The historic Spa-Francorchamps Circuit played host to round 7 of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Eager to retain lost ground from Zandvoort and the Norisring, Hitech GP BRDC Superstar George Russell hit the ground running, putting himself 6th fastest in the wet qualifying 1, and then taking two pole positions in the dry second qualifying session.

After starting on the outside of row three in the opening race, Russell had to endure a safety car dominated race, crossing the line in 5th position in the treacherous conditions.

Race 2 saw Russell make the start from pole. After being slipstreamed into Les Combes and dropping to 4th position, Russell came back through his rivals at an unbelievable rate, setting the fastest lap by over six tenths of a second! Russell took the victory by 7.3 seconds in a dominant performance.

The final race, again from pole was a nightmare start for Russell! A mistake saw him stall the car, dropping him back to 12th position after the first corner. Again however, Russell had the pace to come through the field, again over half a second a lap faster than most of his rivals, as he salvaged a podium position with 3rd place at the finish line.

George Russell "I was extremely gutted to throw away the win, but we had an incredible race from turn one onwards and it was great just to show to everyone just what we’re capable of and what a great fight we put up.
“Overall we had a very good weekend at Spa, taking two poles, two fastest laps, two podiums and a win, aswell as taking 3rd overall in the championship. So we were fairly pleased with that."

The FIA European Formula 3 Championship heads into a summer break, where the racing will resume at the Nurburgring on the 9-11 September. Russell goes into the break 3rd in the championship, still in contention for the overall honours.

Report: Hitech GP

Images: Wafeproject (Davide Pastanella) & Thomas Suer