Lawson wins dramatic finale as Piastri claims title at Mugello
Liam Lawson won the final race of the 2020 FIA Formula 3 season as Oscar Piastri claimed the championship title in dramatic circumstances at Mugello.
Prema driver Piastri prevailed to the F3 title in a tense finale as he recovered from 11th on the grid to finish seventh.
The Renault Formula 1 protégé ultimately sealed the F3 crown by just two points from Theo Pourchaire, despite a stunning drive by the ART Grand Prix driver as he charged to third, just falling short of the title by one position in the end.
The 17-year-old Frenchman was left to settle with a stunning runner-up position in the championship from his rookie campaign, despite appearing well out of title contention just a few rounds ago.
Three championship contenders were cut down to two immediately in a dramatic start, with Logan Sargeant getting caught up in an incident on Lap 1 that put him out of the race.
Sargeant was looking to move further up the order from his fifth-place starting position – which would have been enough for him to beat Prema teammate Piastri to the title - but found himself in a sandwich between ART Grand Prix’s Sebastian Fernandez and Trident’s Lirim Zendeli.
Sargeant and Zendeli came together in a squeeze at Turn 2, sending both drivers spearing off into the gravel and out of the race. For Sargeant, the incident took his title hopes away with it.
At the front, Red Bull junior Liam Lawson scored his third victory of the 2020 season with a commanding drive to take the chequered flag by 7.8s over Trident’s David Beckmann.
Pourchaire completed the podium in third, ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi who claimed his best result of the season for HWA Racelab with fourth.
Richard Verschoor was fifth ahead of Jake Hughes, with Piastri pipping Fernandez to seventh place on the run to the line in a photo finish.
Prema’s Frederik Vesti was ninth, while Alex Smoylar rounded out the points-paying positions with 10th.
