F3: Dennis Hauger clinches 2021 title as Sargeant wins opening Sochi race

Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger sealed the Formula 3 title with a peerless performance in Race 1 at Sochi but narrowly missed out on taking the trophy with a win, finishing second on track to Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant.

With his main rival Jack Doohan struggling to 15th after a difficult start, Hauger needed just six points to clinch the crown, but the Norwegian wanted to cap it off in style. Having begun in fourth, he’d climbed to second midway through and was in pursuit of Sargeant and first place.

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And although he succeeded in cutting down the American’s 3.5s advantage, Hauger was unable to prevent Sargeant from claiming a first victory for more than a year.

Reverse pole-sitter Victor Martins lost first place to Sargeant at the start but the Alpine junior did manage to hang on to a podium spot, ahead of Trident’s Clément Novalak and his MP Motorsport team mate, Caio Collet.

Lorenzo Colombo and Ferrari junior Arthur Leclerc took sixth and seventh, followed by Mercedes Academy driver Frederik Vesti, Sauber junior Juan Manuel Correa and Red Bull prodigy Ayumu Iwasa.

Finishing 12th, Jenzer Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard will start ahead of Red Bull junior Jak Crawford on the front row of Race 2’s reverse grid at 1340 local time. Race 3 takes place on Sunday at 0955 local time, the grid set by Friday’s qualifying session.

For the full report, results and more news, visit the official F3 website.