The final charges by his fiercest rival Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam, 1:29.994 minutes) were insufficient to topple Giovinazzi from pole position. Markus Pommer (Motopark, 1:30.195 minutes) secured himself third place from Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam, 1:30.312 minutes) and Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1:30.331 minutes), who was classified fifth as the best-placed rookie and the current FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader.

Monegasque Leclerc, whose Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing has a home race at Zandvoort, still topped the time sheets among the 34-strong field halfway through the 20 minutes’ session. A few minutes later, however, Antonio Giovinazzi demoted him to second. Until four minutes before the end, Felix Rosenqvist, Markus Pommer, Jake Dennis, Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam, 1:30.431 minutes) and Alexander Albon (Signature, 1:30.462 minutes) also moved up ahead of Leclerc. The latter, however, didn’t give in, improved his own time once again and ranked ahead of his two fellow rookies Stroll and Albon.

Further up, Rosenqvist tried to beat Giovinazzi’s fastest lap time. The Swede managed to improve his own fastest time, but failed to match Giovinazzi. Thus, he slotted in behind the South-Italian who claimed his first pole position of the season.

Nabil Jeffri (Motopark, 1:30.352 minutes) was more successful in his final attempt. In the closing stages of the session, the young driver from Malaysia moved up into sixth place and thus achieved his best FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying result to date. Lance Stroll, Alexander Albon, George Russell (Carlin, 1:30.473 minutes) and Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 1:30.495 minutes) rounded out the top ten.

Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin): “I am really delighted to have claimed my first pole position of the season. Especially at this track, first place on the grid is particularly important, because overtaking is very difficult here. My car was great and I managed to pull off a good lap. Now, I will try to repeat this result in second qualifying.”