Hockenheim European F3: Felix Rosenqvist completes pole hat-trick

On a wet track and under light drizzle, the Swede was visibly quicker than the field, which he initially led by more than two seconds in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes.

There was a red flag just before three-quarters distance, by which point rookie Charles Leclerc - on his first taste of Hockenheim in the wet - had cut the gap to Rosenqvist to just under a second, despite an off-track moment early in the session as he entered the final stadium section.

The red flag was caused by an altercation at the final corner between George Russell and Matt Solomon, continuing Briton Russell's miserable weekend - he will start 18th and 25th for races two and three.

After the restart, Leclerc managed to trim Rosenqvist's advantage to just under a quarter of a second, and the Monegasque will start his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen from the front row for Saturday's and Sunday's races, as Rosenqvist added race two and three poles to his race one effort.

"The car was fantastic and the team managed the traffic very well," said Rosenqvist. "I have to thank them for that.

"After the restart I waited to find a gap, but the tyres were not warm enough and I lost two tenths already in Turn 1."

Championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi was third at the red flag, but after the restart his bid to improve was scuppered by a detour into the Sachskurve gravel, and the Carlin-run Italian fell to fifth behind Maximilian Gunther and Callum Ilott.

The continually impressive Gunther completed a hat-trick of thirds on the grid in his ex-Rosenqvist Mucke Motorsport machine, while the dramatic driving style of fearless 16-year-old Red Bull junior Ilott gave him fourth on the grid for Saturday's race, and fifth for Sunday's in his Carlin car.

Lance Stroll followed Prema team-mate Rosenqvist around the track to take sixth for race two, fourth for race three, with Giovinazzi dropping to sixth on the grid for Sunday.

Jake Dennis and Alexander Albon both start Saturday's race from the fourth row, although they drop out of the top 10 on the second-best times that determine Sunday's grid.

In the top 10 for both races are Markus Pommer and Santino Ferrucci, while Mikkel Jensen and Gustavo Menezes crept into that bracket for Sunday's race.

Ilott will start Friday's opening race with a 10-place grid penalty for running a red light in the pitlane during the first qualifying session, dropping him from ninth to 19th on the grid.

RACE TWO GRID:

RACE THREE GRID: