Hungary European F3: Lotus F1 junior Ocon wins rain-affected race
Esteban Ocon stretched his Formula 3 European Championship lead with another win in the final race of the Hungaroring weekend
From pole, Prema Powerteam's Lotus F1 Junior just managed to squeeze into the first corner in the lead from a fast-starting Lucas Auer.
Behind the leading duo, Felix Rosenqvist got past Antonio Fuoco into Turn 1, and then pulled a brave move on Mucke Motorsport team-mate Auer around the outside of Turn 2 to move into second place.
Rosenqvist was beginning to stabilise the gap to Ocon at around two seconds when he became the highest-profile casualty of the spate of track-limits penalties.
Fuoco had slipped ahead of Auer into the Turns 6/7 chicane on the opening lap, and inherited second when Rosenqvist took his drive-through, the Italian Ferrari protege thereby completing a Prema one-two.
Ruffling feathers on the F1 ladder
The race was halted three laps early when, after very light rain in the early stages, it suddenly became heavier - Ocon's times had dropped off by eight seconds when the safety car emerged, rapidly followed by the red flags.
Behind third-placed Auer, Max Verstappen fended off an attack from Antonio Giovinazzi to claim fourth.
Giovinazzi was trailed home by Carlin team-mate Tom Blomqvist, who pulled off a peach of a move on Felix Serralles into Turn 1 just before the rain came.
Serralles just held off Gustavo Menezes, while Jake Dennis passed Nicholas Latifi for ninth in the battle for lower-order points.
Jordan King failed to take the start after his retirement in this morning's race - his Carlin team elected to send his Volkswagen engine powerplant for attention from tuner Spiess rather than put in an alternative unit, thereby potentially avoiding three 10-place grid penalties.
Results - 17 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Mercedes 28m11.326s 2. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Mercedes +4.756s 3. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Mercedes +5.663s 4. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW +6.875s 5. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW +8.390s 6. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW +8.901s 7. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara Mercedes +11.142s 8. gustavo menezes Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW +14.162s 9. Jake Dennis Carlin Dallara-VW +16.124s 10. Nicholas Latifi Prema Dallara-Mercedes +17.034s 11. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Mercedes +20.588s 12. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +22.059s 13. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW +23.961s 14. Dennis van de Laar Prema Dallara-Mercedes +24.849s 15. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW +25.133s 16. Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Dallara-Mercedes +26.264s 17. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Mercedes +26.910s 18. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE +30.480s 19. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara Mercedes +35.497s 20. Felipe Guimares Double R Dallara-Mercedes +35.817s 21. Michele Beretta EuroInternational Dallara-Mercedes +39.909s 22. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE +41.710s 23. Mitch Gilbert Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +46.194s
Retirements: Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Mercedes 7 laps
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