Photo: Colin McMaster/FIA F3
Jake Hughes topped FIA Formula 3 practice at Spa-Francorchamps by more than half a second for the HWA team.
Hughes set a lap of 2m05.929s just before the chequered flag at the end of the 45-minute session, with Trident’s Niko Kari then taking second place, 0.533 seconds adrift.
Alex Peroni briefly held top spot in the closing stages for Campos and finished up third after toppling Yifei Ye, the Hitech racer still searching for his first FIA F3 points.
Richard Verschoor took fifth, even though his car momentarily came to a halt in the middle of the session, with his MP Motorsport team-mate Liam Lawson sixth.
Bent Viscaal, Fabio Scherer, Raoul Hyman and Andreas Estner rounded out the top 10 in a quiet session for the main championship contenders.
Jehan Daruvala was the fastest of them in 15th just ahead of Hungaroring winner Christian Lundgaard, who spent much of the session on top for ART before the late improvements of others.
Daruvala’s Prema team-mates Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman were 19th and 23rd, with series leader Shwartzman just one place ahead of his nearest title rival Juri Vips.
Practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 2:05.929 | 13 | |
| 2 | Niko Kari | Trident | 2:06.462 | 0.533 | 15 |
| 3 | Alex Peroni | Campos Racing | 2:06.479 | 0.550 | 15 |
| 4 | Yifei Ye | Hitech Grand Prix | 2:06.512 | 0.583 | 16 |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 2:06.544 | 0.615 | 17 |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | MP Motorsport | 2:06.629 | 0.700 | 15 |
| 7 | Bent Viscaal | HWA Racelab | 2:06.895 | 0.966 | 14 |
| 8 | Fabio Scherer | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 2:06.912 | 0.983 | 17 |
| 9 | Raoul Hyman | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 2:06.915 | 0.986 | 15 |
| 10 | Andreas Estner | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:06.968 | 1.039 | 17 |
| 11 | Keyvan Andres | HWA Racelab | 2:07.013 | 1.084 | 12 |
| 12 | Lirim Zendeli | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 2:07.023 | 1.094 | 16 |
| 13 | Simo Laaksonen | MP Motorsport | 2:07.033 | 1.104 | 16 |
| 14 | Giorgio Carrara | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:07.158 | 1.229 | 16 |
| 15 | Jehan Daruvala | Prema Racing | 2:07.742 | 1.813 | 15 |
| 16 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 2:07.797 | 1.868 | 12 |
| 17 | David Beckmann | ART Grand Prix | 2:07.897 | 1.968 | 14 |
| 18 | Pedro Piquet | Trident | 2:07.913 | 1.984 | 14 |
| 19 | Marcus Armstrong | Prema Racing | 2:07.930 | 2.001 | 15 |
| 20 | Yuki Tsunoda | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:07.981 | 2.052 | 15 |
| 21 | Leonardo Pulcini | Hitech Grand Prix | 2:07.982 | 2.053 | 13 |
| 22 | Max Fewtrell | ART Grand Prix | 2:08.121 | 2.192 | 14 |
| 23 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema Racing | 2:08.167 | 2.238 | 15 |
| 24 | Juri Vips | Hitech Grand Prix | 2:08.283 | 2.354 | 14 |
| 25 | Devlin Defrancesco | Trident | 2:08.331 | 2.402 | 16 |
| 26 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin Buzz Racing | 2:08.826 | 2.897 | 13 |
| 27 | Felipe Drugovich | Carlin Buzz Racing | 2:08.857 | 2.928 | 14 |
| 28 | Teppei Natori | Carlin Buzz Racing | 2:08.913 | 2.984 | 13 |
| 29 | Sebastian Fernandez | Campos Racing | 2:10.457 | 4.528 | 14 |
| 30 | Alessio Deledda | Campos Racing | 2:10.734 | 4.805 | 14 |