Formula Three head to Mugello for the final round of this 2020 season as six drivers remain in the hunt for the title as drivers took to the track for Practice and Qualifying.
With six drivers still in the title hunt coming into this final weekend of the season at a new circuit, Practice and Qualifying certainly proved decisive as drivers focused not just on learning the circuit but also understanding the tyre compound which eventually threw up an interesting grid for Race One.
Here is a full roundup of Practice and Qualifying action.
Practice
Everyone was straight out for installation laps as they all began to get to grips with Mugello for the first time, with Hitech’s Dennis Hauger setting the initial pace until HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes imposed his authority minutes later with a 1m 38.011 as everyone continued to adapt to the circuit with times falling with every flying lap attempted.
Lirim Zendeli and Jack Doohan then snatched top spot in 14th and 15th minutes until Hughes posted a session topping time of 1m 36.423 just one minute later.
Jenzer’s Matteo Nannini continued his strong form of recent weeks as he popped up in fourth just five minutes afterwards, as drivers switched focus to long runs with Hughes leading David Beckmann and Zendeli come the halfway mark with just 0.252 seconds separating the trio.
Race simulations soon dominated the closing stages with just a few drivers opting for new tyres as Hughes eventually held on to top the session from Zendeli who improved to second, albeit 0.008s off the Brit but ahead of Hauger, Beckmann, Theo Pourchaire, Nannini, Sebastian Fernandez, Sargeant, Frederik Vesti and Liam Lawson who rounded out the top ten.
Championship leader, Oscar Piastri was down in 13th and 0.744s off Hughes’ pace ahead of a crucial qualifying session as the Aussie had a five place grid penalty lingering over his head.
Qualifying
As often has been the case this season, the Trident trio of Zendeli, Beckmann and Olli Caldwell were first out on track with Beckmann leading the initial pace across both fliers on the opening runs, with his provisional pole time only bettered by Hughes who posted 1m 36.060 to go 0.009s quicker than the German with Sargeant, Vesti and Piastri rounding out the top five.
Fellow title contenders, Pourchaire and Lawson were sat in seventh and 12th after their initial efforts, although the latter found himself demoted to 13th shortly afterwards when Nannini jumped up to 12th once majority of drivers pitted.
Zendeli eventually clinched pole on the first flier of his second run with a 1m 35.328 to take his second pole in three rounds as everyone improved, with Sargeant outqualifying Hughes, Vesti, Enzo Fittipaldi, Fernandez, Pourchaire, Beckmann, Hauger and Aleksandr Smolyar.
Sargeant however will drop to fifth as he takes a three place grid penalty whilst Piastri could only manage to qualify 11th, but a five place drop will see him start Race One from 16th on the grid.
Clement Novalak meanwhile is set to start from the back of the grid after collecting a five place penalty for spinning Piastri out of the second race at Monza last weekend, having only managed to qualify 23rd and 1.209s off Zendeli’s pole time.
Hauger post session was handed a three place penalty for impeding Novalak and will therefore start Race One from 12th place on the grid, whilst Michael Belov will start 23rd after he was found to had impeded Cameron Das with both him and Hauger judged to have allowed faster cars past much later than they ought to have done.
Results
Practice
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 1m 36.423 |
| 2 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | + 0.008 |
| 3 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 0.131 |
| 4 | David Beckmann | Trident | + 0.196 |
| 5 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.257 |
| 6 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 0.390 |
| 7 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 0.438 |
| 8 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | + 0.448 |
| 9 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 0.457 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.484 |
| 11 | Michael Belov | Charouz | + 0.663 |
| 12 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 0.690 |
| 13 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.744 |
| 14 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.745 |
| 15 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 0.772 |
| 16 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 0.892 |
| 17 | David Schumacher | Carlin | + 0.903 |
| 18 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.919 |
| 19 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 0.928 |
| 20 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 1.136 |
| 21 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 1.152 |
| 22 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 1.326 |
| 23 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 1.521 |
| 24 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 1.590 |
| 25 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 1.721 |
| 26 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 1.855 |
| 27 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 2.377 |
| 28 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | + 2.485 |
Qualifying
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 1m 35.328 |
| 2 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | + 0.034 |
| 3 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 0.125 |
| 4 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | + 0.220 |
| 5 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | + 0.233 |
| 6 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | + 0.266 |
| 7 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.303 |
| 8 | David Beckmann | Trident | + 0.318 |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | + 0.354 |
| 10 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.365 |
| 11 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.371 |
| 12 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | + 0.613 |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.671 |
| 14 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.715 |
| 15 | Alex Peroni | Campos | + 0.766 |
| 16 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | + 0.807 |
| 17 | David Schumacher | Carlin | + 0.838 |
| 18 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 0.848 |
| 19 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | + 0.903 |
| 20 | Michael Belov | Charouz | + 0.991 |
| 21 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer | + 1.036 |
| 22 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | + 1.149 |
| 23 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 1.209 |
| 24 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | + 1.278 |
| 25 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 1.525 |
| 26 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | + 1.551 |
| 27 | Cameron Das | Carlin | + 2.243 |
| 28 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | + 2.247 |
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