Hadjar stays top in final day of FIA F3 Bahrain testing
Hitech Grand Prix rookie Isack Hadjar topped FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing in Bahrain for a second consecutive day on Friday.
The 17-year-old Frenchman, who finished fifth in the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship, set a 1m47.247s during the morning session to top the timesheets.
Hadjar had gone quickest on Thursday with a marginally slower time of 1m47.516s, his chart-topping effort also coming in the morning session.
The last day of the three-day test was ended prematurely after a red flag with five minutes to go, with Trident driver Roman Stanek atop the afternoon session times on a 1m48.182s.
There was also a stoppage 30 minutes earlier, when Charouz driver Laszlo Toth came to a halt on track.
All of Friday’s quickest times came in the morning session, with 2021 Hitech driver Jak Crawford taking second for his new Prema Racing squad, just under four-tenths behind his fellow Red Bull junior Hadjar.
ART Grand Prix rookie Gregoire Saucy finished third, setting a 1m47.719s lap earlier in the day, with MP Motorsport returnee Caio Collet in fourth and team-mate Alexander Smolyar in fifth.
Rookie David Vidales, driving for Campos Racing, was sixth with a 1m47.971s, with Alpine junior Victor Martins seventh having switched from MP Motorsport to ART Grand Prix.
The red flag was flown 10 minutes into the morning session after Kaylen Frederick (Hitech) came to a stop at Turn 3.
Roman Stanek, Trident
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Track conditions were mixed in the afternoon, with drivers told to switch on their rear lights due to dust and sand on the circuit causing poor visibility that ultimately caused the Formula 2 afternoon session to be cancelled.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima finished second in the afternoon, the GB3 graduate posting a best effort six-tenths behind Stanek, with Trident rookie Zane Maloney in third with a 1m48.807s.
Fellow VAR rookie Franco Colapinto finished fourth, with second-year racer Jonny Edgar in fifth for his new Trident team and Rafael Villagomez in sixth.
The F3 season begins in Bahrain from 18-20 March.
Hadjar fastest on second day of FIA F3 pre-season testing in Bahrain
Hitech Grand Prix terminates Uralkali sponsorship deal
Castroneves: “Too early” to think about potential replacement by Blomqvist
Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves says it’s too soon to consider Meyer Shank Racing might want to swap him to the IMSA squad and bring Tom Blomqvist over to IndyCar.
Why some DTM teams take out crash insurance but others gamble
The 2022 DTM season featured several major pile-ups and accidents, costing teams several hundred thousands in repair costs. While some had insured cars against such damage, others weren’t so well prepared…
Ricciardo: Australian GP buzz will tell me a lot about F1 comeback
Red Bull third driver Daniel Ricciardo says attending his home grand prix in Melbourne will likely tell him whether he wants to make a full-time comeback to Formula 1 or not.
Kirkwood admits he overdrove as an IndyCar rookie
Kyle Kirkwood admits he was overdriving at AJ Foyt Racing in 2022 and is expecting to rebuild his reputation at Andretti Autosport.
Ranking the 10 best drivers from F1's junior series in 2022
The ladder to F1 never gets any less slippery. But a strong cast of Formula 3 and Formula 2 aces proved sure of foot as they continued their climbs in 2022
What racing in Australia means for the future of F1's junior series
The announcement that FIA Formula 2 and 3 would race alongside the Australian Grand Prix from 2023 came as a surprise, not only to fans but to the series’ teams too. But with Formula 1’s boom in popularity bringing more fans to the championships, team principals are relishing the opportunity
Why the Formula 3 benchmark's 2022 season hinges on qualifying
Prema Racing has long dominated FIA Formula 3, taking the teams’ title in two of the past three seasons. But its start to 2022 has been trickier than usual, and the answers lie in its qualifying performance
How the ultra-tight F3 title fight is taking shape
With just five points separating the top five after two rounds, FIA Formula 3 looks set for another thrilling season in 2022. But who stands the best chance of pulling away from that pack, and who are the contenders bubbling under?
The F3 newcomer making good on his unusual career path
Joining the FIA Formula 3 grid as a rookie with a team new to the series could prove daunting for most, but then there aren't many drivers who have the extensive experience Franco Colapinto brings from his time racing sportscars. The Argentinian explains how his LMP2 experience is already helping him in 2022
The British trio hunting for F3 title glory
The 2022 FIA Formula 3 season kicks off this weekend in Bahrain. British trio Zak O’Sullivan, Ollie Bearman and Jonny Edgar have all become proteges of Formula 1 teams, and are talents to watch this year
How an outsider demolished a rank of F1 juniors
His career has been a slowburner but Gregoire Saucy trounced a collection of F1 juniors in Formula Regional by Alpine last year, and now he’s preparing to do it again in FIA F3. Here’s how the Swiss caught the world by surprise in 2021 and how he plans to do it all over again
Ranking the top 10 F2 and F3 drivers of 2021
With a veritable feast of feeder series talent in 2021, FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 produced some of its most exciting racing yet. Although Prema Racing drivers once again dominated the respective series, drivers from other teams also stole the limelight to mark themselves out as stars of the future, or validate their highly-regarded standing
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.