Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited
ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire topped the times in the FIA Formula 3 practice session at Silverstone.
The 16-year-old Frenchman sits third in the championship after taking back-to-back race wins in the Styrian sprint race and Hungarian feature race.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri set the pace for most of the session, setting a 1m46.467s lap time with 20 minutes on the clock.
Red Bull junior Liam Lawson briefly took the top spot with a lap time just 0.002s quicker, only for Piastri to improve again to go another two thousands of a second quicker.
The Prema driver remained top of the order until the final laps of the session when Pourchaire set a 1m46.348s lap time. Piastri couldn’t find any improvements and ended the session second quickest and 0.115s adrift of Pourchaire’s benchmark.
Lawson took third overall ahead of HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes and Hungarian sprint race victor David Beckmann.
Prema’s Logan Sargeant was at the sharp end of the field for much of the session and was second behind team-mate Piastri at the 25-minute mark, but couldn’t keep up with the improvements from the rest of the field through the second half of the session.
He ended the morning sixth quickest ahead of Campos Racing’s Alex Peroni and 2019 Macau Grand Prix winner Richard Verschoor.
Jenzer Motorsport’s Calan Williams and Hitech Grand Prix’s Max Fewtrell completed the top 10.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1m46.348s | 17 | |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | 1m46.463s | +0.115s | 15 |
| 3 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | 1m46.465s | +0.117s | 17 |
| 4 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 1m46.604s | +0.256s | 9 |
| 5 | David Beckmann | Trident | 1m46.637s | +0.289s | 16 |
| 6 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 1m46.763s | +0.415s | 14 |
| 7 | Alexander Peroni | Campos Racing | 1m46.778s | +0.430s | 15 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1m46.888s | +0.540s | 17 |
| 9 | Calan Williams | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m46.956s | +0.608s | 21 |
| 10 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | 1m47.011s | +0.663s | 18 |
| 11 | Igor Fraga | Charouz Racing System | 1m47.025s | +0.677s | 18 |
| 12 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 1m47.026s | +0.678s | 15 |
| 13 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | 1m47.029s | +0.681s | 15 |
| 14 | David Schumacher | Charouz Racing System | 1m47.117s | +0.769s | 17 |
| 15 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | 1m47.123s | +0.775s | 16 |
| 16 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART Grand Prix | 1m47.154s | +0.806s | 17 |
| 17 | Aleksander Smolyar | ART Grand Prix | 1m47.170s | +0.822s | 17 |
| 18 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | 1m47.241s | +0.893s | 17 |
| 19 | Roman Stanek | Charouz Racing System | 1m47.279s | +0.931s | 16 |
| 20 | Sophia Floersch | Campos Racing | 1m47.322s | +0.974s | 17 |
| 21 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m47.344s | +0.996s | 21 |
| 22 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | 1m47.413s | +1.065s | 14 |
| 23 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | 1m47.569s | +1.221s | 17 |
| 24 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | 1m47.613s | +1.265s | 15 |
| 25 | Oli Caldwell | Trident | 1m47.783s | +1.435s | 15 |
| 26 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | 1m47.786s | +1.438s | 18 |
| 27 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 1m47.885s | +1.537s | 17 |
| 28 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m47.891s | +1.543s | 20 |
| 29 | Alessio Deledda | Campos Racing | 1m48.218s | +1.870s | 17 |
| 30 | Cameron Das | Carlin | 1m49.337s | +2.989s | 8 |