Isack Hadjar had a solid run to secure feature FIA F2 race pole in Britain, as Luke Browning pushed on to F3 top spot.
F2:
Isack Hadjar took a hugely important Pole Position at Silverstone, as the Campos Racing driver led the pack on a 1:39.368, capitalising on an error by title rival and Championship leader Paul Aron that left the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver down in 12th following a spin. ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins making it an all-French front row, while Dennis Hauger found a late improvement to secure P3 with his final lap for MP Motorsport.
With the threat of rain hanging over the session, drivers were out immediately on the Soft compound tyres to get an early lap on the board. Home favourite Oliver Bearman recorded the initial time to beat, 1:40.918 putting him a tenth clear of Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini in the early running, until Aron split the pair to go P2, 0.040s down on the PREMA.
Hauger was next to go quickest, 1:40.554 but that was beaten twice over. Zane Maloney slotted into P2 just behind Maini, who moved up to first on his next lap. Aron then found more time to go fastest on a 1:40.181 with 20 minutes left. Drivers returned to pitlane at the midway point of the session for fresh Softs, waiting until the clock neared 10 minutes to go before returning to the circuit.
Getting his first lap on the second set of tyres underway, Aron suffered a spin at Turn 1, leaving him with major flatspots as everyone else improved. Title rival Hadjar leapt up to Provisional Pole with a 1:39.368 in the Campos car. Having been inside the top 10, Maloney lost a time for track limits to leave Aron in P10, but an improvement from Ritomo Miyata in the Rodin Motorsport car bumped the Championship leader out of the top 10.
Hadjar peeled into the pitlane with a minute and a half to go while the majority continued on their way for one final attempt. Maloney put himself back into the top 10 on his final attempt, going ninth-fastest for Rodin, though he was one of the only improvements in the final minute. Franco Colapinto ended up fourth for MP ahead of Bearman in P5. Gabriel Bortoleto followed ahead of DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford, Maini, Maloney and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will start the Sprint Race from reverse grid Pole having ended the session P10.
Results: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1809233592960106714
F3:
Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning took a last-gasp Pole Position at a rain-hampered Qualifying in Silverstone ahead of Jenzer Motorsport’s Max Esterson and Trident’s Sami Meguetounif. The Championship leader left it late on a drying lap with a time of 1:44.992 to take top spot with Esterson following his P1 in Practice to go to within 0.045s off pole to seal a maiden front row start.
Following the morning’s wet Practice, the drivers went out on the Hard tyres, but as they started their warmup laps reports of heavy rain started to come in over the radios. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel León then set the initial time to beat with a lap of 1:45.475, Alexander Dunne moved up to second, just 0.070s off top spot, while Gabriele Minì settled into third for PREMA Racing.
However, as most of the grid returned to the pitlane looking to strap on a new set of hards, the rain intensified. This left Dino Beganovic at the back after the Swede lost his initial time to a track limits violation, while Championship leader Luke Browning was demoted to P13 by Tim Tramnitz. But with all looking lost, the drivers ventured out on to the track aiming to do as much learning in mixed conditions before tomorrow’s Sprint Race.
However, the track began to improve heading into the final minute, with Leonardo Fornaroli going fastest on a 1:45.265. This was bad news for the drivers in the pit lane like León and Dunne as the timing screens lit up with purple and green sectors. Browning then came across the line to complete a lap of 1:44.992 giving him Pole Position on home soil, as Esterson went second moments later. Meguetounif then moved up to P3 ahead of Fornaroli with Laurens van Hoepen in fifth for ART Grand Prix.
Charlie Wurz was another late improver for Jenzer as his late lap put him in P6, while ART teammates Mansell and Tsolov also made it into the top 10. Callum Voisin had been fastest in the drying conditions for Rodin Motorsport but ended up in P9 ahead of Matías Zagazeta, who made it three Jenzer cars in the top 10.
Arvid Lindblad went to P11 for PREMA Racing while León, after looking set to take his maiden Formula 3 Pole Position, qualified in P12 and will start from reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race, which is set to start 09:20 local time on Saturday morning.
Results: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1809220362594332946
UPDATE: After the FIA Formula 3 Qualifying session at Silverstone, four drivers have been penalised. Firstly, Max Esterson has been handed a grid penalty. The Jenzer Motorsport driver was reported to have impeded Dino Beganovic of PREMA Racing. After a post-session investigation by the Race Stewards, hearing from both drivers and team representatives along with examining all available video evidence, Esterson was ruled to have wholly responsible for the impeding of Beganovic.
As a result, the American driver has been assigned a three-place grid penalty to serve at the next race in which he participates. Secondly, Trident’s Sami Meguetounif has also been assigned a grid penalty. He too was reported to the Race Stewards, alleged to have impeded Van Amersfoort Racing’s Sophia Floersch.
Following a post-session investigation, reviewing of all available evidence and hearing from both drivers and team representatives, the Stewards determined that Car #5 should have been more aware of faster cars approaching. As a result, the Trident driver has also been handed a three-place grid penalty to serve at the next race in which he participates.
Thirdly, ART Grand Prix driver Nikola Tsolov has been handed a grid penalty. The Bulgarian driver was reported for impeding Car #30 of Rodin Motorsport’s Piotr Wisnicki during the session. After considering the matter, hearing from team representatives and the drivers along with examining available video evidence, the Race Stewards determined that Tsolov should have been more aware of faster cars approaching from behind.
Consequently, Tsolov has been assigned a three-place grid penalty to serve in the next race in which he participates. Finally, Campos Racing driver Mari Boya has been assigned a grid penalty. The Spaniard was also reported to the Race Stewards for impeding Floersch during the Qualifying session.
After the incident was investigated further, all video evidence examined and drivers with team representatives were heard from, Boya was found to have clearly impeded Floersch. Accordingly, Boya has been awarded a three-place grid penalty to serve at the next race in which he participates.
Final:
[Note: The story is as per press release]
