Arthur Leclerc won a closely-fought Formula 3 feature race, unable to break away from his pursuers as appearances by the Safety Car kept the pack together.
Zak O’Sullivan started from pole and kept his lead ahead of Leclerc as the race began. Behind them Zane Maloney and Oliver Bearman came to blows at Luffield, Maloney coming off worse and heading off track towards the barriers.
The safety car was deployed at the start of lap two, after Franco Colapinto’s damaged car was stranded on the outside of Luffield. Maloney was able to keep going, albeit demoted to the rear of the pack but marshals had to retrieve Colapinto.
Juan Manuel Correa pulled into the pits to retire on lap two. William Alatalo also had to pit for a new front wing, behind the safety car.
Leclerc was in the process of passing O’Sullivan for the lead as the Safety Car was sent out. After receiving advice from his Prema team, Leclerc returned the position to O’Sullivan before the restart.
O’Sullivan therefore led the field away when the race resumed, Leclerc and Caio Collet following him. Leclerc was able to stay close enough that by lap six, with DRS enabled, he drew alongside O’Sullivan on the pit straight, stayed two abreast for the first corner sequence and finally passed through the Loop.
Isack Hadjar and Jak Crawford were battling for fifth through Club and onto the Hamilton straight. The pair made light contact, sending Crawford wide and allowing Hadjar to take the position.
Gregoire Saucy and Roman Stanek pulled into the pits on lap 10, Stanek with a puncture and Saucy with damage. The two had collided at Club, before Stanek also made contact with Hunter Yeany, who was able to keep going but briefly spun before he returning to the track.
The safety car was called out again on lap 10 as Rafael Villagomez went into the barriers heavily at the entry of Copse. Contact with Nazim Azman had forced the front wing of his car beneath the tyres, leaving him helplessly skidding across the gravel. Villagomez was able to get out of his car by himself and the marshals quickly went to work retrieving it.
The race restarted on lap 15, with Leclerc holding the lead from O’Sullivan and Collet. Championship leader Victor Martins made a move for eighth, having started 12th, from a long way back into Abbey, managing to pass Kaylen Frederick and begin to hunt down the Red Bull-backed trio of Crawford, Jonny Edgar and Hadjar ahead.
On lap 21 O’Sullivan nearly repeated the DRS-helped move Leclerc…
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