Felix and Mücke Motorsport had their fears realised when they again had to settle for positions in the midfield in second qualifying for the Silverstone FIA Formula 3 European Championship curtain-raiser.
Friday activities in the UK have not panned out the way Felix was hoping for, with 14th place in this afternoon’s first qualifying session highlighting a number of performance-limiting issues related to a general lack of grip. With the same indications coming from team-mate Lucas Auer, the team went into final qualifying with realistic expectations.
As it was, Felix eventually set the 13th fastest lap, while Auer managed to squeeze out another tenth to grab 12th on the Race 2 grid. The Mücke Motorsport duo – second and fourth respectively in last year’s championship standings – will start all three Silverstone races from positions right in the glowing midst of the 26-car field, with Felix’s exact grid slots being 14th, 13th and 14th.
The best lap of the session was set by Prema Powerteam’s Esteban Ocon, who wound up 0.782s ahead of Felix.
FELIX:
“This has been a really bad day for us. Everyone is working so hard, and to find ourselves in this position isn’t fantastic. Lucas and I have run at a similar pace all day, and I’m afraid we’ve both pretty much found the limit of our current package. It’s a general lack of grip, which means the problem is probably pretty fundamental. That’s the realistic situation we’re in at the moment, and there’s no point trying to hide from that.
“Still, we have all been in this position before, and we will all be there again – this is a part of motorsport. It’s still very early days in the season, and I will do everything I can to help us return to the front where I think we belong. I know everyone in the team will do the same, and we’ll fight back – even though making much progress in the races this weekend will be difficult.”
RESULTS (top ten):
Race 2 grid (outright times)
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| 1 | Esteban Ocon | 1:51.322 | |
| 2 | Nicholas Latifi | +0.138 | |
| 3 | Tom Blomqvist | +0.195 | |
| 4 | Antonio Fuoco | +0.214 | |
| 5 | Antonio Giovinazzi | +0.433 | |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | +0.486 | |
| 7 | Jordan King | +0.535 | |
| 8 | Dennis van de Laar | +0.542 | |
| 9 | Ed Jones | +0.585 | |
| 10 | Mitch Gilbert | +0.671 | |
| 13 | Felix Rosenqvist | +0.782 |
Race 3 grid (second-fastest times)
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| 1 | Esteban Ocon | 1:51.327 | |
| 2 | Antonio Fuoco | +0.230 | |
| 3 | Tom Blomqvist | +0.250 | |
| 4 | Nicholas Latifi | +0.450 | |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | +0.483 | |
| 6 | Antonio Giovinazzi | +0.567 | |
| 7 | Ed Jones | +0.655 | |
| 8 | Dennis van de Laar | +0.663 | |
| 9 | Mitch Gilbert | +0.769 | |
| 10 | Lucas Auer | +0.820 | |
| 14 | Felix Rosenqvist | +0.950 |