Prema Powerteam’s Italian F4 graduates Lance Stroll and Brandon Maisano topped the two free practice sessions ahead of the opening FIA F3 European Championship at Silverstone.
F4 and Toyota Racing Series champion Stroll set the pace in the first of the 40-minute sessions, taking top spot away from fellow rookie George Russell inside the final five minutes.
Carlin driver Russell had held top spot for over 20 minutes and his lap was good enough to finish up second, just 0.013 seconds behind Stroll.
Antonio Giovinazzi, the highest-placed driver from last season to return, was third ahead of F3 veteran Felix Rosenqvist.
Alex Albon was an impressive fifth for Signature, followed by Maisano and Jake Dennis, who made it all four Prema cars inside the top seven.
Charles Leclerc, who topped four out of six pre-season testing sessions, was eighth and the lead Van Amersfoort Racing driver, while Markus Pommer and Mikkel Jensen completed the top ten for German squads Motopark and Mucke respectively.
Maisano secured first place in the second session with a time of 1m51.677s, nearly half a second faster than Stroll’s earlier benchmark.
The Frenchman forced his more experience team-mate Rosenqvist to settle for second, 0.066s behind.
Russell pipped fellow Carlin driver Giovinazzi to P3, with Leclerc, Stroll and Dennis following them. Karting graduate and Red Bull recruit Callum Ilott was eighth, while Jensen was this time ahead of Pommer at the bottom of the top ten.
Combined session results
Pos. | Driver | Team | Session 1 | Session 2 |
1 | Brandon Maisano | Prema Powerteam | 1:52.448 | 1:51.677 |
2 | Felix Rosenqvist | Prema Powerteam | 1:52.292 | 1:51.743 |
3 | George Russell | Carlin | 1:52.136 | 1:51.957 |
4 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Carlin | 1:52.256 | 1:51.958 |
5 | Charles Leclerc | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:52.514 | 1:51.997 |
6 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | 1:52.123 | 1:52.065 |
7 | Jake Dennis | Prema Powerteam | 1:52.504 | 1:52.078 |
8 | Callum Ilott | Carlin | 1:52.770 | 1:52.338 |
9 | Mikkel Jensen | Mucke Motorsport | 1:52.756 | 1:52.342 |
10 | Markus Pommer | Motopark | 1:52.736 | 1:52.362 |
11 | Alex Albon | Signature | 1:52.367 | 1:52.622 |
12 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Fortec Motorsports | 1:52.925 | 1:52.549 |
13 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark | 1:52.840 | 1:52.594 |
14 | Maximilian Gunther | Mucke Motorsport | 1:53.235 | 1:52.614 |
15 | Ryan Tveter | Carlin | 1:53.603 | 1:52.651 |
16 | Gustavo Menezes | Carlin | 1:53.298 | 1:52.664 |
17 | Raoul Hyman | West-Tec | 1:53.166 | 1:52.792 |
18 | Alessio Lorandi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:53.260 | 1:52.798 |
19 | Michele Beretta | Mucke Motorsport | 1:53.560 | 1:52.818 |
20 | Matt Solomon | Double R Racing | 1:52.888 | 1:53.121 |
21 | Nabil Jeffri | Motopark | 1:54.050 | 1:52.909 |
22 | Nicolas Beer | Eurointernational | 1:53.222 | 1:52.938 |
23 | Tatiana Calderon | Carlin | 1:53.409 | 1:52.991 |
24 | Arjun Maini | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:53.076 | 1:53.449 |
25 | Matt Rao | Fortec Motorsports | 1:53.379 | 1:53.080 |
26 | Fabian Schiller | West-Tec | 1:53.644 | 1:53.183 |
27 | Sam MacLeod | Motopark | 1:53.244 | 1:53.923 |
28 | Peter Li | Fortec Motorsports | 1:53.319 | 1:53.810 |
29 | Kang Ling | Mucke Motorsport | 1:53.980 | 1:53.322 |
30 | Dorian Boccolacci | Signature | 1:53.349 | 1:54.073 |
31 | Martin Cao | Fortec Motorsports | 1:53.713 | 1:53.418 |
32 | Julio Moreno | T-Sport | 1:53.560 | 1:53.567 |
33 | Nicolas Pohler | Double R Racing | 1:53.795 | 1:54.032 |
34 | Santino Ferrucci | Mucke Motorsport | 1:54.065 | No time |
35 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | Motopark | 1:54.713 | 1:54.371 |
Personal best time in bold
Session best time in italics