McLaren Formula 1 junior Lando Norris took a dominant victory in the first European Formula 3 race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
The British racer took a clean sweep of pole positions at Spa, and made a good getaway from the grid in the opening race to lead Prema’s Callum Ilott into La Source.
Carlin’s Norris had to defend from Ilott on the run to Les Combes, with his rival trying a move around the outside. Ilott ran wide and as he rejoined, bounced across a kerb and clipped Jake Hughes.
Hitech GP driver Hughes was out on the spot, with Ilott losing ground as Maximilian Gunther swept into second place.
Norris briefly came under attack from Gunther but then quickly established a comfortable gap, with Nikita Mazepin challenging and eventually making a move at Les Combes.
Out front, Norris had a strong lead, but Mazepin cut the gap in the closing stages – before his tyres started to go off – to finish 2.807 seconds behind.
Norris claimed his fourth win of the F3 season, with Mazepin enjoying his strongest run of the campaign so far in second as Gunther took third.
Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala was fourth, ahead of Joey Mawson and Mick Schumacher, who moved up the order from 14th on the grid.
Harrison Newey, Ferdinand Habsburg, title contender Joel Eriksson and Pedro Piquet completed the top 10.
Ilott recovered ground before a drive-through for the Hughes clash dropped him to 14th, while early frontrunner Ralf Aron slipped down the field.
