David Schumacher tops Monza FIA F3 practice

Carlin’s David Schumacher was fastest in the FIA Formula 3 practice at Monza, as title contender Oscar Piastri struggled to 21st.

The 45-minute session opened up the Italian Grand Prix weekend, with the majority of the drivers running medium compound tyres carried over from Spa.

The soft tyre is the one to be utilised for both qualifying and the race, and only a few drivers opted to give the red-sidewall compound a run.

Trident’s Lirim Zendeli – who took his maiden FIA F3 win at Spa – became a victim of the sausage kerbs early on, while many drivers ran over the gravel at the exit of the second chicane.

ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire and Charouz Racing System’s Roman Stanek spent a sizeable portion of the session getting in each other’s way, with Pourchaire visibly agitated in particular.

The youngest two drivers on the grid managed to block each other on several occasions, and Pourchaire gave several hand gestures towards Stanek. That will be investigated after the session.

The toe proved to be critical as always at Monza, with HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes being the first to set a strong benchmark with the benefit of it.

It was, however, Schumacher in the end who was able to end the session on top ahead of Trident’s David Beckmann.

Schumacher made his first appearance for Carlin last weekend at Spa after parting ways with Charouz Racing System.

HWA’s Jack Doohan, who topped practice at Spa, was third-fastest, ahead of championship leader Logan Sargeant. Sargeant was the fastest driver to set his lap on the medium tyres.

Trident’s Olli Caldwell was fifth behind the Prema driver, with MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor, Carlin’s Cameron Das, Stanek, Carlin’s Clement Novalak and Zendeli rounding out the top 10.

Novalak set the second-fastest time to complete a Carlin 1-2 but lost his time due to track limits abuse.

Sargeant’s main championship rival Piastri was only 21st in the session.

Free practice results