Photo: FIA F3 European Championship
Felix Rosenqvist continued his strong qualifying form in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship by taking pole for the first race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
The practice pace-setter had a low-key start to the session, lying down in 28th with eight minutes remaining, but came on strong towards the end.
Rookies Callum Ilott and then Pietro Fittipaldi led the standings until the final couple of minutes, when Rosenqvist set session-best times in sectors two and three to storm to top spot.
Prema team-mate Jake Dennis moved up to second place and then halved his deficit to Rosenqvist on his final attempt, but still finished up nearly a quarter of a second adrift.
Rosenqvist has now taken pole for the opening race at four rounds out of five so far this season, and will aim to complete his fourth qualifying lock-out in second qualifying later on Friday.
Rosenqvist’s title rivals Antonio Giovinazzi and Charles Leclerc were also quiet until the closing stages, when the climbed up to third and sixth respectively, with Carlin driver Giovinazzi half a second behind the top Prema pair.
Fittipaldi and Brandon Maisano will split the championship’s top two. Fourth place will the Brazilian Fortec driver’s first top 10 start in F3.
Red Bull Junior Ilott was bumped down to ninth behind Alex Albon and Santino Ferrucci, and ahead of Markus Pommer.
After all occupying top 10 berths in practice, George Russell, Mikkel Jensen, Raoul Hyman, Lance Stroll and Sam MacLeod filled the next five spots.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Felix Rosenqvist | Prema Powerteam | 2:10.173 | 7 | |
| 2 | Jake Dennis | Prema Powerteam | 2:10.411 | 0.238 | 8 |
| 3 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Carlin | 2:10.964 | 0.791 | 8 |
| 4 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Fortec Motorsports | 2:11.008 | 0.835 | 7 |
| 5 | Brandon Maisano | Prema Powerteam | 2:11.112 | 0.939 | 8 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2:11.121 | 0.948 | 8 |
| 7 | Alex Albon | Signature | 2:11.172 | 0.999 | 7 |
| 8 | Santino Ferrucci | Mucke Motorsport | 2:11.224 | 1.051 | 8 |
| 9 | Callum Ilott | Carlin | 2:11.240 | 1.067 | 3 |
| 10 | Markus Pommer | Motopark | 2:11.244 | 1.071 | 9 |
| 11 | George Russell | Carlin | 2:11.297 | 1.124 | 8 |
| 12 | Mikkel Jensen | Mucke Motorsport | 2:11.348 | 1.175 | 9 |
| 13 | Raoul Hyman | West-Tec | 2:11.370 | 1.197 | 9 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | 2:11.397 | 1.224 | 8 |
| 15 | Sam MacLeod | Motopark | 2:11.459 | 1.286 | 8 |
| 16 | Alessio Lorandi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2:11.465 | 1.292 | 7 |
| 17 | Ryan Tveter | Carlin | 2:11.547 | 1.374 | 8 |
| 18 | Maximilian Gunther | Mucke Motorsport | 2:11.716 | 1.543 | 9 |
| 19 | Gustavo Menezes | Carlin | 2:11.742 | 1.569 | 7 |
| 20 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark | 2:11.802 | 1.629 | 9 |
| 21 | Fabian Schiller | West-Tec | 2:12.060 | 1.887 | 9 |
| 22 | Dorian Boccolacci | Signature | 2:12.103 | 1.930 | 8 |
| 23 | Tatiana Calderon | Carlin | 2:12.216 | 2.043 | 9 |
| 24 | Nabil Jeffri | Motopark | 2:12.394 | 2.221 | 6 |
| 25 | Michele Beretta | Mucke Motorsport | 2:12.470 | 2.297 | 8 |
| 26 | Matt Solomon | Double R Racing | 2:12.528 | 2.355 | 9 |
| 27 | Matt Rao | Fortec Motorsports | 2:12.588 | 2.415 | 8 |
| 28 | Kang Ling | Mucke Motorsport | 2:12.750 | 2.577 | 7 |
| 29 | Nicolas Pohler | Double R Racing | 2:12.772 | 2.599 | 9 |
| 30 | Arjun Maini | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2:13.051 | 2.878 | 8 |
| 31 | Martin Cao | Fortec Motorsports | 2:13.344 | 3.171 | 4 |
| 32 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | Motopark | 2:13.426 | 3.253 | 9 |
| 33 | Julio Moreno | T-Sport | 2:18.066 | 7.893 | 2 |