Fraser MasefieldPrema’s Oscar Piastri narrowed the gap to championship rival and teammate Logan Sargeant after scoring maximum points in Sunday’s F3 sprint race at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.
“We came away with the win in Race 2 which is a great result from fifth on the grid,” said Piastri. “I got a mega start and took the lead in the first few corners. That was really positive because that’s sort of where I’ve been playing a bit weak so far this year. After that, I just had to break out of DRS and maintain the gap.
“The safety-car threw a bit of a curveball in, but again, after breaking the DRS, it was just about maintaining the gap and keeping the tyres in check. It pretty much saved what was otherwise a reasonably average weekend, so massive thank you to Prema for that. Now there are three more rounds to go, let’s see what we can do!”
He's called Oscar P1astri for a reason 😉
The @PREMA_Team driver is back on the top step 💪#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F3 pic.twitter.com/dEtzCmeBTw
— Formula 3 (@FIAFormula3) August 16, 2020
It was Sargeant who had the better of Saturday, finishing on the podium in Saturday’s feature race, but it was Piastri who was on song on Sunday, rocketing into the lead from fifth on the grid by Turn 4 on the opening lap of the reverse-grid race.
It was a simply brilliant start by the young Australian, who made a bold move around the outside of Matteo Nannini at Turn 3 before diving down the inside of compatriot Alex Peroni to at Turn 4 to lead the race.
From that point onwards, it was an assured drive from Piastri, who never allowed Peroni close enough to mount a challenge for the lead despite a late Safety Car bunching the field up once again. But Piastri was again able to pull clear after a good restart and he led home Peroni and Nannini for his second victory of the season.
Sergeant was able to limit the damage somewhat by finishing fifth, but a full complement of 17 points for Piastri for also nailing the fastest lap of the race means that he is now just 8 points behind his American rival with two rounds remaining.
“We went up to P5 from P8 on the grid so I’m happy with that,” said Sargeant. “I think that my pace was much stronger than in race 1 so we did well to come back overnight. I’m still leading the championship and that’s positive. On to the next one!”
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Who impressed you most? 🤔#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F3 pic.twitter.com/Tzh6qiGGUA
— Formula 3 (@FIAFormula3) August 16, 2020
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