The Hobart driver finished third in the 24-lap race in Austria.

It was the first race of the category's revised 2020 eight-round calendar and was held at the Red Bull Ring at Spielberg.

Representing Campos Racing, Peroni finished 3.017 seconds behind race winner Oscar Piastri (Prima Racing).

Peroni, who turns 21 in November, was pictured on social media celebrating the result with engineer Andrea Rocchetto, who previously worked with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

Peroni finished 20^th in last year's championship.

The former karter graduated from Formula Renault where he finished sixth and ninth respectively in the Northern European Cup and Eurocup events in 2018.

Sitting third in the championship behind Piastri and teammate Logan Sargeant, Peroni faces upcoming races in Hungary, England, Spain and Belgium.

The season finale will be in September at Monza almost exactly a year after Peroni's horrific crash at the famous Italian circuit when he suffered a broken back after clipping a corner kerb at 250 kilometres per hour.

The Formula 3 calendar continue with a second event at Spielberg next week.

Series organisers said: "We currently expect the events will take place without fans, with the hope to have them included in future rounds later this year."