Mercedes junior George Russell emerged from an intense scrap to lead an ART Grand Prix 1-2-3 in GP3’s sole race at Monza.
Heavy rain pushed back Formula 1 qualifying and the Formula 2 feature race on Saturday, causing GP3’s race one to be postponed to Sunday and the second event cancelled.
With just one opportunity, the pressure was high, but while the ART trio quickly moved ahead of the pack, behind there were some scrappy and messy battles.
Polesitter Nirei Fukuzumi failed to make the start due to a problem, with Russell leading the field into Turn 1 ahead of Anthoine Hubert and Jack Aitken.
But, a collision between Alessio Lorandi and Leonardo Pulcini at the second chicane caused a lengthy safety car after the opening lap – with Pulcini needing to be extracted from his car.
On the restart, Russell lost the lead to Anthoine Hubert, only to take it back a few laps later, just before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed.
This was after Juan Manuel Correa outbraked himself into the first chicane and slammed into the back of his Jenzer team-mate Arjun Maini.
The top three were bunched up as the VSC ended at Parabolica, with Aitken getting the jump on his team-mates to snatch the lead on the long run down to the first corner, after briefly going three-wide.
He was only in the lead briefly, though, with Russell reclaiming it before a late safety car just before the last lap after Niko Kari crashed at the Lesmos.
The safety car peeled off at the end of the last lap, with Russell taking his fourth win of the season ahead of Renault junior Aitken and team-mate Hubert.
With Kari crashing out of fourth, Marcos Siebert was promoted to the place, ahead of Ryan Tveter, Giuliano Alesi and Tatiana Calderon. Julien Falchero, Kevin Joerg and Bruno Baptista completed the top 10.
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