Norris wins wet Nurburgring opener

Lando Norris claimed a dominant victory in challenging conditions in the opening European Formula 3 race at the Nurburgring.

After starting from pole, the McLaren junior defended the lead heading into the first corner and was unchallenged for the remainder of the race.

Behind him, Callum Ilott briefly took second from Jake Hughes, but the HitechGP driver snatched the position back the following lap and quickly pulled away from Ilott. He built up a strong gap to third but couldn’t close in on Norris, and finished 17.5 seconds behind.

Ilott was forced to defend against Joey Mawson, who passed for the final points paying position midway through the race. The Prema Powerteam racer tried to keep the pressure on Mawson but a small mistake in the wet conditions sent him wide and he lost ground. Late in the race, he and Tadasuke Makino closed in on Mawson, with Ilott and the Mawson briefly running side by side, but Makino was the only one to benefit. He passed Ilott for P4, leaving the Prema driver fifth.

A number of drivers slipped and span in the wet conditions. Whilst most only dropped down the order and were able to continue, a few moments led to retirements and the race was neutralised with full course yellows twice.

The first was for Nikita Mazepin, who was hit from behind by European F3 newcomer Sacha Fenestraz early in the race. Mazepin was sent spinning across the track, almost collecting Ilott in the process, and into the gravel. He hit the barrier and an FCY was called to clear the car. Fenestraz was handed a drive through penalty after already pitting to replace the front wing.

Racing was neutralised again when Pedro Piquet, who had been running eighth, ran through the gravel and into the barriers in the closing stages of the race.

Ferdinand Habsburg finished sixth ahead of team-mate Jehan Daruvala and Mick Schumacher. Guanyu Zhou and Joel Eriksson rounded out the top 10, whilst Max Defourny in 11th was the best of the newcomers.

Title contender Maximilian Gunther could only manage 13th, meaning Norris has now extended his championship lead to 36 points.