Photo: Prema
Williams Formula 1 junior Zak O’Sullivan was fastest in FIA Formula 3 practice at the Hungaroring.
It wa a quiet start to the 45-minute session, with only eight cars on track in the first 10 minutes. Rodin Carlin’s Ollie Gray initially set the pace, then after 12 minutes Hitech GP’s Luke Browning posted a 1m33.726s to move to the top.
He would remain there for 10 minutes, leading ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov and Hitech team-mate Sebastian Montoya, before the very first flying laps came in from the rest of the field.
They all headed out of the pits at the same time, 21 minutes into the session, and were immediately quicker than the eight drivers who had set laptimes earlier on.
Prema’s Dino Beganovic was first to topple Browning, but his 1m33.460s lap was immediately beaten by team-mate O’Sullivan’s 1m32.701s, and Paul Aron in the third of Prema’s cars demoted Browning too as he set a 1m33.714s.
Just a few minutes later and Browning was down in 11th. MP Motorsport’s Mari Boya went second fastest, 0.385 seconds off O’Sullivan’s pace, Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti jumpe to third and Beganovic improved but was shuffled down to fourth ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez and Trident’s Oliver Goethe.
There were far fewer improvements seen after that as the busy track caused traffic problems, particularly when PHM Racing by Charouz’s debutant Michael Shin slowed down in the final sector and ART GP’s Gregoire Saucy almost drove into the back of Shin’s team-mate Roberto Faria, and Prema was one of the first teams to summon their drivers back to the pits.
The track became busier again with seven minutes to go, and Aron went third fastest before yellow and then red flags were waved due to Villagomez crashing out.
That froze the order on the timesheet, and with not enough time for a restart it meant O’Sullivan finished practice on top. Trident’s points leader Gabriel Bortoleto was down in 12th, 1.080s off the pace.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gaps | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zak O’Sullivan | Prema | 1m32.701s | 8 | |
| 2 | Mari Boya | MP Motorsport | 1m33.086s | +0.385s | 9 |
| 3 | Paul Aron | Prema | 1m33.180s | +0.479s | 8 |
| 4 | Pepe Marti | Campos Racing | 1m33.183s | +0.482s | 8 |
| 5 | Dino Beganovic | Prema | 1m33.186s | +0.485s | 8 |
| 6 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m33.311s | +0.610s | 7 |
| 7 | Oliver Goethe | Trident | 1m33.319s | +0.618s | 8 |
| 8 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | 1m33.428s | +0.727s | 8 |
| 9 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 1m33.610s | +0.909s | 10 |
| 10 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 1m33.726s | +1.025s | 17 |
| 11 | Kaylen Frederick | ART Grand Prix | 1m33.757s | +1.056s | 8 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Trident | 1m33.781s | +1.080s | 8 |
| 13 | Taylor Barnard | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m33.783s | +1.082s | 8 |
| 14 | Nikita Bedrin | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m33.788s | +1.087s | 9 |
| 15 | Jonny Edgar | MP Motorsport | 1m33.813s | +1.112s | 9 |
| 16 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 1m33.835s | +1.134s | 7 |
| 17 | Caio Collet | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m33.990s | +1.289s | 8 |
| 18 | Hugh Barter | Campos Racing | 1m33.995s | +1.294s | 7 |
| 19 | Nikola Tsolov | ART Grand Prix | 1m34.101s | +1.400s | 12 |
| 20 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | 1m34.196s | +1.495s | 8 |
| 21 | Christian Mansell | Campos Racing | 1m34.251s | +1.550s | 8 |
| 22 | Sebastian Montoya | Hitech GP | 1m34.458s | +1.757s | 13 |
| 23 | Sophia Floersch | PHM by Charouz | 1m34.565s | +1.864s | 9 |
| 24 | Ollie Gray | Carlin | 1m35.174s | +2.473s | 14 |
| 25 | Max Esterson | Carlin | 1m35.804s | +3.103s | 14 |
| 26 | Roberto Faria | PHM by Charouz | 1m35.896s | +3.195s | 8 |
| 27 | Alex Garcia | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m36.045s | +3.344s | 13 |
| 28 | Tommy Smith | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m37.180s | +4.479s | 14 |
| 29 | Michael Shin | PHM by Charouz | 1m37.212s | +4.511s | 10 |
| 30 | Gabriele Mini | Hitech GP | 1m52.560s | +19.859s | 9 |