Ferrari junior and Prema’s Marcus Armstrong set pace to open FIA Formula 3 (F3) Championship pre-season test for 2019 at Hungaroring.
Hitech GP’s Leonardo Pulcini (1m31.564s), who set his time in the morning session at Hungaroring, looked set to top for the third consecutive 2019 F3 pre-season test day – taking in the two days from Barcelona, until a late one from Armstrong.
The Kiwi improved to a 1m31.411s with five minutes to go in the day to end quickest as he traded times with Prema’s Jehan Daruvala in the closing stages. It was the other Ferrari junior and the third Prema of Robert Shwartzman (1m31.733s) though to finish third
The Russian had stopped between Turn 11-12 to cause a red flag early in the day but his time was enough to secure a Top 3 finish, as Daruvala (1m31.857s) ended up fifth behind Trident’s Niko Kari (1m31.799s) from the morning session.
Red Bull junior and Hitech GP’s Juri Vips (1m31.990s) was sixth – also setting his best in the morning session, while an improvement from fellow Red Bull junior and MP Motorsport’s Liam Lawson (1m32.069s) in the afternoon, put him in seventh.
He pushed the morning timers Sauber Junior Team by Charouz’s Raoul Hyman (1m32.132s), Jenzer’s Artem Petrov (1m32.150s) and MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor (1m32.157s) down a place to round out the Top 10.
Hitech GP’s Ye Yifei (1m32.162s) lost out in the Top 10 fight to be 11th with Campos Racing’s Sebastian Fernandez (1m32.204s) slotting in 12th. The Spaniard caused the day’s first red flag when he stopped at Turn 16.
Another one to cause it was HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes (1m32.245s) in 13th as the British racer stopped at the pit exit. Renault junior and Carlin’s Logan Sargeant (1m32.246s) slotted in 14th with the Top 15 being completed by ART’s David Beckmann (1m32.268s).
Among other stoppers, Campos Racing’s Alex Peroni crashed at Turn 11 in the morning session, while Honda junior and Jenzer’s Yuki Tsunoda stopped at Turn 12 to cause a red flag.
Position 16-30: Tsunoda, Pedro Piquet (Trident), Max Fewtrell (ART), Felipe Drugovich (Carlin), Simo Laaksonen (MP Motorsport), Christian Lundgaard (ART), Fabio Scherer (Sauber), Peroni, Devlin Defrancesco (Trident), Lirim Zendeli (Sauber), Bent Viscaal (HWA Racelab), Teppei Natori (Carlin), Andreas Estner (Jenzer), Keyvan Anders (HWA Racelab) & Alessio Deledda (Campos).