Formula 3 kicks off the highly anticipated British Grand Prix weekend. Nikola Tsolov set the fastest time of the session, with a 1:45.847.
The championship is currently led by Rafael Câmara, who has a 25-point lead over Tim Tramnirtz behind him. Following a disappointing DSQ, Nikola Tsolov drops down to third in the championship, 28 points behind the Brazilian.
This weekend will be crucial for the championship, with each of the contenders hoping to score a strong points haul.
As it happened
Drivers wasted no time getting on track for the initial Virtual Safety Car test. At the end of the first lap, drivers made their way into the pit lane before heading out again with 36 minutes remaining in the session.
With this being the sole practice session for F3, the teams will be in full qualifying mode. Allowing the drivers to gain an insight into the conditions for qualifying later today.
Nicola Lacorte has returned to the F3 grid following a 1 race suspension in Austria. The Alpine academy driver set the first flying lap time of 1:49.859. Lacorte will be eager to make up for lost time in this championship after his race ban.
There’s early drama for the drivers in the session as many face lap time deletions for track limit violations. Copse Corner appears to be the primary concern for the majority of these drivers.
With 27 minutes remaining in the session, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak leads the session with a 1:46.379. Over three-tenths clear of Boya with Wharton in third.
In a highly consistent season for Alessandro Giusti, he was set to claim the fastest lap of the session early on. However, a slide in the final exit cost him his lap time which was later deleted.
Championship leader Rafa Câmara is struggling so far in this session. With 20 minutes of the session done, he sits down in P13. Whereas his championship rivals of Tramnitz and Tsolov, are in P3 and P4. The Brazilian needs to find pace to make up for a few difficult race weekends and keep his championship lead.
20 minutes remaining
Following a difficult season for PREMA racing, Ugo Ugochukwu set the fastest time with a 1:46.277. Ugochukwu was set for a podium finish last weekend in Austria; however, he was later disqualified due to a technical breach.
Fellow McLaren junior Martinius Stenshorne has gone to second, 0.036s off Ugochukwu. Stenshorne is fourth in the championship at the moment, a consistent weekend from the Norwegian could see major moves in the championship.
With under 15 minutes in the session, most of the drivers have come into the pit lane ahead of their final runs.
As the final 10 minutes began, Ugochukwu and Stenshorne kicked off a strong weekend for McLaren, leading the session.
Rafa Câmara originally set the fastest time with just 8 minutes left in the session. However, his lap time was swiftly deleted as he was yet another victim of the track limits violations. Meanwhile, Tsolov sets the fastest time of the session with a 1:45.847. The first driver into the 1:45s this weekend.
Stenshorne is proving to be strong again this weekend as he moves up to second again. The McLaren academy driver is just 0.304s off Tsolov’s time.
Câmara recovered from his previous infirmary to go to third, 0.427s off Tsolov’s time. However, Tramnitz has just set the fastest first sector. The MP driver manages to move his way up into P2 by the end of his flying lap.
As the chequered flag flies, Câmara crosses the line in fourth place, 0.304s behind his championship rivals of Tsolov and Tramnitz. His teammate, Charlie Wurz, moved himself up into second, proving TRIDENT have pace to show this weekend.
Qualifying has been set up to be an exciting session for the drivers, in a weekend crucial to the championship, anything is possible.
The final classification of the F3 British GP Practice
- N. Tsolov
- C. Wurz
- T. Tramnitz
- M. Stenshorne
- R. Camara
- N. Johnson
- U. Ugochukwu
- T. Taponen
- B. Del Pino
- R. Bilinski
- S. Ramos
- T. Inthraphuvasak
- C. Voisin
- I. Domingues
- G. Xie
- J. Wharton
- N. Stromsted
- T. Nael
- M. Boya
- A. Giusti
- L. Sharp
- B. Badoer
- B. Benavides
- N. Leon
- J. Hedley
- C. Ho
- N. Lacorte
- L. Van Hoepen
- M. Zagazeta
- N. Marinangeli
