In an exciting and close second qualifying, the starting grid positions for the second and third races of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at the 5.901 kilometres long Silverstone Grand Prix circuit were determined. Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) came out on top in the ranking of the fastest lap times and thus will be able to start from pole position for the second race. Rookie driver Lando Norris (Carlin), Joel Eriksson (Motopark) and Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) followed behind the Brit. In the ranking of the second-fastest laps, used to determine the starting grid positions for the third race, Ilott also claimed first place. Here, too, Norris, Eriksson and Günther are next up in second to fourth place. 

Starting grid race two

Towards the halfway point, Lando Norris (1m50.507s) was still on top, but the 17-year-old protégé of the McLaren Formula 1 team was unable to hold on to this position till the end. With a little bit over four minutes remaining, Callum Ilott (1m50.482s) moved up into the lead and remained there until the chequered flag was out. Norris, who had posted the fastest lap time in first qualifying one day earlier, ended up second as the best-placed rookie, followed by Joel Eriksson (1m50.537s) and Maximilian Günther (1m50.562s). The times of these four fastest youngsters were less than a tenth of a second apart.

Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m50.654s) and Force India junior driver Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 1m50.655s) followed in five and sixth place while stalwart Jake Dennis (Carlin, 1m50.836) moved up into seventh place in the closing stages, ahead of Ferrari junior Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam, 1m50.948s). Zhou’s team-mate Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam, 1m50.969s) ranked in third place around the halfway-point of the session, but then dropped back to ninth. In his second FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying, this was the first top ten result for the son of Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher. Honda-backed Japanese Tadasuke Makino (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m51.025s) rounded out the top ten.

Starting grid race three

In the ranking of the second-fastest lap times, Callum Ilott (1m50.503s) also came out on top. The order behind the Brit was: Norris (1m50.512s), Eriksson (1m50.568s), Günther (1m50.677s), Daruvala (1m50.765s), Hughes (1m50.909s), Zhou (1m51.055s), Dennis (1m51.020s), Makino (1m51.028s) and Schumacher (1m51.095s).

Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam): “Admittedly, I made some mistake during this qualifying, but at least I managed to bag two decent laps. I was having problems at some parts of the track where I didn’t have any issues yesterday. On the other hand, sections where I expected more problems went well. Had I made fewer mistakes, I probably would have been one tenth of a second faster. Traffic only was an issue at the start on my warm-up lap. After that, things went very well in this respect.”