Sargeant reclaims F3 points lead with Belgium win

Logan Sargeant reclaimed the lead of the FIA Formula 3 Championship with victory in Sunday’s second and final race at Spa-Francorchamps as he led a Prema 1-2.

Engine trouble in the opening race meant Sargeant could only finish eighth as he surrendered his points lead to Prema teammate and chief title rival Oscar Piastri, but the American bounced back by winning the second event in Belgium.

Starting third on the grid for the partially-reversed grid race, Sargeant grabbed second place immediately as he jumped a slow-starting Liam Lawson into La Source, before setting about reverse grid polesitter Richard Verschoor.

Sargeant went wheel-to-wheel with Verschoor at Les Combes on the opening lap but was edged out wide as he briefly took the lead, before handing the position back after gaining an unfair advantage.

After a second unsuccessful bite of the cherry at the same corner a lap later, Sargeant swept past the MP Motorsport driver with a DRS-assisted pass along the Kemmel Straight on the third tour, before pulling clear of the field.

While Sargeant went on to secure his second win of the 2020 season, his teammate Frederik Vesti rose from completed a Prema 1-2 with just his second podium finish of the campaign.

Vesti briefly closed to within a second of his teammate with four laps to go as Sargeant began to struggle with tyre grip, but the latter held on to take the chequered flag and move into a seven-point lead in the championship with four races remaining.

Red Bull backed Lawson rounded out the podium for Hitech Grand Prix after recovering from his poor start, ahead of ART Grand Prix driver Alexsandr Smolyar who took his second fourth place finish of the weekend.

Behind the Russian came his ART teammate Theo Pourchaire and Piastri, who finished fifth on the road but was demoted to P6 by a five-second time he penalty picked up for gaining an unfair advantage by running wide at Raidillon as he made an earlier move on Verschoor, who was seventh.

Race 1 winner Lirim Zendelli passed Trident teammate David Beckmann on the final lap to snatch eighth, with Sebastian Fernandez claiming the final point on offer in 10th for ART.