Hockenheim European F3: Felix Rosenqvist storms free practice

Rosenqvist, who has already won six times at the German track during his lengthy F3 career, was a tenth-and-a-half clear in the first session, with Jake Dennis, Lance Stroll and Brandon Maisano completing a 1-2-3-4 for Prema's Mercedes-powered machines.

On new tyres in the second session, Rosenqvist ended up just over a tenth ahead of Stroll - while the Canadian and fellow Euro F3 rookie Maisano have never raced an F3 car at the circuit, they have both tested one.

"The track felt a bit strange," said Rosenqvist. "It's quite slippy, but the pace looked quite good and I had quite a big margin, I think, on old tyres and new.

"There's more to come, but we'll see what happens in qualifying [later this afternoon] - God will decide with the weather!"

Santino Ferrucci led the Mucke Motorsport charge, with the American stamping in the third fastest time overall late in the second session.

Championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi also looked strong, the Carlin driver proving the fastest of the Volkswagen-engined contenders in fifth overall, just behind Dennis's first-session time.

After a disappointing opening weekend at Silverstone, Raoul Hyman provided great encouragement for the Team West-Tec squad, the South African rounding out the top six.

Silverstone race winners Charles Leclerc and George Russell ended up seventh and eighth overall with Van Amersfoort Racing and Carlin respectively, with Maisano's first-session time giving the Frenchman ninth overall and Mucke's Michele Beretta completing the top 10.

Free practice was bookended by two red flags. The first was caused when a technical problem stranded Double R Racing's Nicolas Pohler out on the track just a few minutes in.

The second came just two minutes from the end of the second session, potentially scuppering a few runs on new tyres, and was caused when Maximilian Gunther crashed his Mucke Motorsport machine at the right-hander entering the final stadium section - a wheel appeared to come adrift of the car before he hit the barriers.

COMBINED PRACTICE RESULTS: