Robert Shwartzman was fastest on Day 2 of the Final Formula 3 pre-season tests in Budapest.

 No sooner had the thirty cars hit the track on Day 2 of Testing in Budapest, were they having to return to the pits. Andreas Estner had stopped at Turn 9 resulting in a red flag just minutes into the session. The drivers swiftly got back out there and Jüri Vips wasted no time in setting the early pace with 1:32.002.

 

The familiar sight of Leonardo Pulcini leading the pack was spotted half an hour into the session, when the cars dipped under 1m32s. With this achieved, PREMA Racing, Carlin Buzz Racing, Campos Racing, Jenzer Motorsport and ART Grand Prix all switched to new slick tyres, perhaps signifying a Qualifying simulation.

 

The best time from Day One of testing yesterday was beaten by the rapid Robert Shwartzman. Yuki Tsunoda, David Beckmann and Jake Hughes were all jostling for second position, but no one had been able to improve on the speed of the Russian from PREMA, before a Red Flag halfway through the session forced the cars back into the pitlane, due to Alex Peroni stopping on Turn 10.

 

The 1m31s barrier was broken for the first time in this year’s F3 Budapest Testing when they restarted, as Christian Lundgaard flew round the track to set a best time of 1:30.940. Not to be outdone, Shwartzman reclaimed the top spot when we entered the final hour, beating Lundgaard’s lap by 0.194s.

 

The Ferrari Academy driver continued to lead the way for the final hour and couldn’t be knocked off top spot. The 19-year-old was only separated by his PREMA teammates Jehan Daruvala and Marcus Armstrong in third and fourth by the second placed Lundgaard. The rest of the top ten was completed by Tsunoda, Beckmann, Hughes, Raoul Hyman, Liam Lawson and Max Fewtrell.

 

Yuki Tsunoda was the sole driver back out on track when testing restarted in the afternoon and set the bar at 1:32.177, ahead of the other cars returning onto the Hungaroring circuit, with temperatures hitting 18 degrees.

 

There were successive red flags after Sebastian Fernandez stopped at the pit lane entry and Pulcini stopped at Turn 2. Following this, Jenzer continued to dominate the afternoon and had their trio of drivers in the front three. Tsunoda led teammates Artem Petrov and Andreas Estner, while many of the teams focused on their lap count. There was little shakeup in the order prior to a red flag when Jüri Vips stopped at Turn 11.

 

With less than 15 minutes remaining, Felipe Drugovich and Shwartzman broke into the top 3, propping up frontman Tsunoda. Petrov, Hughes, Vips, Pedro Piquet, Hyman, Bent Viscaal and Niko Kari then made up the rest of the top ten.

 

This concluded the final FIA Formula 3 pre-season tests and the drivers and the teams will now look ahead to the first race weekend of the season, in Barcelona, Spain, on 10-12 May 2019.

 

 

Pos	Driver	Team	Laptime	Laps
1	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing	01:30.7	37
2	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	01:30.9	53
3	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA Racing	01:31.0	27
4	Marcus Armstrong	PREMA Racing	01:31.1	27
5	Yuki Tsunoda	Jenzer Motorsport	01:31.1	39
6	David Beckmann	ART Grand Prix	01:31.2	55
7	Jake Hughes	HWA RACELAB	01:31.2	54
8	Raoul Hyman	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	01:31.2	37
9	Liam Lawson	MP Motorsport	01:31.3	53
10	Max Fewtrell	ART Grand Prix	01:31.3	58
11	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	01:31.3	48
12	Leonardo Pulcini	Hitech Grand Prix	01:31.4	47
13	Fabio Scherer	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	01:31.4	54
14	Sebastian Fernandez	Campos Racing	01:31.4	36
15	Niko Kari	Trident	01:31.5	41
16	Lirim Zendeli	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	01:31.5	48
17	Pedro Piquet	Trident	01:31.5	32
18	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	01:31.5	51
19	Alexander Peroni	Campos Racing	01:31.5	46
20	Simo Laaksonen	MP Motorsport	01:31.6	51
21	Ye Yifei	Hitech Grand Prix	01:31.7	48
22	Artem Petrov	Jenzer Motorsport	01:31.7	37
23	Felipe Drugovich	Carlin Buzz Racing	01:31.7	41
24	Logan Sargeant	Carlin Buzz Racing	01:31.8	33
25	Andreas Estner	Jenzer Motorsport	01:32.0	27
26	Devlin DeFrancesco	Trident	01:32.1	44
27	Bent Viscaal	HWA RACELAB	01:32.1	52
28	Teppei Natori	Carlin Buzz Racing	01:32.4	34
29	Keyvan Andres	HWA RACELAB	01:32.5	45
30	Alessio Deledda	Campos Racing	01:33.3	44

 

 

Pos	Driver	Team	Laptime	Laps
1	Yuki Tsunoda	Jenzer Motorsport	01:32.2	50
2	Felipe Drugovich	Carlin Buzz Racing	01:32.4	49
3	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing	01:32.5	53
4	Artem Petrov	Jenzer Motorsport	01:32.5	48
5	Jake Hughes	HWA RACELAB	01:32.5	27
6	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	01:32.7	32
7	Pedro Piquet	Trident	01:32.7	57
8	Raoul Hyman	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	01:32.8	42
9	Bent Viscaal	HWA RACELAB	01:32.9	45
10	Niko Kari	Trident	01:32.9	56
11	Andreas Estner	Jenzer Motorsport	01:32.9	48
12	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA Racing	01:33.0	49
13	Keyvan Andres	HWA RACELAB	01:33.0	46
14	Liam Lawson	MP Motorsport	01:33.1	36
15	Marcus Armstrong	PREMA Racing	01:33.1	50
16	Simo Laaksonen	MP Motorsport	01:33.2	39
17	Alexander Peroni	Campos Racing	01:33.2	41
18	Teppei Natori	Carlin Buzz Racing	01:33.5	48
19	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	01:33.8	35
20	Lirim Zendeli	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	01:33.8	56
21	Devlin DeFrancesco	Trident	01:33.9	44
22	David Beckmann	ART Grand Prix	01:34.0	41
23	Sebastian Fernandez	Campos Racing	01:34.0	43
24	Ye Yifei	Hitech Grand Prix	01:34.0	37
25	Max Fewtrell	ART Grand Prix	01:34.1	37
26	Logan Sargeant	Carlin Buzz Racing	01:34.2	46
27	Leonardo Pulcini	Hitech Grand Prix	01:34.2	32
28	Fabio Scherer	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	01:34.3	55
29	Alessio Deledda	Campos Racing	01:34.3	23
30	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	01:34.4	40