Crawford takes maiden Formula 3 win in Safety Car strewn Spielberg sprint race · RaceFans

Red Bull-backed junior Jak Crawford won his first FIA Formula 3 race in a hectic sprint race around the Red Bull Ring.

At the start, ART driver Juan Manuel Correa took the lead off the line with a deft pass on Caio Collet, which saw him out in front. But almost immediately, the race was neutralised by a Safety Car when Rafael Villagomez was forced to stop at turn three.

The Safety Car came in on lap three, with Correa having to lead the restart. He stayed ahead, Collet unable to challenge, but a three-way battle for fifth emerged with Zane Maloney, Roman Stanek and Johnny Edgar fighting for the place. A three-wide pass into turn four saw Edgar come out victorious but Maloney fought back in turn six to reclaim the position.

By lap six, leader Correa was well out ahead and had been setting fastest laps when he suddenly slowed out of the final corner – an apparent gearbox failure left him unable to continue.

A yellow flag was shown for William Alatalo pulling aside on lap eight, but his car was removed from the track quickly and a Virtual Safety Car period only lasted until lap ten.

Soon after the race resumed, Zane Maloney was sent spinning by Oliver Bearman out of turn four, Maloney ending up in the wall on the inside of the track. It immediately prompted another Safety Car, with Bearman later receiving a five second time penalty from the stewards for the collision.

The Safety Car ended again on lap 14 with Collet under pressure from Jak Crawford and Franco Colapinto. He got away with the lead but with the pack tightly bunched. Crawford tried to go around the outside of Collet at turn four, but Collet held on until Crawford eventually took the lead by turn six.

Crawford managed to hold the lead until the chequered flag, despite massive pressure from Collet and Colapinto behind and a very close pack at the front of the field.

In the championship, Victor Martins retains the championship lead by six points, while Arthur Leclerc is just one point ahead of rookie Isack Hadjar for second place.

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Formula 3 Austria race one results