Roundup of FIA Formula’s Three two-day test as teams got pre-season underway with record-breaking lap times.
Following postponements of their first two pre-season tests as a result of travel restrictions, all ten teams were raring to go, although it was eventually MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet who set the pace upon completion of this first pre-season test.
Day One
Although nearly every driver was straight out on track once the light went green, a majority of drivers opted to pit after their installation laps, with Charouz’s Reshad De Gerus the first to set a competitive lap time at 1m 20.893.
Carlin’s Jonny Edgar however was the first driver to set a time below the 80 seconds barrier during qualifying simulations, although he eventually had to settle for tenth at the end of the morning session as Clement Novalak finished fastest for Trident with a 1m 19.162 ahead of MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet.
Only five drivers eventually bettered Novalak’s time after a lunch break as ART’s Alexandr Smolyar set a new lap record of 1m 18.894 to top the first day of pre-season.
Edgar recovered to second ahead of Frederik Vesti, Jak Crawford and Dennis Hauger as Novalak concluded the opening day of testing sixth quickest.
Two red flags however marred proceedings as Olivier Rasmussen went off at Turn 8 midway through the morning session, before Laszio Toth came to a halt during the afternoon session with a mechanical issue.
HWA Racelab’s Matteo Nannini was tenth quickest on his return to F3 with 92 laps – more than any other driver, after scoring a point across his first round of F2 in Bahrain last weekend, as he commences a dual 2021 campaign across F2 and F3.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Alexandr Smolyar | ART GP | 1m 18.894 | pm |
| 2 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin | + 0.142 | pm |
| 3 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 0.162 | pm |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 0.191 | pm |
| 5 | Dennis Hauger | Prema | + 0.216 | pm |
| 6 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 0.268 | am |
| 7 | Roman Stanek | Hitech GP | + 0.303 | pm |
| 8 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz | + 0.304 | pm |
| 9 | Jack Doohan | Trident | + 0.344 | pm |
| 10 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | + 0.394 | pm |
| 11 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | + 0.428 | pm |
| 12 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport | + 0.470 | am |
| 13 | Michael Belov | Charouz | + 0.512 | pm |
| 14 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.528 | pm |
| 15 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART GP | + 0.562 | pm |
| 16 | David Schumacher | Trident | + 0.573 | pm |
| 17 | Olli Caldwell | Prema | + 0.597 | pm |
| 18 | Arthur Leclerc | Prema | + 0.615 | pm |
| 19 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA Racelab | + 0.621 | pm |
| 20 | Kaylen Frederick | Carlin | + 0.671 | pm |
| 21 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA Racelab | + 0.748 | pm |
| 22 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | Jenzer | + 0.817 | pm |
| 23 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos | + 0.846 | pm |
| 24 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos | + 0.867 | pm |
| 25 | Reshad De Gerus | Charouz | + 1.039 | pm |
| 26 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech GP | + 1.048 | pm |
| 27 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer | + 1.204 | am |
| 28 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | + 1.264 | pm |
| 29 | Tijmen Van Der Helm | MP Motorsport | + 1.514 | pm |
| 30 | Laszio Toth | Campos | + 1.841 | am |
Day Two
Snow greeted teams at the start of day two but once the flaky weather disappeared, Jak Crawford set the early pace for Hitech with a 1m 19.278.
Times soon afterwards began to rapidly tumble with Jenzer’s Calan Williams surpassing Smolyar’s lap record by 0.058s with a 1m 18.836 to top the morning session as seven drivers broke the 79s barrier.
Crawford soon proceeded to begin the afternoon session by posting a 1m 18.775 which was soon bettered by only Hauger and Collet, as the latter topped pre-season testing with a 1m 18.592 which was 0.119s quicker than Hauger as Crawford settled for third ahead of Edgar and Williams who round out the top five.
There however were a few stoppages throughout the day as Tijmen Van der Helm and Jack Doohan spun off at Turns Six and Seven in the morning, before Williams and De Gerus stopped at Turn 10 in the afternoon session plus Ayumu Iwasa’s Hitech grinded to a halt on the main straight during the afternoon.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | 1m 18.592 | pm |
| 2 | Dennis Hauger | Prema | + 0.119 | pm |
| 3 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 0.183 | pm |
| 4 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin | + 0.199 | pm |
| 5 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.244 | am |
| 6 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | + 0.266 | am |
| 7 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 0.288 | pm |
| 8 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | + 0.294 | pm |
| 9 | Michael Belov | Charouz | + 0.302 | pm |
| 10 | Kaylen Frederick | Carlin | + 0.309 | am |
| 11 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport | + 0.320 | am |
| 12 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz | + 0.389 | am |
| 13 | Olli Caldwell | Prema | + 0.401 | pm |
| 14 | Alexandr Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.413 | pm |
| 15 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos | + 0.438 | pm |
| 16 | Roman Stanek | Hitech GP | + 0.462 | pm |
| 17 | David Schumacher | Trident | + 0.494 | am |
| 18 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART GP | + 0.597 | am |
| 19 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA Racelab | + 0.685 | am |
| 20 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | Jenzer | + 0.704 | pm |
| 21 | Jack Doohan | Trident | + 0.731 | am |
| 22 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech GP | + 0.753 | pm |
| 23 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | + 0.813 | am |
| 24 | Arthur Leclerc | PREMA | + 0.823 | pm |
| 25 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA Racelab | + 1.007 | am |
| 26 | Reshad De Gerus | Charouz | + 1.033 | am |
| 27 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer | + 1.072 | pm |
| 28 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos | + 1.164 | pm |
| 29 | Laszio Toth | Campos | + 1.230 | am |
| 30 | Tijmen Van Der Helm | MP Motorsport | + 1.550 | am |
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