Felix worked his way through an uninterrupted FIA Formula 3 European Championship free practice programme at the Norisring as on-track activities got underway on the streets of Nuremberg on Friday afternoon.
The full 80 minutes of practice took place under clear blue skies and in lovely summer temperatures, with all 26 drivers showing impressive maturity to gradually build their confidence around the barrier-lined venue and not a single red-flag stoppage hindering the acclimatisation process.
With the F3 cars being the first to venture out on track this weekend, the early stages of the session featured the standard street circuit procedure of cleaning up the racing line, with large amounts of dust initially being thrust off the ground as drivers began touring what is normally used as public roads.
Felix was on the pace from his first sequence of laps, ending up third on the timesheets at the halfway point of the session (less than a tenth off pace-setter Max Verstappen), although he would eventually drop back to seventh on the overall list as times continued to tumble in the second part of running after heading out on new tyres earlier than most of his rivals.
Verstappen stayed on top with a 48.387s best, while Felix dedicated the final stages of running to set-up comparisons and wound up 0.479s off the Dutchman.
As expected, lap times were incredibly close at the 2.3 km circuit, with a full 20 drivers covered by less than a second and the entire field bunched up by 1.522s.
Qualifying for the first race of the weekend takes place later this afternoon.
FELIX:
“A solid and trouble-free start to the weekend. We were on the pace in the first part of the session, but then we dropped back a little bit in the second half, which I think was mostly due to us completing our new-tyre run earlier than the others when the track was less rubbered-in. Qualifying is when it counts and I can’t wait to get out there; we’ve got a few things to work on before then, but I’m confident we’ll be in the running.”
RESULTS
Pos. | No | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30 | Max Verstappen / NED Van Amersfoort Racing | 33 | 48.387 | |
2 | 31 | Tom Blomqvist / GBR Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 30 | 48.472 | 00.085 |
3 | 3 | Lucas Auer / AUT kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport | 30 | 48.617 | 00.230 |
4 | 2 | Esteban Ocon / FRA Prema Powerteam | 38 | 48.684 | 00.297 |
5 | 25 | Antonio Fuoco / ITA Prema Powerteam | 38 | 48.855 | 00.468 |
6 | 21 | Félix Serrallés / USA Team West-TecF3 | 33 | 48.859 | 00.472 |
7 | 27 | Felix Rosenqvist / SWE kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport | 34 | 48.866 | 00.479 |
8 | 4 | Roy Nissany / ISR kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport | 33 | 48.875 | 00.488 |
9 | 15 | Jules Szymkowiak / NED Van Amersfoort Racing | 38 | 48.904 | 00.517 |
10 | 5 | Jordan King / GBR Carlin | 24 | 48.917 | 00.530 |
11 | 19 | Antonio Giovinazzi / ITA Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 31 | 48.922 | 00.535 |
12 | 11 | Richard Goddard / AUS ThreeBond with T-Sport | 34 | 48.927 | 00.540 |
13 | 1 | Nicholas Latifi / CAN Prema Powerteam | 34 | 48.976 | 00.589 |
14 | 28 | Jake Dennis / GBR Carlin | 34 | 48.984 | 00.597 |
15 | 20 | Sean Gelael / INA Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 29 | 49.054 | 00.667 |
16 | 18 | Tatiana Calderón / COL Jo Zeller Racing | 35 | 49.091 | 00.704 |
17 | 16 | Gustavo Menezes / USA Van Amersfoort Racing | 29 | 49.144 | 00.757 |
18 | 26 | Dennis van de Laar / NED Prema Powerteam | 33 | 49.147 | 00.760 |
19 | 9 | Mitchell Gilbert / AUS Fortec Motorsports | 36 | 49.162 | 00.775 |
20 | 14 | Felipe Guimaraes / BRA Double R Racing | 31 | 49.302 | 00.915 |
21 | 8 | Michele Beretta / ITA Eurointernational | 29 | 49.480 | 01.093 |
22 | 12 | Alexander Toril / ESP ThreeBond with T-Sport | 30 | 49.610 | 01.223 |
23 | 29 | Santino Ferrucci / USA Eurointernational | 30 | 49.625 | 01.238 |
24 | 10 | John Bryant-Meisner / SWE Fortec Motorsports | 36 | 49.656 | 01.269 |
25 | 17 | Sandro Zeller / SUI Jo Zeller Racing | 28 | 49.818 | 01.431 |
26 | 22 | Hector Hurst / GBR Team West-TecF3 | 31 | 49.909 | 01.522 |