5^th, while Shwartzman managed to leap ahead of Pulcini. Daruvala had been unable to bridge the gap between himself and the back of Piquet’s Trident, with his team urging him to push harder. He struggled to garner the extra pace though and shortly after, his teammate soared past him.

The PREMA duo in 2^nd and 3^rd managed to claw their way out of the four-way tussle they were previously engulfed in, leaving Christian Lundgaard, Vips, Tsunoda and Pulcini to fight it out for P4. Initially, it was Vips who came out on top, but the Dane managed to send it down the side of the Estonian title contender at the final corner.

Uncontested, Piquet crossed the finish line for his first win in the championship, followed by Shwartzman, Daruvala and Lundgaard. Vips was followed by Tsunoda – who claimed his joint-best finish – and Pulcini. Armstrong completed a remarkable drive to seal reverse grid pole, ahead of Max Fewtrell and David Beckman.

Daruvala’s P3 finish takes him back ahead of Vips in the race for the title, but Shwartzman still leads the Championship by 19 points. Armstrong is 4^th with 102, while Lundgaard sits 5^th on 85. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA lead by 367 points, ahead of Hitech Grand Prix on 181, ART Grand Prix on 162, Trident on 85 and HWA RACELAB on 66.

Armstrong will start from reverse pole for the second round in a row tomorrow in Race 2 at 9.45am local time, when he will be looking for his second win in as many rounds.

FIA Formula 3 Round 6 – Race 1 provisional classification

	DRIVER	TEAM
1	Pedro Piquet	Trident
2	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing
3	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA Racing
4	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix
5	Juri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix
6	Yuki Tsunoda	Jenzer Motorsport
7	Leonardo Pulcini	Hitech Grand Prix
8	Marcus Armstrong	PREMA Racing
9	Max Fewtrell	ART Grand Prix
10	David Beckmann	ART Grand Prix
11	Teppei Natori	Carlin Buzz Racing
12	Liam Lawson	MP Motorsport
13	Logan Sargeant	Carlin Buzz Racing
14	Keyvan Andres	HWA RACELAB
15	Ye Yifei	Hitech Grand Prix
16	Giorgio Carrara	Jenzer Motorsport
17	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport
18	Felipe Drugovich	Carlin Buzz Racing
19	Niko Kari	Trident
20	Bent Viscaal	HWA RACELAB
21	Jake Hughes	HWA RACELAB
22	Lirim Zendeli	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
23	Andreas Estner	Jenzer Motorsport
24	Simo Laaksonen	MP Motorsport
25	Sebastian Fernandez	Campos Racing
26	Raoul Hyman	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
27	Fabio Scherer	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
28	Alessio Deledda	Campos Racing
29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Trident

	NOT CLASSIFIED

	Alex Peroni	Campos Racing

	OVERALL FASTEST LAP
	Pedro Piquet (Trident) – 2:08.911 on Lap 4

	FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
	Pedro Piquet (Trident) – 2:08.911 on Lap 4

About Jehan Daruvala: The 20-year-old Jehan began his career in Karting at the age of 10. Since then he has won the Indian National Karting Championship, the Malaysian Junior Yamaha Karting Championship, the FIA CIK Asia Pacific KF3 Championship, and the British SuperOne National Karting Championship. Jehan remains the only Indian on the podium of any FIA World Championship when he was second runner up of the FIA CIK World Karting Championship. Jehan also remains the only Indian to win a Grand Prix, when he won the New Zealand Grand Prix and later went on to become the only Indian to win a race in the erstwhile FIA F3 European Championship, which used slower cars. Earlier this year Jehan was selected by Prema Racing, one of the world’s most successful Junior Racing teams’ to drive for them in this year’s new, FIA F3 Championship. Currently, he has two wins and six podiums, with this third, and is currently second in the F3 leaderboard.