Home Formula 3FIA F3 Championship David Schumacher tops Monza FIA F3 practice

David Schumacher tops Monza FIA F3 practice

by Craig Woollard
Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

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
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 David Schumacher Carlin 1m38.096s   19
2 David Beckmann Trident 1m38.334s +0.238s 14
3 Jack Doohan HWA Racelab 1m38.390s +0.294s 16
4 Logan Sargeant Prema 1m38.517s +0.421s 16
5 Olli Caldwell Trident 1m38.521s +0.425s 17
6 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1m38.522s +0.426s 14
7 Cameron Das Carlin 1m38.586s +0.490s 19
8 Roman Stanek Charouz Racing System 1m38.588s +0.492s 19
9 Clement Novalak Carlin 1m38.616s +0.520s 18
10 Lirim Zendeli Trident 1m38.697s +0.601s 20
11 Frederik Vesti Prema 1m38.753 +0.657s 16
12 Matteo Nannini Trident 1m38.820s +0.724s 16
13 Mikhael Belov Charouz Racing System 1m38.857s +0.761s 14
14 Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1m38.862s +0.766s 17
15 Dennis Hauger Hitech GP 1m38.872s +0.776s 19
16 Sebastian Fernandez ART Grand Prix 1m38.919s +0.823s 17
17 Jake Hughes HWA Racelab 1m38.937s +0.841s 17
18 Pierre-Louis Chovet Hitech GP 1m38.943s +0.847s 22
19 Liam Lawson Hitech GP 1m38.964s +0.868s 18
20 Igor Fraga Charouz Racing System 1m38.987s +0.891s 17
21 Oscar Piastri Prema 1m39.055s +0.959s 16
22 Enzo Fittipaldi HWA Racelab 1m39.059s +0.963s 17
23 Alexander Smolyar ART Grand Prix 1m39.172s +1.076s 17
24 Alex Peroni Campos Racing 1m39.189s +1.093s 15
25 Federico Malvestiti Jenzer Motorsport 1m39.411s +1.315s 18
26 Sophia Floersch Campos Racing 1m39.416s +1.320s 18
27 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing 1m39.475s +1.379s 18
28 Bent Viscaal MP Motorsport 1m39.647s +1.551s 16
29 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 1m39.658s +1.562s 17
30 Lukas Dunner MP Motorsport 1m40.174s +2.078s 17