Norisring European F3: Max Verstappen fastest in practice
Max Verstappen topped both free practice sessions for this weekend's Formula 3 European Championship round at the Norisring
The 16-year-old Belgo-Dutchman belied the fact that he had never driven on the Nuremberg street track, and at the end of the two 40-minute free practice sessions his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen was 0.085 seconds clear.
It was Tom Blomqvist who emerged in second place, the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara-VW driver edging out Lucas Auer in the leading Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes.
Championship leader Esteban Ocon, like Verstappen a Norisring virgin, was fourth fastest in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes, with his team-mate Antonio Fuoco and the Team West-Tec Dallara-Merc of Felix Serralles completing the top six.
Felix Rosenqvist was third in the opening session, which began on a dusty track in bright Bavarian sunshine, but could only trim a couple of tenths off that in the second period, in which he dropped to seventh.
The Mucke-run Swede only just pipped his Israeli team-mate Roy Nissany, who was the surprise package of the lunchtime running.
Also impressive was Dutchman Jules Szymkowiak, the VAR driver ending up in ninth place.
Save for the odd spin there was little drama, although Jordan King had to pull off the road on the approach to the final turn with seven minutes remaining with a suspected broken throttle cable, although he just about stayed in the top 10.
Practice one: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 49.029s 2. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Merc 49.064s +0.035s 3. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 49.097s +0.068s 4. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 49.274s +0.245s 5. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW 49.286s +0.257s 6. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Merc 49.303s +0.274s 7. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc 49.314s +0.285s 8. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara-Merc 49.397s +0.368s 9. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 49.465s +0.436s 10. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 49.477s +0.448s 11. Jake Dennis Carlin Dallara-VW 49.483s +0.454s 12. Nicholas Latifi Prema Dallara-Merc 49.489s +0.460s 13. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE 49.545s +0.516s 14. Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 49.553s +0.524s 15. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 49.712s +0.683s 16. Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.719s +0.690s 17. Dennis van de Laar Prema Dallara-Merc 49.827s +0.798s 18. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.860s +0.831s 19. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 49.907s +0.878s 20. Mitchell Gilbert Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.963s +0.934s 21. Santino Ferrucci Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 50.052s +1.023s 22. Felipe Guimaraes Double R Dallara-Merc 50.321s +1.292s 23. Michele Beretta Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 50.351s +1.322s 24. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc 50.419s +1.390s 25. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE 50.651s +1.622s 26. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara-Merc 50.789s +1.760s Practice two: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 48.387s 2. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW 48.472s +0.085s 3. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.617s +0.230s 4. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc 48.684s +0.297s 5. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Merc 48.855s +0.468s 6. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara-Merc 48.859s +0.472s 7. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.866s +0.479s 8. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.875s +0.488s 9. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 48.904s +0.517s 10. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 48.917s +0.530s 11. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 48.922s +0.535s 12. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE 48.927s +0.540s 13. Nicholas Latifi Prema Dallara-Merc 48.976s +0.589s 14. Jake Dennis Carlin Dallara-VW 48.984s +0.597s 15. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 49.054s +0.667s 16. Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.091s +0.704s 17. Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 49.144s +0.757s 18. Dennis van de Laar Prema Dallara-Merc 49.147s +0.760s 19. Mitchell Gilbert Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.162s +0.775s 20. Felipe Guimaraes Double R Dallara-Merc 49.302s +0.915s 21. Michele Beretta Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 49.480s +1.093s 22. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE 49.610s +1.223s 23. Santino Ferrucci Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 49.625s +1.238s 24. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.656s +1.269s 25. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.818s +1.431s 26. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara-Merc 49.909s +1.522s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments