All the drivers in the FIA F3 European Championship had big smiles on their faces, which said it all about how delighted they were to be in Pau! After party time on Thursday with a great parade in the town, they got down to the nitty-gritty today, Friday, with free practice followed by qualifying.

As has been the case since the season kicked off, the rookies set the pace right from the start of free practice. Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing) was quickest from Esteban Ocon in the first session, and the tables were turned in the second with the Frenchman just edging out his Dutch rival as these two, who look to have a great future ahead of them, went head-to-head in the streets of Pau. But one of the early-season front-runners was missing as Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam), the Ferrari Driver Academy ptotégé, took on the guardrail at Pont Oscar in the very first session.

“This circuit is really cool - and daunting,” said Ocon who didn’t seem too overawed. “It’s certainly the one with the lowest top speed, although you get an incredible impression of speed. It’s like my car had 1000 bhp! The first session wasn’t very easy as I was unable to find my braking points and I had a slight off towards the end, but I had enough time to analyse and to understand what you have to do here.”

Max Verstappen didn’t let himself be overwhelmed either: ”the first laps are pretty special; it’s tricky but I adore this place. I feel really at home in my car so I found my marks very quickly and it all felt really good. You have to get used to the level of vision, but the essential is to be one with your car to get the best out of it. It’s easy to lose control and mess everything up.”

 With half the field covered by a second in free practice the first qualifying session had all the makings of a hotly-contested one with Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Lucas Auer (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) all waiting to pounce on any mistakes by Ocon and Verstappen. Auer was the first to go for it and set the best time in the first group. But once again it was the duel between Ocon and Verstappen which kept the crowd on tenterhooks. The two drivers traded blows throughout a thrilling session at the end of which Esteban Ocon set pole by 24/1000s.

“I really didn’t know my position, but during my slowing-down lap I saw the crowd cheering so I knew I’d done it,” smiled the Frenchman. “I’m delighted with this pole position in on home turf. I was really on the limit. Maxi is very quick and I had to take big risks. It’s going to be a difficult race tomorrow and the start will be absolutely crucial.”

Rendezvous Saturday at 11h15 for the start of the first F3 race of the weekend in the streets of Pau with Ocon on pole in front of Auer, Verstappen and Nicholas Latifi (Prema Powerteam).