Jake Hughes dominated the opening Formula Three race of 2020 Spanish Grand Prix weekend to take victory.
Hughes got a great start as he battled Prema’s Logan Sargeant in the opening stages before making a move at start of lap seven to take the lead and eventual victory.
Speaking post race on his dominant win, Hughes said; “I am really, really happy. A massive congrats to the team.
“We seem to have taken a step since the second Silverstone round and the car was feeling really good. I had good pace at the beginning and was able to get past Logan and then it was about managing after that.”
Lawson finished second after replicating Hughes’ move on Sargeant on lap 20 with the championship leader rounding out the podium placings, ahead of Clement Novalak and David Beckmann.
Sargeant’s championship rival, Oscar Piastri could only manage a sixth placed finish which meant that the American now leads the drivers’ standings by 12 points with seven races left.
Theo Pourchaire, Alex Peroni, Richard Verschoor and Matteo Nannini completed the top ten, with Nannini set for his first reverse F3 pole in the second race ahead of Verschoor who will start alongside him on the front row.
Sargeant got a clean getaway to lead Hughes and Lawson whilst Piastri lost fourth to Novalak after the latter squeezed him onto the edge of the gravel trap on exit of Turn Two.
Further back, last weekend’s reverse grid winner – Bent Viscaal became the first retirement after he was hit from behind on entry into Turn Six, sending the young Dutchman into the gravel trap and caused a two lap safety car.
Upon the restart on lap four, Sargeant valiantly defended from Hughes whilst Piastri reclaimed fourth from Novalak up inside on entry into Turn 10 after the Carlin driver opted for the outside line.
Hughes eventually got past Sargeant on lap seven with a neat move as he swept round outside of Turn One, giving him the inside line and lead into Turn Two from which he soon built a gap until Frederik Vesti retired with mechanical issue to cause a second safety car.
Once the safety car came in at end of lap 11, Hughes quickly set about bridging a gap to Sargeant, whilst Piastri ran wide out of the final chicane and through final corner to allow Novalak and Beckmann through despite no overtaking allowed until first safety car line.
Stewards however decided to take no action against both Novalak and Beckmann after deeming their overtakes as legal, due to Piastri having ran wide beyond the white lines.
Sargeant meanwhile struggled to keep pace with Hughes and slid into Lawson’s clutches, with the Aussie replicating Hughes’ overtake at start of lap 20 to take second place away from Sargeant.
Hughes consequently clinched victory ahead of Lawson and Sargeant with Novalak, Beckmann, Piastri and Pourchaire completing the top seven.
Peroni meanwhile edged out Verschoor and Nannini for eighth with the trio separated by just 0.401 seconds at the flag, which secured Nannini his maiden F3 reverse-grid pole for Race Two.
Race Result
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 22 | 38m 53.146 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | 22 | + 2.388 |
| 3 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 22 | + 3.948 |
| 4 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | 22 | + 8.953 |
| 5 | David Beckmann | Trident | 22 | + 9.826 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | 22 | + 10.222 |
| 7 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 22 | + 10.751 |
| 8 | Alex Peroni | Campos | 22 | + 12.172 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 22 | + 12.351 |
| 10 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | 22 | + 12.573 |
| 11 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | 22 | + 14.832 |
| 12 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 22 | + 15.266 |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | 22 | + 15.665 |
| 14 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | 22 | + 16.445 |
| 15 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | 22 | + 17.282 |
| 16 | Leonardo Pulcini | Carlin | 22 | + 17.892 |
| 17 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | 22 | + 18.925 |
| 18 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | 22 | + 20.166 |
| 19 | Cameron Das | Carlin | 22 | + 21.563 |
| 20 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | 22 | + 22.489 |
| 21 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | 22 | + 23.105 |
| 22 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | 22 | + 24.159 |
| 23 | David Schumacher | Charouz | 22 | + 24.496 |
| 24 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | 22 | + 25.776 |
| 25 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | 22 | + 26.262 |
| 26 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | 22 | +32.203 |
| 27 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | 22 | + 33.174 |
| 28 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | 22 | + 33.711 |
| 29 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | 8 | Mechanical |
| 30 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 0 | Collision |
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