After a fortnight in the Styrian mountains surrounding Spielberg, Formula Three moved onto Hungary for the opening day of 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend as the first triple-header concludes.
Prema’s Oscar Piastri entered this weekend as championship leader but Friday saw the the Australian and his F3 rivals all face tough difficult challenges as we bring a roundup of Practice and Qualifying.
Practice
In a quiet start to practice, Charouz’s Roman Stanek set the initial pace with a 1m 41.163 before Alex Peroni then David Beckmann went quickest on a rapidly drying track, in which MP Motorsport’s Lukas Dunner suffered damage to his front right suspension.
Dunner would eventually get back out towards the end of the session, setting the 22nd fastest time overall.
HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes meanwhile went fastest shortly before the halfway point with a 1m 33.260, leading Beckmann and Jack Doohan with the trip slit by 0.410s after 25 minutes of the session.
Shortly afterwards, stewards decided to randomly test the virtual safety car and once racing speed resumed, David Schumacher went top before everyone else unleashed their qualifying simulations which ultimately pushed the German down to 24th.
Beckmann ultimately finished as the fastest man in practice ahead of Trident teammate, Lirim Zendeli and ART GP’s Sebastien Fernandez, with Jake Hughes, Liam Lawson, Theo Pourchaire, Cameron Das, Doohan, Richard Verschoor and Aleksandr Smolyar rounding out the top ten.
Apart from Hughes who finished fourth, Olli Caldwell finished as the next best Brit in 12th position, ahead of Max Fewtrell in 15th position then Carlin’s Clement Novalak and Enaam Ahmed in 17th and 21st positions respectively.
Defending constructors’ champions, Prema had a disastrous practice with Logan Sargeant finishing in 24th, ahead of Frederik Vesti and Oscar Piastri in 27th and 28th positions respectively.
Qualifying
Initial attempts to run a wet qualifying saw Lirim Zendeli and Liam Lawson spin off the track at turn nine in torrential conditions, with the session delayed by five hours and ran in fading light.
Smolyar ultimately took best to the early evening conditions as he set the initial pace in the rearranged Qualifying session, only beaten by Oscar Piastri before quickly regaining pole position until Sargeant looked to had snatched pole by 0.012s.
The Russian youngster however hit straight back to take his maiden F3 pole with a 1m 51.348 and 0.258s quicker than Sargeant with Pourchaire slotting into third on the grid for the opening race of this weekend.
Vesti, Calan Williams, Piastri, Fernandez, Verschoor, Bent Viscaal and Dennis Hauger round out the top ten.
Trident’s Caldwell finished as the highest placed Brit in 12th position just ahead of Fewtrell who qualified 13th, whilst Hughes could only muster a lap good enough for 21st position ahead of Ahmed and Novalak in 23rd and 26th positions respectively.
Results
Practice
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | David Beckmann | Trident | 1m 31.839 |
| 2 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | + 0.010 |
| 3 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 0.031 |
| 4 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 0.109 |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.237 |
| 6 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.274 |
| 7 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 0.398 |
| 8 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 0.440 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.482 |
| 10 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.582 |
| 11 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 0.587 |
| 12 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 0.642 |
| 13 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 0.655 |
| 14 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 0.751 |
| 15 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | + 0.792 |
| 16 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.805 |
| 17 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 0.931 |
| 18 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 0.931 |
| 19 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 1.011 |
| 20 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 1.073 |
| 21 | Enaam Ahmed | Carlin | + 1.160 |
| 22 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 1.273 |
| 23 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | + 1.302 |
| 24 | David Schumacher | Charouz | + 1.378 |
| 25 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | + 1.625 |
| 26 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 1.630 |
| 27 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 1.731 |
| 28 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 1.815 |
| 29 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 1.850 |
| 30 | Alessi Deledda | Campos | + 3.483 |
Qualifying
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | 1m 51.348 |
| 2 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | + 0.258 |
| 3 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.366 |
| 4 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 0.880 |
| 5 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.904 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.930 |
| 7 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 0.940 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 1.004 |
| 9 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 1.112 |
| 10 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 1.123 |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 1.290 |
| 12 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 1.571 |
| 13 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | + 1.653 |
| 14 | David Beckmann | Trident | + 1.753 |
| 15 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 1.883 |
| 16 | David Schumacher | Charouz | + 1.935 |
| 17 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 1.948 |
| 18 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | + 1.985 |
| 19 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 2.084 |
| 20 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 2.131 |
| 21 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 2.153 |
| 22 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 2.300 |
| 23 | Enaam Ahmed | Carlin | + 2.403 |
| 24 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 2.507 |
| 25 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | + 2.589 |
| 26 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 2.643 |
| 27 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 2.652 |
| 28 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 2.895 |
| 29 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 3.432 |
| 30 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | + 6.107 |
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