The Red Bull Ring was the second race in a back-to-back weekend for the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. Hitech GP's George Russell came into the round ready to build on a strong round previously at Pau.

Russell faired strongly in qualifying around the high speed circuit, netting a 6th, 2nd and a 6th for the three races at Spielberg.

The opening round saw Russell navigate himself around some contact on the opening lap, taking the opportunity to move up into 4th place. With such a high speed circuit and a low amount of corners, further chances to make further ground were few and far between, so Russell finished 4th at the flag.

The second race saw Russell make a good launch from 2nd on the grid, however Callum Illot made good use of the slipstream to drop Russell down to 3rd. The two would battle all race long lapping regularly with 0.5s of each other. Russell finished 3rd at the flag, but was promoted too 2nd place at the end of the race after Illot was penalised for exceeding track limits.

The final race on the Sunday was a short race for Russell. After a great start, he launched an attack up the hill into turn 2 after receiving a great tow from his rivals ahead. Russell went for a move for 3rd position, unfortunately locked a front brake which put him into the side of Beckmann, causing Russell race ending suspension damage, as he limped back to the pits with no point rewards in race 3.

George Russell “Positives and negatives to take away from the weekend. We came away with a few more points and a podium along the way, but still some work to do!
Looking forward to a few weeks off now to recharge the batteries."

The FIA European Formula 3 Championship endures a short break until the next round at the Norisring in Germany. George Russell is currently 4th overall in the championship with 18 races to go.

Report: Hitech GP

Images: Wafeproject (Davide Pastanella) & Thomas Suer