Spielberg F3: Ilott's Race 1 win overshadowed by horror crash

With just five minutes to go in what had been a fairly regular race to that point, Tveter spun out and his car came to a halt back on track.

The American's car stirred dust behind him and, in a few seconds, Zhi Cong Li and Pedro Piquet approached at a high speed while fighting for position.

Both made contact with the stationary vehicle, Zhi Cong Li's car making a direct nose-to-tail impact at unabated speed and taking off several metres in the air, corkscrewing as it did so, before landing in the gravel. 

Piquet also clipped Tveter's spinning car but skittered across the gravel trap.

The drivers involved were all taken to the medical centre, Tveter having hobbled away from his car and collapsing trackside a minute later while being assisted by a marshal.

At the start, Ilott had held off Maximilian Gunther for the lead when the safety car neutralized the action in order the clear beached cars at Turn 2.

Tveter lost control while entering the turn and collected both Arjun Maini and Weiron Tan, the latter climbing the Indian's car.

Once back to green, Ilott had a good restart and quickly pulled away from Lance Stroll, who passed Gunther for second.

The Williams development driver failed to challenge Ilott, the former Red Bull junior steadily stretching his advantage to three seconds when the race was called to a premature end.

Soon after losing the runner-up spot, Gunther also fell behind Mikkel Jensen but the German re-passed his former ADAC Formel Masters rival to claim the final podium spot.

George Russell outduelled Nick Cassidy for fifth, the duo switching positions a couple of times.

The top 10 was completed by best rookie David Beckmann, Harrison Newey, Ralf Aron and Ben Barnicoat, the Briton pitting after the start after making contact with Joel Eriksson.

UPDATE: After medical check-ups, Zhi Cong Li has been confirmed as "awake and alert", with Tveter sustaining minor injuries and Piquet escaping unhurt.

Full results

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	Callum Ilott	Van Amersfoort Racing	23:54.454
2	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	+3.472s
3	Maximilian Gunther	Prema Powerteam	+7.219s
4	Mikkel Jensen	kfzteile24 Mucke Motorsport	+10.679s
5	George Russell	HitechGP	+14.222s
6	Nick Cassidy	Prema Powerteam	+15.755s
7	David Beckmann	kfzteile24 Mucke Motorsport	+17.332s
8	Harrison Newey	Van Amersfoort Racing	+17.987s
9	Ralf Aron	Prema Powerteam	+18.621s
10	Ben Barnicoat	HitechGP	+22.751s
11	Alessio Lorandi	Carlin	+23.528s
12	Anthoine Hubert	Van Amersfoort Racing	+28.485s
13	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	+28.948s
14	Guan Yu Zhou	Motopark	+29.466s
15	Nikita Mazepin	HitechGP	+30.331s
16	Ryan Tveter	Carlin	+31.173s
17	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	+34.136s
18	Zhi Cong Li	Carlin	+36.082s
19	Pedro Piquet	Van Amersfoort Racing	+36.924s
20	Niko Kari	Motopark	+43.530s
Ret	Arjun Maini	ThreeBond with T-Sport	+16 laps
Ret	Weiron Tan	Carlin	+16 laps