Photo: FIA Formula 3 European Championship / Thomas Suer
Van Amersfoort Racing rookie Max Verstappen returned to the top of the timesheets of FIA F3 European Championship’s pre-season testing in the final session of the Spielberg event.
Verstappen was dominant in the four-hour afternoon run, taking over at the top in the second half of the session and improving on his benchmark on multiple occasions to ensure a solid advantage over the rest of the field.
Overall, the final session did not stray from the pattern of Volkswagen dominance which was prevalent over the pre-season testing, as the top six cars in the afternoon leaderboards all carried VW engines.
Antonio Giovinazzi was second, a quarter of a second down on Verstappen, with teammate Tom Blomqvist narrowly behind in third, having previously topped the morning running.
Another three Carlin drivers followed behind the duo as Ed Jones, Jake Dennis and Jordan King rounded out the top six.
Antonio Fuoco led the Mercedes-engined cars in seventh, with Felix Rosenqvist, Mitch Gilbert and Riccardo Agostini made up the rest of the top ten.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:23.690 | 64 | |
| 2 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:23.932 | 0.242 | 51 |
| 3 | Tom Blomqvist | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:24.009 | 0.319 | 53 |
| 4 | Ed Jones | Carlin | 1:24.296 | 0.606 | 36 |
| 5 | Jake Dennis | Carlin | 1:24.298 | 0.608 | 50 |
| 6 | Jordan King | Carlin | 1:24.466 | 0.776 | 34 |
| 7 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Powerteam | 1:24.504 | 0.814 | 39 |
| 8 | Felix Rosenqvist | kfzteile24 Mucke Motorsport | 1:24.525 | 0.835 | 34 |
| 9 | Mitch Gilbert | Fortec Motorsports | 1:24.529 | 0.839 | 41 |
| 10 | Riccardo Agostini | EuroInternational | 1:24.546 | 0.856 | 60 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Prema Powerteam | 1:24.595 | 0.905 | 48 |
| 12 | Gustavo Menezes | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:24.612 | 0.922 | 72 |
| 13 | John Bryant-Meisner | Fortec Motorsports | 1:24.622 | 0.932 | 45 |
| 14 | Nicholas Latifi | Prema Powerteam | 1:24.696 | 1.006 | 52 |
| 15 | Lucas Auer | kfzteile24 Mucke Motorsport | 1:24.761 | 1.071 | 51 |
| 16 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:24.832 | 1.142 | 59 |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | kfzteile24 Mucke Motorsport | 1:24.957 | 1.267 | 33 |
| 18 | Felipe Guimaraes | Double R Racing | 1:24.992 | 1.302 | 54 |
| 19 | Dennis van de Laar | Prema Powerteam | 1:25.301 | 1.611 | 28 |
| 20 | Michele Beretta | EuroInternational | 1:25.501 | 1.811 | 59 |
| 21 | Spike Goddard | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1:25.588 | 1.898 | 59 |
| 22 | Felix Serralles | Team West-Tec | 1:25.675 | 1.985 | 38 |
| 23 | Sandro Zeller | Jo Zeller Racing | 1:25.726 | 2.036 | 49 |
| 24 | Alexander Toril | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1:25.752 | 2.062 | 55 |
| 25 | Marco Sorensen | Signature | 1:25.836 | 2.146 | 41 |
| 26 | Hector Hurst | Team West-Tec | 1:25.995 | 2.305 | 46 |
| 27 | Tatiana Calderon | Signature | 1:26.251 | 2.561 | 47 |