Roundup of an eventful Friday of Formula Three action as the title battle continues to take centre stage, with entertaining Practice and Qualifying sessions which saw the title contenders jostle for pole position
Oscar Piastri enters this British Grand Prix as championship leader but with several drivers looking to reduce his lead with just six rounds left, Practice and Qualifying proved to be entertaining events with two different timesheet toppers.
Now, here is our roundup of the biggest events from across both sessions which saw two different timesheet toppers.
Practice
A quiet start to Practice saw half of the field do installation laps whilst others went for at least two warm up laps if not more, with Ben Barnicoat winding up fastest in the opening ten minutes on his F3 debut with a 1m 48.484 as he replaced Enaam Ahmed who left Carlin.
Times however soon tumbled as everyone hit the track with Prema’s Logan Sargeant atop of the timesheets at the halfway point of session, ahead of the Trident duo – Lirim Zendeli and David Beckmann as Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan rounded out the top five.
Oscar Piastri then lit up the timesheets with a 1m 46.467 shortly before a Virtual Safety Car was thrown for a fallen bollard on pit entry.
A frantic final few minutes saw Liam Lawson go top with a 1m 46.465 only for Piastri to better his time by just 0.002s, although two-time race winner, Theo Pourchaire set the fastest lap of session at the death with a 1m 46.348 to finish 0.115s quicker than Piastri.
Great Britain’s Jake Hughes had a difficult start to his home race weekend but produced a last gasp lap to finish fourth ahead of Beckmann, Sargeant, Alex Peroni, Richard Verschoor, Calan Williams and British compatriot – Max Fewtrell to round out the top ten.
Further down the field, Clement Novalak posted the 22nd fastest time ahead of new Carlin teammate, Barnicoat who was 0.044s quicker than Prema’s Frederik Vesti.
Qualifying
Pourchaire led the field out for Qualifying with track temperatures lingering just under 50 degrees Celsius, of which he proceeded to set the first timed lap of a 1m 47.397 before Trident’s David Beckmann displaced him immediately with a 1m 47.002.
Lawson went fastest soon afterwards with 1m 46.931 before Piastri went top by 0.203s, only for his Prema teammate – Logan Sargeant to displace him with a 1m 46.629 shortly afterwards with Frederik Vesti rounding out the top three for Prema at halfway mark.
Final runs saw several improvements as Lawson and Piastri quickly traded fastest laps, until Sargeant snatched pole from Lawson with a super flier of 1m 46.257 to cut his deficit to Piastri to 22 points and take a maiden F3 pole.
Hitech GP’s Max Fewtrell enjoyed a season best qualifying result of fourth ahead of Vesti, Sebastian Fernandez, Hughes, Zendeli, Smolyar and Novalak.
Further down the field, Campos’ Sophia Floersch qualified 16th and ahead of her two male teammates in Alex Peroni and Alessio Deledda who qualified in 18th and 30th positions.
Great Britain’s Olli Caldwell ended Qualifying in 17th position whilst Ben Barnicoat will start his first F3 race from 20th.
Results
Practice
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 1m 46.348 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.115 |
| 3 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.117 |
| 4 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 0.256 |
| 5 | David Beckmann | Trident | + 0.289 |
| 6 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | + 0.415 |
| 7 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 0.430 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.540 |
| 9 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.608 |
| 10 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | + 0.663 |
| 11 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | + 0.677 |
| 12 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | + 0.678 |
| 13 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 0.681 |
| 14 | David Schumacher | Charouz | + 0.769 |
| 15 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 0.775 |
| 16 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 0.806 |
| 17 | Alexander Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.822 |
| 18 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 0.893 |
| 19 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 0.931 |
| 20 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 0.974 |
| 21 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 0.996 |
| 22 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 1.065 |
| 23 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | + 1.221 |
| 24 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 1.265 |
| 25 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 1.435 |
| 26 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 1.438 |
| 27 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 1.537 |
| 28 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 1.543 |
| 29 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | + 1.870 |
| 30 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 2.989 |
Qualifying
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 1m 46.257 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.058 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.126 |
| 4 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | + 0.473 |
| 5 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 0.528 |
| 6 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 0.639 |
| 7 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 0.653 |
| 8 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | + 0.684 |
| 9 | Alexander Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.684 |
| 10 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 0.729 |
| 11 | David Beckmann | Trident | + 0.745 |
| 12 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.787 |
| 13 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 0.891 |
| 14 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.905 |
| 15 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.920 |
| 16 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 1.087 |
| 17 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 1.125 |
| 18 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 1.137 |
| 19 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 1.172 |
| 20 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | + 1.205 |
| 21 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 1.217 |
| 22 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 1.247 |
| 23 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 1.367 |
| 24 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | + 1.399 |
| 25 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 1.410 |
| 26 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 1.460 |
| 27 | David Schumacher | Charouz | + 1.474 |
| 28 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 1.980 |
| 29 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 2.032 |
| 30 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | + 2.127 |
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