Less than a week after two thrilling races around Silverstone, Formula Three hit the racetrack again ahead of the 2020 Silverstone GP weekend.
Teams have had a week to analyse data from last weekend and make necessary changes with some reaping the rewards better than others, whereas championship leader – Oscar Piastri suffered a horrible Friday throughout Practice and Qualifying.
Practice
A quiet start saw Aleksandr Smolyar lead his ART GP teammates of Sebastian Fernandez and Theo Pourchaire out onto the track for installation laps, with the Charouz and Campos trios also venturing out for installation laps.
Alessio Deledda set the first representative time of a 1m 498.962 in the ninth minute, which was soon bettered by the Charouz duo of Roman Stanek then David Schumacher.
Richard Verschoor and Ben Barnicoat eventually went quicker before Prema’s Logan Sargeant found himself top at the halfway mark with a 1m 46.195, shortly before Oscar Piastri retired from the session at Chapel with a technical issue.
Sargeant immediately traded fastest laps with David Beckmann before the majority of runners opted to pit, ahead of a late qualifying simulation.
Beckmann eventually wound up as the fastest man in practice for the third time this season, ahead of Jack Doohan, Pourchaire, Sargeant and Liam Lawson who rounded out the top five.
Great Britain’s Jake Hughes was sixth fastest whilst Max Fewtrell was 12th quickest, ahead of Clement Novalak, Barnicoat and Olli Caldwell in 16, 18th and 26th positions respectively.
Qualifying
Embed from Getty ImagesART GP once again led the pack out onto track with Smolyar at front but with the HWA Racelab, Trident and Charouz trios all following out behind them.
Drivers soon traded fastest lap on their opening fliers with Prema’s Sargeant soon leading Piastri by 0.069s, as Lawson settled into third position until Hughes went fastest with a 1m 46.006.
Piastri soon improved on Hughes’ time until Sargeant produced a strong 1m 45.671 to put himself on course for pole at the end of the opening runs, as Piastri stopped at pit entry with another technical issue which required a push start from marshals to return to the pit lane.
Igor Fraga was first driver out for his final run just minutes later as the others soon followed, with Smolyar, Fernandez and Fittipaldi amongst a few who improved their time on their first effort of final runs as Piastri stopped at Brooklands to cause a red flag.
Once the session resumed, various drivers found time as Sargeant eventually took his second consecutive pole with a stunning 1m 45.063, ahead of Lawson and Hughes.
Frederik Vesti, Bent Viscaal, Pourchaire, Doohan, Beckmann, Ben Barnicoat and Lirim Zendeli round out the top ten, ahead of Piastri who will start Race One from 11th on the grid.
Apart from Hughes and Barnicoat who qualified in third and ninth, Clement Novalak finished as the highest placed Brit outside the top ten in 12th ahead of Max Fewtrell and Olli Caldwell in 16th and 23rd positions respectively.
Results
Practice
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | David Beckmann | Trident | 1m 45.195 |
| 2 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 0.273 |
| 3 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.305 |
| 4 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | + 0.337 |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.375 |
| 6 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 0.472 |
| 7 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | + 0.681 |
| 8 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 0.712 |
| 9 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 0.769 |
| 10 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 0.790 |
| 11 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 0.813 |
| 12 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | + 0.868 |
| 13 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 0.871 |
| 14 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.872 |
| 15 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | + 0.904 |
| 16 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 0.909 |
| 17 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.912 |
| 18 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | + 0.927 |
| 19 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 0.936 |
| 20 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.977 |
| 21 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 1.046 |
| 22 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 1.076 |
| 23 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 1.092 |
| 24 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 1.229 |
| 25 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 1.368 |
| 26 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 1.785 |
| 27 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 1.838 |
| 28 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | + 2.320 |
| 29 | David Schumacher | Charouz | + 2.919 |
| 30 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | +23.915 |
Qualifying
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 1m 45.063 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.234 |
| 3 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 0.344 |
| 4 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 0.521 |
| 5 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 0.534 |
| 6 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.567 |
| 7 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 0.573 |
| 8 | David Beckmann | Trident | + 0.615 |
| 9 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | + 0.702 |
| 10 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | + 0.796 |
| 11 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.814 |
| 12 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 0.830 |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 0.890 |
| 14 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 0.909 |
| 15 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 0.966 |
| 16 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | + 0.966 |
| 17 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.972 |
| 18 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 1.021 |
| 19 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 1.134 |
| 20 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 1.158 |
| 21 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 1.216 |
| 22 | David Schumacher | Charouz | + 1.328 |
| 23 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 1.366 |
| 24 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 1.496 |
| 25 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 1.557 |
| 26 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | + 1.624 |
| 27 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 1.648 |
| 28 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 2.075 |
| 29 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 2.179 |
| 30 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | + 2.797 |
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