Felix did not enjoy the kind of start he was looking for as the FIA Formula 3 European Championship kicked into life at Silverstone on Friday, after engine problems brought running to a premature end in free practice.
After leading the Mücke Motorsport charge by grabbing tenth in the opening 40-minute session, Felix ran into trouble early on as practice recommenced after a five-minute break, eventually completing just seven more laps before parking up in the pitlane with a loss of engine power.
Mücke Motorsport do currently not know what caused the issues, but work is underway to rectify the problem in time for this afternoon’s all-important qualifying sessions – the first of which commences at 13.40 local time.
Practice was topped by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Max Verstappen, who recorded a 1m51.716s best towards the end of the session. Despite sitting out the last 30 minutes of running, Felix remained the fastest Mücke Motorsport representative on a 1m53.001s.
FELIX:
“That obviously wasn’t the start we’d been hoping for, but hopefully it’s not too serious. The engine lost power at the beginning of the second session, right after the five-minute break, and the team is currently looking into it. Driving-wise, the running we did do felt quite OK, but we do have a few things to work on going into qualifying. It’s still early days and I look forward to seeing where we are this afternoon.”
RESULTS (top ten):
| 1 | Max Verstappen / NED Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:51.716 | – |
| 2 | Esteban Ocon / FRA Prema Powerteam | 1:51.798 | +0.082 |
| 3 | Antonio Fuoco / ITA Prema Powerteam | 1:51.863 | +0.147 |
| 4 | Edward Jones / GBR Carlin | 1:52.040 | +0.324 |
| 5 | Jordan King / GBR Carlin | 1:52.082 | +0.366 |
| 6 | Tom Blomqvist / GBR Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:52.116 | +0.400 |
| 7 | Nicholas Latifi / COD Prema Powerteam | 1:52.259 | +0.543 |
| 8 | Antonio Giovinazzi / ITA Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:52.334 | +0.618 |
| 9 | Richard Goddard / GBR ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1:52.558 | +0.842 |
| 10 | Félix Serrallés / USA Team West-TecF3 | 1:52.594 | +0.878 |
| 16 | Felix Rosenqvist / SWE Mücke Motorsport-Mercedes | 1:53.001 | +1.285 |