Red Bull junior Vips closes out F3 season with Sochi win

Juri Vips went lights-to-flag for victory in the final race of the FIA Formula 3 season in Sochi on Sunday, leading home Prema drivers Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman.

Vips started on reverse grid pole after a time penalty dropped him from P3 to P8 in Saturday's race, but the Hitech Grand Prix driver made a good start to retain his advantage on the run to Turn 1 despite pressure from Jake Hughes.

Contact between Hughes and Leonardo Pulcini while battling for second place relieved some of the pressure on Vips, as well as opening the door for Saturday winner Armstrong to move up to second.

Despite a series of quick laps to cut the gap in the closing stages, Armstrong was unable to bridge the gap, allowing Vips to pick up his third win of the F3 season and secure him fourth place in the drivers' standings. It marked Vips' first podium appearance since his Saturday victory at Silverstone.

Second place for Armstrong clinched the New Zealander P2 in the drivers' standings after Jehan Daruvala failed to pick up any points, finishing the race down in 14th place for Prema. Daruvala dropped to third in the season classification as a result.

Ferrari junior Shwartzman took third place to cap off his title-winning year with a 10th podium finish, having benefitted from a late issue for Pedro Piquet that forced the Brazilian to park up at the side of the track and retire while running third.

Hughes finished fourth for HWA Racelab ahead of Niko Kari and Yi Yifei, with Richard Verschoor and Liam Lawson rounding out the points in seventh and eighth respectively.