PREMA’s Arthur Leclerc topped F3 Qualifying for 2021 Hungarian Race Three to clinch his maiden pole position in the series.
Leclerc recovered from a shaky practice session to produce his pole lap during his second run of Qualifying, which proved enough to claim pole with 1m 33.164 ahead of PREMA teammate, Dennis Hauger in a front-row lockout for the Italian team.
Now here is a full roundup of F3’s action on Friday of the 2021 Hungarian round covering Practice and Qualifying.
Practice
A frantic start saw some drivers opt for two warm-up laps whereas others were quickly up to speed and posting quick laps, with ART GP’s Frederik Vesti emerging quickest in the opening 15 minutes with 1m 35.723.
Trident three minutes later went top as Clement Novalak headed Jack Doohan only for David Schumacher to displace them a minute later with 1m 35.313 ahead of MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet, until Dennis Hauger put his PREMA top in the 21st minute with a 1m 35.270.
Collet proceeded to displace the Norwegian with Olli Caldwell then going quickest at the 25 minute mark with 1m 34.958, as the Brit led Collet and Hauger with 20 minutes left of Practice.
Hauger soon afterwards improved but Caldwell went quicker until Doohan took top spot on 1m 34.512 before times rapidly tumbled during final runs, with Aleksandr Smolyar emerging quickest on 1m 33.112 at end of Practice ahead of Hauger by 0.182 seconds.
Jake Hughes meanwhile enjoyed an impressive return after standing in for Kaylen Frederick at Carlin due to injury, as the Brit finished seventh quickest and 0.579s off Smolyar’s lap time.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | 1m 33.112 |
| 2 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.182 |
| 3 | David Schumacher | Trident | + 0.314 |
| 4 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 0.337 |
| 5 | Olli Caldwell | PREMA | + 0.497 |
| 6 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 0.503 |
| 7 | Jake Hughes | Carlin | + 0.579 |
| 8 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos | + 0.609 |
| 9 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech GP | + 0.631 |
| 10 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | + 0.640 |
| 11 | Arthur Leclerc | PREMA | + 0.702 |
| 12 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin | + 0.719 |
| 13 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA Racelab | + 0.897 |
| 14 | Johnathan Hoggard | Jenzer | + 0.903 |
| 15 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 1.145 |
| 16 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART GP | + 1.306 |
| 17 | Jack Doohan | Trident | + 1.400 |
| 18 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | + 1.421 |
| 19 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 1496 |
| 20 | Roman Stanek | Hitech GP | + 1.584 |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos | + 1.666 |
| 22 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | + 1.736 |
| 23 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA Racelab | + 1.784 |
| 24 | Reshad De Gerus | Charouz | + 1.964 |
| 25 | Laszlo Toth | Campos | + 2.006 |
| 26 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer | + 2.206 |
| 27 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 2.243 |
| 28 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport | + 2.358 |
| 29 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz | + 2.524 |
| 30 | Tijmen Van Der Helm | MP Motorsport | + 3.260 |
Qualifying
Doohan led the pack out for Qualifying but Campos’ Lorenzo Colombo emerged as a surprise pole-sitter after opting for two early fliers after just one warm-up lap, as he posted 1m 33.805 on his second lap to go top from Doohan and Hauger.
Some drivers quickly retreated to the pits following completion of their first runs before quickly heading out on fresh tyres, with Arthur Leclerc going quickest on 1m 33.164 ahead of Doohan, Schumacher, Novalak and Hauger ahead of third and final runs.
Come the checkered flag, very few drivers managed to improve as Leclerc claimed his maiden F3 pole position, although he did claim reverse pole for French Race Two from which he took victory.
Hauger meanwhile completes a PREMA one-two front row lockout after qualifying second ahead of Doohan, Schumacher, Novalak, Smolyar, Vesti, Logan Sargeant, Olli Caldwell and Ayumu Iwasa who complete the top ten.
Hughes meanwhile marked his first F3 Qualifying appearance of this season by finishing 18th quickest and 0.949s off Leclerc’s pole time.
Post-Qualifying, Vesti was hit with a three-place drop for Race One which means that the Dane will start ninth after being found guilty of driving unnecessarily slowly between Turns 12-14 and impeding several drivers.
Jonny Edgar will start Saturday’s (31 July) Race One from reverse-pole position ahead of Colombo with Iwasa rounding out the first three grid slots.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Arthur Leclerc | PREMA | 1m 33.164 |
| 2 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.089 |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | Trident | + 0.096 |
| 4 | David Schumacher | Trident | + 0.120 |
| 5 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 0.167 |
| 6 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | + 0.265 |
| 7 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 0.285 |
| 8 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz | + 0.468 |
| 9 | Olli Caldwell | PREMA | + 0.540 |
| 10 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech GP | + 0.613 |
| 11 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos | + 0.641 |
| 12 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin | + 0.714 |
| 13 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | + 0.840 |
| 14 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART GP | + 0.858 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | Hitech GP | + 0.861 |
| 16 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | + 0.873 |
| 17 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 0.907 |
| 18 | Jake Hughes | Carlin | + 0.949 |
| 19 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos | + 0.960 |
| 20 | Tijmen Van Der Helm | MP Motorsport | + 1.078 |
| 21 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA Racelab | + 1.086 |
| 22 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 1.092 |
| 23 | Johnathan Hoggard | Jenzer | + 1.221 |
| 24 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport | + 1.354 |
| 25 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | + 1.421 |
| 26 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | + 1.450 |
| 27 | Reshad De Gerus | Charouz | + 1.623 |
| 28 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA Racelab | + 1.723 |
| 29 | Laszlo Toth | Campos | + 1.752 |
| 30 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer | + 1.904 |
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