Hauger takes Formula 3 title as Sargeant wins first Sochi race

Formula 3

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Dennis Hauger has sealed the 2021 F3 title in unexpected fashion, winning it on Friday after the opening race at Sochi was brought forward.

Logan Sargeant won the first race of the weekend which was originally due to take place early on Saturday. The change of date, announced earlier today, was provoked by concerns over heavy rain forecast tomorrow.

Red Bull immediately announced Hauger will move up to Formula 2 next year. He saw off the challenge from fellow Red Bull junior Jack Doohan, who went into the race 39 points behind his rival after claiming pole position for Sunday’s feature event.

Victor Martins took pole for race one on the partially reversed grid, having qualified 12th, with Sargeant alongside him. Fourth-placed Hauger shared the second row with Jak Crawford.

Doohan clobbered a kerb on lap one
Taking the four points for feature race pole meant Doohan started the opening race 12th. A poor start and trip across the kerb at turn two saw him drop down the order, eradicating his hopes of catching up to Hauger.

Sargeant took the lead at turn three from Martins, who struggled to keep close to him thereafter. After DRS was enabled on lap four Hauger moved up to third, getting a huge tow through turn 13 to pass Crawford and take fastest lap of the race so far.

Hauger was able to put together fastest lap after fastest lap, closing down on Martins until he was able to make a safe DRS pass on lap 11. The Prema driver was taking no unnecessary risks, but having one hand on the trophy seemed to have gifted him a confidence and pace other drivers couldn’t find.

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Tijmen van der Helm’s engine spectacularly failed in a plume of flames and smoke on lap 14, causing a brief Virtual Safety Car period. His car was rapidly retrieved and racing resumed on lap 16 with Collet still fighting Martins for third.

Second place secured the title for Hauger
By lap 17 Doohan was stuck in 15th, while Hauger’s second place would more than secure him the title and the championship became his to lose. Two laps later Novalak passed Collet for fourth, which relieved the pressure on Martins.

Sargeant, out in front, had no such an easy last few laps, hassled by Hauger right to the chequered flag. The Prema driver was unable to take the win, but second place meant he Doohan’s hopes of keeping him from the title were over.

While Hauger sealed the championship with 205 points, the fight for second place can still continue across the weekend with Frederik Vesti, Martins and Novalak all in reach of Doohan on 154.

Red Bull motorsport consultant Dr Helmut Marko congratulated Hauger on his success. “He has had a great 2021 F3 season,” said Marko. “A mistake early on but otherwise he has been exceptional. He has shown great ability, he has the speed within him and he is very much going in the right direction.”

“He will drive for us in Formula 2 in 2022 and there is only one step to make after that. It does require him to continue to improve very much in the same way that he has this season. He is not there yet.”

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Formula 3 Russia race one results

PositionCarDriverTeam
129Logan SargeantCharouz
21Dennis HaugerPrema
317Victor MartinsMP
45Clement NovalakTrident
518Caio ColletMP
621Lorenzo ColomboCampos
72Arthur LeclercPrema
87Frederik VestiART
99Juan Manuel CorreaART
1011Ayumu IwasaHitech
1110Jak CrawfordHitech
1227Johnathan HoggardJenzer
1312Roman StanekHitech
146David SchumacherTrident
154Jack DoohanTrident
1614Matteo NanniniHWA
173Olli CaldwellPrema
1825Jonny EdgarCarlin
1926Calan WilliamsJenzer
2016Rafael VillagomezHWA
2122Amaury CordeelCampos
228Alexander SmolyarART
2324Kaylen FrederickCarlin
2430Ayrton SimmonsCarlin
2528Filip-Ioan UgranJenzer
2631Zdenek ChovanecCharouz
2723Ido CohenCarlin
2819Tijmen van der HelmMP
2920Laszlo TothCampos
3015Oliver RasmussenHWA

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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5 comments on “Hauger takes Formula 3 title as Sargeant wins first Sochi race”

  1. Super race from a super class driver like Dennis! That’s how you win a championship! Red Bull has a driver with great projection. I’d love to see him alongside Verstappen in Red Bull in the future. That would be a super team! About Doohan… He’s very different from his father, and not because he’s chosen four-wheeler. He lacks absolute determination at racing. I’m sorry for him, but he will never win a championship like that.

  2. I am glad Hauger is making the step up to F2 next year. Hopefully he will be followed by some others. The class of F3 graduates in F2 this year have been excellent, so hopefully this continues.

  3. Congrats to Hauger. Red Bull now has a really good driver that will soon be available to them for F1. I’m betting he’ll be getting his ticket upgraded to an F1 seat in 2023 before Vips or Lawson?

    With him getting time in F2 (finishing school) next season should be very beneficial and give him time to learn more and mature. I hope RB has him participate in a lot of F1 meetings at the racing venues with current F1 drivers, give him tons of F1 sim time and have him spend time at both factories to help him better acclimate to the F1 circus before being thrown into it, getting to know the procedures and how the people operate in F1. Something they didn’t do for Tsunoda while he was in F2 and had to play catch-up and he’s still playing catch up.

  4. Quite miffed that I missed the news about the championship decider being brought forwards a day. I hope Sky repeat it, as too late to record it now….

  5. If Andretti Autosport closes on that Sauber deal, I hope they can land Sargeant for the final 2 Formula 2 events with Charouz. That team gave another lifeline towards his road to Formula 1.

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