Roundup of the 2024 F3 pre-season test in Sakhir, Bahrain as Luke Browning set the pace heading into the new campaign.
The three-day pre-season test marked the only chance for drivers and teams to build their relationships up ahead of the season, whilst some drivers who stuck with their teams from 2023 focused on strengthening the car set-ups, data gathering and understanding of tyres and strategies.
Bahrain however threw a surprise curveball on the opening day before conditions improved throughout the remainder of the test, so here is a full roundup of all three days of running.
Day One
Rodin Motorsport rookie, Callum Voisin led the field out onto the track as the light went green to commence pre-season testing, but it was Jenzer’s Charlie Wurz who set the pace in the opening hour of 2m 00.598 ahead of teammate, Matias Zagazeta.
Heavy rain soon hit the track which saw everyone retreat to the pit lane until the sun returned in the final ten minutes of the morning session, which led to a flurry of flying laps from which MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne emerged quickest with 1m 59.516.
Once the afternoon session began, Hitech GP’s Luke Browning quickly lowered the benchmark time to 1m 56.257, only to be displaced by Sophia Floersch then Noel Leon amongst other drivers as track conditions eventually improved at a rapid pace.
With just one hour left on the clock, PREMA’s Gabriele Mini surged to the top of the timesheet with 1m 46.942, until a final flurry of flying laps saw Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Noel Leon top the timsheet from Oliver Goethe and Tim Tramnitz.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Noel Leon | VAR | 1m 46.657 |
| 2 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | + 0.015 |
| 3 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | + 0.171 |
| 4 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | + 0.277 |
| 5 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.285 |
| 6 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 0.296 |
| 7 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 0.403 |
| 8 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 0.468 |
| 9 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | + 0.537 |
| 10 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 0.551 |
| 11 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | + 0.624 |
| 12 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | + 0.779 |
| 13 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 0.824 |
| 14 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | + 0.895 |
| 15 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.916 |
| 16 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | + 0.929 |
| 17 | Mari Boya | Campos | + 0.937 |
| 18 | Nikita Bedin | PHM Racing | + 0.947 |
| 19 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | + 0.962 |
| 20 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | + 1.107 |
| 21 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | + 1.145 |
| 22 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | + 1.525 |
| 23 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | + 1.557 |
| 24 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | + 1.800 |
| 25 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | + 1.807 |
| 26 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | + 1.818 |
| 27 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | + 2.724 |
| 28 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | + 3.309 |
| 29 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | + 4.298 |
| 30 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | + 4.615 |
Day Two
The second day of running saw massive improvement in track conditions as teams quickly filed out of the pit lane to gather data in more representative conditions, with Tsolov fastest after the opening hour as Browning sat 0.264s behind in second place.
MP Motorsport’s Sztuka soon set the pace with 1m 48.453 only for Campos’ Boya to further lower the benchmark to 1m 46.964, until Wurz bettered his lap time by one-thousandth of a second, which saw the Austrian top the morning session with 1m 46.963.
There were no red flags until Jenzer’s Esterson pulled over midway through the afternoon session, which proved to be the only stoppge of the day as drivers eventually began to push hard on their one-lap pace in the closing stages.
As the checkered flag fell, Browning emerged fastest with 1m 46.819 ahead of Dunne by 0.066s, whilst Wurz’s fastest lap time set in the morning saw him finish third quickest in the overall order across both sessions.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 1m 46.819 |
| 2 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | + 0.066 |
| 3 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | + 0.144 |
| 4 | Mari Boya | Campos | + 0.145 |
| 5 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | + 0.157 |
| 6 | Nikita Bedrin | Jenzer | + 0.303 |
| 7 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.485 |
| 8 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | + 0.513 |
| 9 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 0.745 |
| 10 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 0.760 |
| 11 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | + 0.767 |
| 12 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | + 0.797 |
| 13 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | + 0.798 |
| 14 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 0.810 |
| 15 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | + 0.843 |
| 16 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 0.857 |
| 17 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | + 0.878 |
| 18 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | + 0.911 |
| 19 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | + 0.945 |
| 20 | Martinus Stenshorne | Hitech GP | + 0.978 |
| 21 | Noel Leon | VAR | + 0.985 |
| 22 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | + 1.129 |
| 23 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | + 1.209 |
| 24 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | + 1.412 |
| 25 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | + 1.619 |
| 26 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 1.636 |
| 27 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | + 1.653 |
| 28 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | + 1.654 |
| 29 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | + 1.995 |
| 30 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | + 2.262 |
Day Three
With continued dry weather from Day Two, Browning quickly laid down the gauntlet as he went quickest with 1m 46.991 ahead of Dunne, prior to the first red flag of the day after Browning’s teammate – Shields stopped on the main straight.
Once the morning session resumed, Browning lowered his benchmark time to 1m 46.566 which was the fastest lap time across the entire test, as nobody bettered his lap time in the afternoon session which was toppeed by Beganovic.
PHM Racing’s Joshua Dufek caused the final red flag of the entire test after he grinded to a halt out of Turn 1 during the afternoon session, whilst Campos’ Sebastian Montoya was the only driver to set their quickest lap time of the day after the lunch break.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 1m 46.566 |
| 2 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 0.259 |
| 3 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | + 0.270 |
| 4 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | + 0.413 |
| 5 | Noel Leon | VAR | + 0.630 |
| 6 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | + 0.732 |
| 7 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 0.757 |
| 8 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 0.761 |
| 9 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | + 0.777 |
| 10 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | + 0.815 |
| 11 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | + 0.821 |
| 12 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | + 0.859 |
| 13 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | + 0.908 |
| 14 | Mari Boya | Campos | + 0.950 |
| 15 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | + 0.958 |
| 16 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 0.970 |
| 17 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | + 0.980 |
| 18 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | + 1.013 |
| 19 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 1.079 |
| 20 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | + 1.102 |
| 21 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | + 1.112 |
| 22 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | + 1.179 |
| 23 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | + 1.204 |
| 24 | Arvid Lindblad | Prema | + 1.322 |
| 25 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | + 1.570 |
| 26 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 1.597 |
| 27 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | + 1.643 |
| 28 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | + 1.726 |
| 29 | Piotr Wisnicki | PHM Racing | + 1.746 |
| 30 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | + 2.592 |
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