Prema Powerteam nets 1-2 finish in Formula 3 opener at Red Bull Ring

The Prema Powerteam, partnered by Acronis, was left celebrating a first 1-2 of the season in the opening F3 race in Austria as Oscar Piastri headed home teammate Logan Sargeant.

The Australian benefitted from a mistake from pole-sitter Sebastien Fernandez and grabbed the opportunity to dive down the inside into Turn 1, his car taking a hefty hit but remaining undamaged as he opened up a healthy lead from the chasing pack, Sargeant making a good move stick on Lirim Zendeli’s Trident around the outside of Turn 4 to jump to second as Peroni followed suit.

From there on in, it remained a relatively trouble-free race for the composed Piastri, who was never under threat from his American teammate, Sargeant having his mirrors full of Alexander Peroni’s Campos for the remainder of the race but doing enough to hold out for second.

“Winning the first race is a great start to the year. It was very scary at Turn 1 at the start and I thought that it was going to be race over 10 seconds into my debut, but thankfully I got through that and made a good move on Lirim {Sargeant} into Turn 3,” Piastri is quoted on the official F3 site.

“Then, I just controlled it from there. The tyre deg was a bit more than we were expecting and halfway into the race I was struggling a bit with the rears. Logan {Sargeant} was catching me and bringing the train with him, so I had to stay on my toes. I couldn’t have started the year any better really and hopefully we can make up a few spots in the reverse grid tomorrow.”

It was almost a 1-2-3 for the Prema team, who have dominated the series over recent years, Frederick Vesti closing on the tail of Peroni in the closing laps without getting quite close enough to risk a move for a perfect podium.

Motorsport Technology