Imola European F3: Lotus F1 junior Esteban Ocon takes pole
Lotus F1 junior Esteban Ocon made a giant stride towards wrapping up the Formula 3 European Championship by topping qualifying for the first race of the weekend at Imola
Twelve months on from his first F3 test at the same venue with Prema Powerteam, Ocon emerged from a battle for pole with Antonio Giovinazzi, and was just under a tenth of a second to the good when the session was red-flagged for a second time with slightly over two minutes remaining.
Only a handful of runners managed to get around the circuit to start a flying lap before the chequered flag flew: one of them was Ocon, and he shaved another few hundredths off his previous best.
"It was good to back into the F3 car with a two-day test this week," said Ocon, who has contested two Formula Renault 3.5 events since the last F3 round.
"We struggled a bit at the beginning, but after two days we were quite OK. We improved quite a lot in free practice this morning, and now the car is as fantastic as it was at Moscow Raceway [where Ocon won all three races]."
Of his best lap, Ocon said: "I just took it really easy."
Giovinazzi will not join Ocon on the front row as he has to serve a three-place grid penalty so Jordan King - who leapt from ninth on his one-lap dash after the final red flag - moves up to second on the grid.
Max Verstappen was disappointed to take fifth, feeling that he did not get a perfect lap and that the balance of his Van Amersfoort Racing car had dropped slightly.
He will start 15th, as he has two 10-place grid penalties hanging over him as a result of his engine change last time out at the Nurburgring.
Felix Rosenqvist completed the top six with Mucke Motorsport, from Jake Dennis (Carlin) and free practice pacesetter Antonio Fuoco - Prema's Ferrari protege was on laps that would have put him at least in the top three on both occasions when the red flags appeared.
Lucas Auer and Nicholas Latifi completed the top 10, while Sean Gelael moves into 10th spot thanks to Verstappen's penalty.
The first red flag was caused when Gelael was caught out by a slowing Verstappen at the Villeneuve chicane, got into a tankslapper and smacked the barriers. The second was occasioned by an off for Alexander Toril after Rivazza.
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Esteban Ocon | Prema Powerteam | 1m36.479s | - | 12 |
2 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1m36.611s | 0.132s | 12 |
3 | Jordan King | Carlin | 1m36.890s | 0.411s | 13 |
4 | Tom Blomqvist | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1m36.973s | 0.494s | 11 |
5 | Max Verstappen | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m37.006s | 0.527s | 11 |
6 | Felix Rosenqvist | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | 1m37.016s | 0.537s | 12 |
7 | Jake Dennis | Carlin | 1m37.031s | 0.552s | 12 |
8 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Powerteam | 1m37.125s | 0.646s | 12 |
9 | Lucas Auer | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | 1m37.147s | 0.668s | 12 |
10 | Nicholas Latifi | Prema Powerteam | 1m37.187s | 0.708s | 12 |
11 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1m37.375s | 0.896s | 7 |
12 | Dennis van de Laar | Prema Powerteam | 1m37.481s | 1.002s | 12 |
13 | Felix Serralles | Team West-Tec F3 | 1m37.491s | 1.012s | 10 |
14 | Gustavo Menezes | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m37.564s | 1.085s | 12 |
15 | Tatiana Calderon | Jo Zeller Racing | 1m37.592s | 1.113s | 11 |
16 | Jules Szymkowiak | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m37.659s | 1.180s | 11 |
17 | William Buller | Signature | 1m37.679s | 1.200s | 11 |
18 | Ed Jones | Carlin | 1m37.758s | 1.279s | 13 |
19 | Nick Cassidy | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1m37.775s | 1.296s | 12 |
20 | Roy Nissany | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | 1m37.925s | 1.446s | 13 |
21 | Alexander Toril | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1m37.926s | 1.447s | 9 |
22 | Richard Goddard | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1m38.105s | 1.626s | 12 |
23 | Santino Ferrucci | Fortec Motorsports | 1m38.363s | 1.884s | 12 |
24 | Martin Cao | Fortec Motorsports | 1m38.415s | 1.936s | 12 |
25 | Sergio Sette Camara | EuroInternational | 1m38.609s | 2.130s | 11 |
26 | Michele Beretta | EuroInternational | 1m38.825s | 2.346s | 11 |
27 | Andy Chang | Team West-Tec F3 | 1m39.292s | 2.813s | 12 |
*Giovinazzi has to serve three-place grid penalty
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