McLaren protégé Lando Norris opened the 2017 FIA European Formula 3 season with a dominant victory, his first in the category, at a cool and cloudy Silverstone on Friday evening.
A pre-race shower led to a Safety Car start but the pack elected to start on slick tyres and the rain quickly subsided, leading to dry conditions throughout the remainder of the race.
Carlin driver Norris stormed away at the front, pursued by Prema's Callum Ilott, as F3 returnee Jake Dennis worked his way up to third, via a ballsy move on Joel Eriksson around the outside of Copse, having started from eighth.
Ilott chased Norris but erred at Abbey and spun into the gravel, triggering the deployment of the Safety Car, while Nikita Mazepin’s stricken Hitech at Luffield was also cleared during the neutralisation period.
A third Safety Car phase, caused by Ralf Aron crashing at the exit of Luffield, interrupted proceedings further, but the final 10 minutes was caution-free, as Norris streaked to victory, in only his second event in the championship.
Norris was backed up by Carlin team-mate Dennis to take a 1-2 for the squad, while Prema’s Maximilian Gunther bagged the final podium spot, ahead of Eriksson.
Rookie Joey Mawson finished fifth, while Harrison Newey scythed through the pack to take sixth, ahead of battling Prema pair Guan Yu Zhou and Mick Schumacher.
Pedro Piquet and Jehan Daruvala completed the top 10.
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