Lewis Hamilton took a nail-biting victoꦑry in the first-ever Bahrain F3 Super▨prix, beating fellow Euroseries runners Nico Rosberg and Jamie Green after coming from eleventh on the grid.

The result appear🐎ed to be in no doubt with just a handful of laps left, but it was new Euroseries champion Green at the front of the field at that point, and leading comfortably from a group including Rosberg, Hamilton, Fabio Carbone and Richard Antinucci. Then the safety car re-appeared to facilitate the𝕴 recovery of an accident between Ho Pin Tung and Daisuke Ikeda at turn one and, at the restart, it was Hamilton who proved to be most awake, vaulting past both his rivals to assume control on the final dash to the flag.

Hamilton had started🌠 the day 22nd on the grid after an accident in qualifying yesterday [Thursday], but two spectacular race restarts helped him to victory. He was eleventh by the end of the first lap of the morning qualification race, but failed to make up any more ground thereafter, leaving him to start the finale from row six of the grid. However, he again made a superb getaway - to be fourth at the end of the first lap.

The Manor man's progress continued over the next couple of𝔍 tours, moving up to second after passing Fabio Carbone and Rosberg, but still he had Green, the winner of the qualifying race, ahead of him - and looking a sure bet for the win.

Hamilton looked more likely to have to settle for a podium finish after Rosberg re-took second from him in the middle of the race, the Briton suf🌠fering from rear tyre wear as a result of his charging drive. However, that late-race safety car intervention bunched the field up and gave him one last chance to go for the wi💖n.

When t🌠he pace car pulled off and racing resumed, it was the silver-and-black Manor c🍌ar that reacted fastest and, while Rosberg and Green watched and battled each other down to the second hairpin, Hamilton slipped through almost unnoticed to take the lead.

Green, who had been poised to nicely book-end his F3 career with race wins, was to be further disappointed as Rosberg also drafted past the ASM car, and the Briton - who leaves single-seaters for the DTM next season - briefly dropped out of the top three as Lucas di Grassi also slipped through. However, the Brazilian then made a
mistake, allowing Green to recover the lost ground - and salvage a spot on the podium at the e🅷nd of a race that seemed to be his for the taking.

Th🅺e result was a good one for the Euroseries, which claimed the top three places, but Hamilton knew that he had been in a battle having had to hold on for the final lap-and-a-half as Rosberg closed in. At the flag, just seven-tenths of a second split the two cars, with Green some three seconds further back.

"I am just overwhelmed," Hamilton admittedꦇ, "I was just trying to preserve what I had in third - I couldn't even stay with Nico. I have to say that I was pretty happy to see t🍎he safety car bunching the field up - and I anticipated the restart just right."

Despite having been pushed hard all th💃e way to the line, the Briton was also happy to see his former kartingও team-mate joining him on the podium.

"Nico and I𓄧 have been friends and team-mates for a long tim👍e, so it is fantastic to come away first and second," he grinned.

Rosberg knew that he could have been♏ the man standing on top of the podium, but was happy enough to have taken a second place that, prior to the pace car appearing, appeared unlikely.

"I was pleased to get a last chance to overtake Jamie, but we both got it wrong just after the safety car though," he said of his move on Green at the restart, "I'm pleased with second though. This was a fantastic place to drive and overtake on - perhaps the best track I have ever driven on."

The Bahrain International Circuit came in for praise from all angles, and was singled out by all 31 drivers as an exceptiona𓆏l venue. Race winner Hamil🍸ton echoed Rosberg's claim that "the track and facilities are amazing", reckoning that he had "never seen anything like it".

The final Superprix result was delayed while the stewards awaited an appeal against the 25-second time penalty that dropped likely fourth-place man di Grassi🐓 to an eventual 19th, but showed another Briton, James Rossiter, in fourth place. The erstwhile Fortec racer, running with French team Signature in both Macau and Bahrain, had had, if anything, a more fraught qualifying day than Hamilton, but somehow transformed 31st and last on the first race grid into fourth by the final flag of the day.

The Briton had already made up to 19th after the eight lap qualification race, then stormed through the field to be in just the right place when di Grassi received his penalty for overtaking under the safety car. Rossiter wasꦗ thus the first non-Euroseries driver home, albeit running with a team that h✃as been a mainstay of the continental competition.

Carbone completed the top five, ahead of Marko Asmer, but there was to be no high position finish for Japanese series rivals Richard Antinucci and Ronnie Quintarelli, who rounded out ♑the list of classified finishers in 21st and 22nd positions respectively after battling for a possible podium during the race. Their demise alloweℱd the TOM's driver's team-mate, Kazuki Nakajima, to uphold Japanese honour in seventh place, with Loic Duval, Alex Premat and Ernesto Viso completing the top ten, all after strong recovery drives from lowly start positions.

Among them, Macau winner Pr⛄emat deserved special mention, having converted 29th on the grid - following a race one retirement - into ninth by🍨 the chequered flag. The Frenchman was also caught up in an accident involving Danilo Dirani and Ross Zwolsman on lap one, suffered a damaged tyre, pitted for a replacement and rejoined the race in last place.

Am♍ong the day's biggest losers, however, was Franck Perera, who had ended Thursday by celebrating his first ever pole position and top spot for the qualification race. The achievement clearly got to the Frenchman, who duly stalled his Prema Powerteam car at the start. The mistake dropped him to last place and effectively out of contention for the SuperPrix, where he trailed home in 20thౠ spot, a lap down.

The 20-lap final featured several notable retirements, including Brazilian duo Nelson Piquet Jr and Danilo Dirani, who had battled together in the qualification race. The new British F3 champion was the victim of a clash with di Grassi, damaging suspension and dropping out on lap five. Joining him on the sidelin🐓es was the next British star, Paul di Resta, whose impressive Manor Motorsport debut ca🧸me to a premature end at half-distance.