Qualifying for tomorrow’s opening FIA Formula 3 European Championship race at Pau turned into disaster for Felix, as he was hit by engine problems for the third consecutive weekend and denied the chance to set anywhere near a representative lap time.
The issues became apparent right from the start of the session, with Felix immediately returning to the pits after his first out lap. The Mücke Motorsport mechanics could fix the problem in time for Felix to re-emerge with a few minutes remaining, only for Felix Serrallés to bring out the red flags just moments later – limiting Felix to just one flying lap on cold tyres.
With 1 minute and 27 seconds still remaining of the session, Felix sat 11th on the timesheets and was in desperate need of a late improvement. Theoretically, there would be time for one more attempt before the chequered flag fell – but the frustrating session would still see a final twist for Felix.
On his tour out of the pits, he got stuck behind team-mate Lucas Auer, who completed a very slow out-lap and got back to the start/finish line after the clock was down to zero. The session was over, leaving Felix down in 22nd on the grid for Race 1. Auer will start the event from the front row, next to pole-sitter Esteban Ocon.
FELIX: “What can I say? We had a return of the same issue that hit us at both Silverstone and Hockenheim, and that was it. I went out at the beginning of the session and felt that something was wrong, and returned to the pits immediately. The team managed to fix it, but it was too late and I could only rejoin in time to set one flying lap, in traffic and on cold tyres. I can’t believe it was within one second of P1. We’re going through a rough patch right now, but we’ll keep fighting.”
RESULTS
Group A
| Pos. | No | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Lucas Auer / AUT kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport | 11 | 1:10.429 | – |
| 2 | 1 | Nicholas Latifi / CAN Prema Powerteam | 9 | 1:10.559 | 0.130 |
| 3 | 31 | Tom Blomqvist / GBR Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 11 | 1:10.634 | 0.205 |
| 4 | 5 | Jordan King / GBR Carlin | 10 | 1:10.714 | 0.285 |
| 5 | 21 | Félix Serrallés / USA Team West-TecF3 | 10 | 1:10.769 | 0.340 |
| 6 | 19 | Antonio Giovinazzi / ITA Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 12 | 1:10.840 | 0.411 |
| 7 | 11 | Richard Goddard / GBR ThreeBond with T-Sport | 12 | 1:10.930 | 0.501 |
| 8 | 7 | Riccardo Agostini / ITA Eurointernational | 9 | 1:10.960 | 0.531 |
| 9 | 9 | Mitchell Gilbert / AUS Fortec Motorsports | 12 | 1:11.035 | 0.606 |
| 10 | 25 | Antonio Fuoco / ITA Prema Powerteam | 15 | 1:11.097 | 0.668 |
| 11 | 27 | Felix Rosenqvist / SWE kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport | 3 | 1:11.137 | 0.708 |
| 12 | 15 | Jules Szymkowiak / NED Van Amersfoort Racing | 12 | 1:11.571 | 1.142 |
Group B
| Pos. | No | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Esteban Ocon / FRA Prema Powerteam | 10 | 1:10.072 | – |
| 2 | 30 | Max Verstappen / NED Van Amersfoort Racing | 13 | 1:10.096 | 0.024 |
| 3 | 28 | Jake Dennis / GBR Carlin | 10 | 1:10.570 | 0.498 |
| 4 | 26 | Dennis van de Laar / NED Prema Powerteam | 12 | 1:10.664 | 0.592 |
| 5 | 6 | Edward Jones / UAE Carlin | 9 | 1:10.887 | 0.815 |
| 6 | 20 | Sean Gelael / INA Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 11 | 1:11.078 | 1.006 |
| 7 | 10 | John Bryant-Meisner / SWE Fortec Motorsports | 14 | 1:11.519 | 1.447 |
| 8 | 16 | Gustavo Menezes / USA Van Amersfoort Racing | 12 | 1:11.577 | 1.505 |
| 9 | 14 | Felipe Guimaraes / BRA Double R Racing | 11 | 1:11.583 | 1.511 |
| 10 | 12 | Alexander Toril / ESP ThreeBond with T-Sport | 11 | 1:11.654 | 1.582 |
| 11 | 18 | Tatiana Calderón / COL Jo Zeller Racing | 10 | 1:11.826 | 1.754 |
| 12 | 8 | Michele Beretta / ITA Eurointernational | 13 | 1:11.931 | 1.859 |
| 13 | 22 | Hector Hurst / GBR Team West-TecF3 | 12 | 1:12.693 | 2.621 |
| 14 | 4 | Roy Nissany / ISR kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport | 3 | 1:13.066 | 2.994 |