Formula 3 returns, just a week after the Spanish Grand Prix, which saw victories for Campos Racing’s Mari Boya and Prema Racing’s Arvid Lindblad in the sprint and feature races respectively. The drivers are currently in their garages, awaiting the start of the weekend’s first practice session.
Conditions at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria are currently cool and humid with a track temperature of 26.2 degrees Celsius and an air temperature of 19.8 degrees Celsius.
At the clock hits 08:55, the green flag falls, and the drivers begin to make their way out onto the track. First onto the track is Callum Voisin (VOI) of Rodin Motorsport. He is immediately followed by teammate Piotr Wiśnicki (WIS) as the drivers join the track.
Approximately half of the grid is currently out on track. AIX Racing’s Joshua Dufek (DUF) was the first to complete a flying lap around the 4.318 km circuit, setting a time of 1:22.962. The Austrian Grand Prix is a home race for the Austrian-Swiss driver. His time is quickly topped by ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen (VAN), whose time of 1:22.409, tops the times set by his teammates, Nikola Tsolov (TSO) and Christian Mansell (MAN) by 0.022 and 0.058 seconds respectively.
Championship leader, Leonardo Fornaroli (FOR) of Trident, sets his first time, getting up to six. He soon drops to seventh as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel León (LEO) goes fastest with a time of 1:22.387. He is soon knocked to second as Sami Meguetounif (MEG) sets a new fastest time of 1:22.325. Prema Racing’s Gabriele Minì (MIN) then went second with a time of 1:22.365, 0.040 behind that of Meguetounif.
15 minutes into the session and the current standings are MEG, MIN, LEO, VAN, TSO, MAN, ZA, WUR, BED, FLO, FOR, RAM, BEG, DUF, WIS, VOI, SMI, EST, LOA, INT, TRA, SZT, DUN, MON, LIN, GOE, BOY, BRO, SHI, STE. All drivers have set at least one lap time, the fastest of which is that by Meguetounif (1:22.325).
The Red Bull Ring has seen the introduction of gravel traps which are meant to counter the track limits issue which saw several drivers being given penalties after last year’s race. Despite this, many drivers, including Fornaroli and León, have run wide, especially at Turns 3, 6 and 9.
Minì went fastest with a time of 1:22.066. Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe goes second, 0.025 seconds being. They are soon overtaken by Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning (BRO) and Martinius Stenshorne (STE) go top and second respectively with times of 1:21.281 and 1:21.904. The Hitech Pulse Eight duo retain their 1-2 even as other drivers attempt another flying lap around the circuit.
Fornaroli now goes to the top with a time of 1:21.663. This is the fastest time on the board with fifteen minutes to go. The current standings are: FOR, BRO, STE, MIN, LEO, GOE, BEG, DUN, TRA, MEG, MON, BOY, LIN, TSO, VAN, MAN, FLO, ZA, SHI, WUR, VOI, EST, BED, DUF, RAM, SMI, WIS, SZT, LOA, INT. With two-thirds of the session done, track limits remain a problem, with many drivers going off into the gravel traps at turns 9 and 10.
Many of the drivers have come into the pits, with several opting to change to the soft tyres, which may be the preferred race tyre this weekend. With 11 minutes remaining, Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz is the first back on track. The Austrian-British driver, for whom this is a home race, will be the first to attempt to set a time on the softs. With less than 9 minutes remaining, other drivers, including Fornaroli returned to the track. Not all the drivers have gone onto the soft. Several have opted to remain on the hard tyre, and the track now sees a combination of runs on hard and soft tyres. MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz is one of the drivers remaining on the tyres. He runs wide at turn 1, losing his lap time.
Heavy traffic at turn 6 disrupts the runs of many drivers. León goes off the track, into the gravel trap. This disrupts Mansell’s attempt, but not that of Wurz, who goes top with a time of 1:21.182, and purple second and third sectors, set on the soft tyres. Trident’s Santiago Ramos goes second with a time of 1:21.236, also on the soft tyres.
The chequered flag falls on the morning’s practice session, as the drivers complete their final laps around the Red Bull Ring. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Tommy Smith goes fifth with his final lap time of the session, while Trident’s Meguetounif goes ninth.
A yellow flag is brought out in sectors 1 and 3 as Leonardo Fornaroli stops on the side of the racetrack. It appears that the Trident driver is out of fuel. Despite the yellow flag, several drivers have returned to the starting line for a practice start.
As the drivers return to the pit lane, the final standings are WUR, RAM, FOR, BRO, SMI, MIN, GOE, STE, MEG, LEO, BEG, VAN, DUN, MAN, TSO, TRA, MON, LIN, BOY, INT, DUF, FLO, ZAG, SHI, VOI, EST, BED, SZT, WIS, LOA.
The fastest time of the session remains 1:21.182, set by Charlie Wurz on soft tyres.
The drivers will return to the track at 14:00 track time for qualifying, the results of which will determine their starting positions for Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s feature race. With so many drivers running wide and into the gravel traps, it is expected that track limits will play a significant role in qualifying.
