Photo: Joe Portlock / FIA F3 Championship)
Marcus Armstrong set the pace in FIA Formula 3 practice at the Red Bull Ring with a late flyer to deny Pedro Piquet.
Piquet – fresh from a double podium at Paul Ricard last weekend – had taken top spot away from Christian Lundgaard inside the final minute of the session.
Prema-run Ferrari protege Armstrong then bettered his effort by 0.157 seconds, posting a 1m19.396s.
Lundgaard finished up third ahead of his ART Grand Prix team-mate David Beckmann.
Red Bull junior Juri Vips was fifth, with Hitech colleague Leonardo Pulcini seventh between the other Prema drivers Jehan Daruvala and Robert Shwartzman.
Niko Kari was ninth, while Max Fewtrell and Richard Verschoor set identical times in 10th and 11th.
Logan Sargeant was fastest until seven minutes to go and ended up 13th behind his Carlin team-mate Felipe Drugovich. Paul Ricard pole-sitter Jake Hughes was 15th for HWA.
Giorgio Carrara ran as high as third in his maiden F3 session for Jenzer Motorsport, with the Italian Formula 4 veteran eventually finishing 24th of the 30 drivers.
Free practice times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marcus Armstrong | Prema Racing | 1:19.396 | 22 | |
| 2 | Pedro Piquet | Trident | 1:19.553 | 0.157 | 26 |
| 3 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:19.566 | 0.170 | 27 |
| 4 | David Beckmann | ART Grand Prix | 1:19.641 | 0.245 | 24 |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:19.655 | 0.259 | 24 |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | Prema Racing | 1:19.659 | 0.263 | 20 |
| 7 | Leonardo Pulcini | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:19.772 | 0.376 | 25 |
| 8 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema Racing | 1:19.821 | 0.425 | 21 |
| 9 | Niko Kari | Trident | 1:19.857 | 0.461 | 26 |
| 10 | Max Fewtrell | ART Grand Prix | 1:19.886 | 0.490 | 26 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:19.886 | 0.490 | 25 |
| 12 | Felipe Drugovich | Carlin Buzz Racing | 1:19.927 | 0.531 | 25 |
| 13 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin Buzz Racing | 1:19.938 | 0.542 | 25 |
| 14 | Devlin Defrancesco | Trident | 1:20.026 | 0.630 | 25 |
| 15 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 1:20.041 | 0.645 | 27 |
| 16 | Simo Laaksonen | MP Motorsport | 1:20.056 | 0.660 | 20 |
| 17 | Yifei Ye | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:20.187 | 0.791 | 26 |
| 18 | Liam Lawson | MP Motorsport | 1:20.233 | 0.837 | 24 |
| 19 | Sebastian Fernandez | Campos Racing | 1:20.242 | 0.846 | 22 |
| 20 | Alex Peroni | Campos Racing | 1:20.276 | 0.880 | 24 |
| 21 | Yuki Tsunoda | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:20.287 | 0.891 | 27 |
| 22 | Lirim Zendeli | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1:20.415 | 1.019 | 27 |
| 23 | Bent Viscaal | HWA Racelab | 1:20.441 | 1.045 | 26 |
| 24 | Giorgio Carrara | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:20.515 | 1.119 | 25 |
| 25 | Keyvan Andres | HWA Racelab | 1:20.795 | 1.399 | 25 |
| 26 | Fabio Scherer | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1:20.800 | 1.404 | 24 |
| 27 | Raoul Hyman | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1:20.827 | 1.431 | 24 |
| 28 | Alessio Deledda | Campos Racing | 1:21.428 | 2.032 | 25 |
| 29 | Andreas Estner | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:22.145 | 2.749 | 13 |
| 30 | Teppei Natori | Carlin Buzz Racing | 1:22.225 | 2.829 | 19 |