Carlos Sainz Jr is able to breathe calm again at least for an afternoon, after having won another race in Formula Renault 3.5 and enlarging lead for more than twenty-five points as persecutor Roberto Merhi was just fifth. Local drivers Pierre Gasly and Mattieu Vaxivière complete podium.
Sainz stayed first since the start with a good acceleration while Merhi had a bad one and lost a bunch of positions that made him 5th after Rowland and Jaafar touch that made the English have to pit for puncture and Jaafar to retire. Fantin also retired after stopping his car and finally Safety Car had to leave for seven minutes.
Competition resumed with stabilized first places and movements did not start until race equator with Nato overtaking Van Buuren. Rowland had a good rhythm after recovering well and reached Van Buuren, Buller, Ocon and Visser’s group. He got positions and just Van Buuren was left to overtake. While making the move both cars touched and Rowland lost one position while Van Buuren had to retire.
As just five minutes left, Sainz was still leading with Gasly around three seconds away. Vaxivière was the same away from second place and Sirotkin was ten seconds away from the lead, with Merhi close but unable to try the overtake. Last laps were tense with Nato overtaking Amberg and sending the AVF driver to the trackside as Rowland recovered Ocon’s position.
So that meant another victory for Carlos Sainz Jr, who takes profit from Merhi’s fifth position. The second driver in the championship saves himself after such a bad start with good driving. Now Sainz is thirty-one points in the lead, which means more than a race while just three are left. Sainz said this race was “not easy at all” and shows himself satisfied of “not making any error”. Gasly, on the other hand, takes second position and fastest lap in a podium with two local drivers.
Second race will take place tomorrow at 1:00 pm local time.
Results:
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Team | Gap | |
| 1 | 1 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | DAMS | After 22 Laps |
| 2 | 7 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Arden Motorsport | + 4,568 |
| 3 | 16 | Matthieu Vaxivière | FRA | Lotus | + 9,054 |
| 4 | 3 | Sergey Sirotkin | RUS | Fortec Motorsports | + 12,170 |
| 5 | 22 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Zeta Corse | + 17,957 |
| 6 | 15 | Marlon Stockinger | PHI | Lotus | + 18,670 |
| 7 | 6 | Luca Ghiotto | ITA | International Draco Racing | + 28,575 |
| 8 | 9 | Marco Sørensen | DEN | Tech 1 Racing | + 32,454 |
| 9 | 12 | Matias Laine | FIN | Strakka Racing | + 32,768 |
| 10 | 2 | Norman Nato | FRA | DAMS | + 33,433 |
| 11 | 20 | Zoel Amberg | SUI | AVF | + 37,474 |
| 12 | 11 | Will Stevens | GBR | Strakka Racing | + 38,632 |
| 13 | 4 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | + 39,260 |
| 14 | 28 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Comtec Racing | + 40,741 |
| 15 | 19 | Beitske Visser | NED | AVF | + 52,779 |
| 16 | 10 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Tech 1 Racing | + 54,512 |
| 17 | 8 | William Buller | GBR | Arden Motorsport | + 54,661 |
| 18 | 25 | Oscar Tunjo | COL | Pons Racing | + 57,267 |
| 19 | 27 | Cameron Twynham | GBR | Comtec Racing | + 57,672 |
| 20 | 26 | Meindert Van Buuren | NED | Pons Racing | – DNF – |
| 21 | 5 | Pietro Fantin | BRA | International Draco Racing | – DNF – |
| 22 | 17 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAS | ISR | – DNF – |