He had dropped down to fourth on the first lap when he came off worst from three Carlin Motorsport team-mates going into the first corner side-by-side at the head of the field. Oliver Turvey grabbed the inside line and held off Jaime Alguersuari, while Hartley had to run wide and was passed by John Martin on the exit.
But the New Zealander kept his head and began a textbook charge back to the front of the field. He picked off Martin on the next lap and quickly chased down Alguersuari before diving inside his fellow Red Bull driver at the Club Chicane. It took him a few laps to close up to the rear wing of Turvey and the fight for the lead lasted just a couple more laps until Hartley made the decisive move at the chicane.
He was able to break the tow as Turvey and Marcus Ericsson battled over second place and had the luxury of a two-second cushion for the remaining laps.
"Three into one was never going to work at the start so I had to get out of that, but even when I got slipstreamed down to fourth I kept my cool because I knew I was fast enough to get it all back after qualifying," Hartley told autosport.com.
"I picked them off one by one and once I'd broken the tow I was away. I really want a second strong result this afternoon, though. I've had too many good results followed by bad ones, it's important to put a run together."
Ericsson did his best to give chase to Hartley, but it took him two laps to depose Turvey and once the tow was broken he didn't have enough pace to close the gap again. He was able to trade tenths with Hartley, and set the fastest lap, but was left still waiting for his elusive first F3 victory.
"It was quite easy to pass people up to second and I thought I'd be able to close up quickly, but he just kept the gap the same," he said. "If I'd passed Turvey a lap earlier I might have been able to have a fight over the lead but once the tyres started to go off I realised I wasn't going to catch him and had to take another second."
Turvey held onto third, ahead of Carlin team-mate Sam Abay and Fortec's Sebastian Hohenthal, who had quiet races in fourth and fifth.
The championship fight has closed up after the race with the top three failing to add significant points to their tallies. Atte Mustonen and Sergio Perez finished sixth and seventh, while Alguersuari scored no points when he dropped out with a puncture.
He struggled for pace with a slow puncture from the start, and made contact with John Martin as the pair fought over fourth place. He limped on with the wounded tyre until it finally gave way and he pitted to retire. Martin, meanwhile, lost out on what would have been his best drive of the year when the contact with Alguersuari sent him spinning off the road and down to the tail of the field.
Andy Meyrick took another National Class victory, but had to soak up increasing pressure from Jay Bridger in the last few laps. Bridger caught Meyrick as the pair passed Max Chilton and had a couple of runs up the hill to the chicane, but Meyrick was able to defend the place comfortably in the end.
Pos Driver Team Car Time 1. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/M 27:09.455 2. Marcus Ericsson Fortec D/M +2.296 3. Oliver Turvey Carlin D/M +6.587 4. Sam Abay Carlin D/M +8.202 5. Sebastian Hohenthal Fortec D/M +13.799 6. Atte Mustonen Double R D/M +15.926 7. Sergio Perez T-Sport D/H +17.088 8. Nick Tandy JTR M/M +19.154 9. Michael Devaney Ultimate M/M +22.081 10. Henry Arundel Double R D/M +26.201 11. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M +29.706 12. Andy Meyrick Carlin (N) D/H +35.122 13. Jay Bridger Fluid (N) D/H +35.727 14. Max Chilton Hitech D/M +37.403 15. Steven Guerrero T-Sport (N) D/H +39.443 16. Philip Major Fortec D/M +41.383 17. John Martin Double R D/M +54.970 18. Kristjan Einar Carlin (N) D/H +57.869 19. Hywel Lloyd CF (N) D/H +58.417 20. Jordan Williams Loctite (N) D/H +1:09.038 21. Stefan Wilson Fluid (N) D/H +1:20.046 22. Viktor Jensen Nexa D/H +2 laps 23. Salman Al-Khalifa T-Sport (N) D/H +3 laps Retirements: Pos Driver Team Car Laps Jaime Alguersuari Carlin D/M 18 laps Alistair Jackson Ultimate M/M 15 laps Ricardo Teixeira Ultimate M/M 9 laps Fastest lap, Ericsson 1:07.228 on lap 5D/M = Dallara Mercedes, M/M = Mygale Mercedes, D/H = Dallara Honda
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