Just a week after the Austrian Grand Prix which saw victories for ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov (TSO) and Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning (BRO) in the sprint and feature races respectively, F3 returns to Silverstone Circuit as the British Grand Prix gets underway. The drivers are in their garages, waiting for the weekend’s practice session to get underway.
Conditions are cool and wet, with an air temperature at the track is 12.2 degrees Celsius, with a track temperature of 17.6 degrees Celsius. The drivers will start the session on the full wet tyres. Rain, however, has stopped.
As the lights go green, a few of the drivers make their way out onto the wet track. Max Esterson (EST) of Jenzer Motorsport is the first to set a lap time of 2:02.881 around the 5.891km-circuit. He is closely followed by Joshua Dufek (DUF) of AIX Racing with a time of 2:14.385, whose time is closely overtaken by James Wharton (WHA) of Hitech Pulse-Eight. Wharton is standing in for Martinius Stenshorne this weekend at Silverstone. The Norwegian driver, who currently sits 14th in the standings, is banned from this weekend’s race after having violated sporting regulations which forbid F3 drivers from participating in other single-seater series without written permission from the FIA and the championship promoter.
As the drivers on track continue to set their first lap times, MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz (TRA) goes top with a time of 2:02.391. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel León (LEO) goes second, followed by Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz (WUR) in third. Just under half of the drivers have not yet set a lap time, opting instead to remain in the pits, perhaps to preserve their wet tyres. One of these is championship leader Browning.
With one-third of the session complete, Campos Racing’s Mari Boya (BOY) leads the session with a time of 2:00.873. The current standings are BOY, SHI, MEG, MON, LIN, OA, TRA, MIN, LEO, GOE, WUR, WHA, RAM, EST, VOI, WIS, DUF, and SZT. No time has been set by the remaining 12 drivers.
Down at the Prema Racing garage, the mechanics appear to be fiddling with Dino Beganovic’s (BEG) car. The Swedish driver has completed an outlap but has yet to set a time this session. His teammates, Gabriele Minì (MIN) and Arvid Lindblad (LIN) currently sit fifth and eighth on the time sheet.
The times continue to improve as the drivers get closer to the one-second range. With 20 minutes left in the 45-minute session, Esterson sits atop the time sheet with a time of 2:00.253. He is followed by Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Cian Shields (SHI) with 2:00.267, Tsolov with 2:00.550, Boya with 2:00.873, and ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell (MAN) in 2:01.125.
As the track continues to dry, a few of the drivers pit for the slick hard tyres, including Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli (FOR). Van Amersfoort Racing’s Sophia Floersch (FLO), who has yet to set a lap time has also gone onto the hard tyres. However, both are back into the pits at the end of the outlap as conditions appear to still be too wet for the dry tyres.
Thirty minutes of the session have now been completed. The standings are EST, SHI, TSO, WHA, BOY, MAN, VOI, BED, MON, VAN, LIN, LOA, WIS, TRA, MIN, LEO, GOE, WUR, RAM, DUF, MEG, SZT. Esterson sits at the top of the time sheet with a lap time of 2:00.153, but eight drivers (INT, DUN, ZAG, BEG, FLO, FOR, SMI, and BRO) have yet to set a lap time.
The rain has returned at Silverstone. The drivers are all on the wet tyres, with those who had gone onto the dry tyres having to stop in the pits for a change. Beganovic is now on track, attempting to set his first lap time of the session. With less than 10 minutes left, he, MP Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne (DUN), Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli (FOR), Van Amersfoort Racing’s Tommy Smith (SMI), and Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning (BRO) are still without a lap time. Fornaroli, however, is on track. He gets up to 20th with a time of 2:02.859, over 2.7 seconds behind the fastest time of 2:00.153 set by Esterson.
Heavy rainfall continues as the drivers get into the last five minutes of the session. Dunne, Smith and Browning have still not yet set a lap time. Browning has not yet been on track this session. As things stand, Browning will not be participating in this practice session. While Dunne has been on track, he has only completed outlaps. Smith, however, now sits at the bottom of the timings with a lap time of 2:04.672, more than 4.5 seconds behind Esterson who has held on to the session’s fastest time.
The checkered flag falls on Friday’s F3 Practice Session as the drivers complete their final lap around the circuit. A yellow flag is briefly brought out in Sector 2. Dunne sets his first lap time of the session. He goes P26 with a lap time of 2:03.471.
After a session of mixed conditions, the final standings are EST, SHI, TSO, WHA, BOY, MAN, VOI, BED, LEO, MEG, BEG, WUR, MON, VAN, LIN, LOA, WIS, TRA, MIN, RAM, GOE, DUF, FOR, FLO, ZAG, DUN, INT, SZT, SMI, BRO. Esterson has retained his fastest time of 2:00.153. Browning, at the other end of the timesheet, has not set a time, having opted to not participate in the practice session.
Formula 3 will return for the qualifying session at 14:05 UK time.
