Silverstone European F3: Maisano leads Prema practice one-two

The Mercedes-powered Italian team, renowned for keeping its powder dry in testing, topped the first 40-minute session with Lance Stroll, before Frenchman Maisano narrowly headed Macau Grand Prix winner Felix Rosenqvist in a Prema one-two in the second period.

Most of the quickest times were set in the final 20 minutes as the field swarmed out on fresh Hankook rubber for a qualifying simulation.

Traffic was a nightmare for much of the 35-car field, but Maisano - who had never been to Silverstone before Tuesday's test - found a clear space.

"That was very important because there are a lot of drivers, so you need to find a place on the track," said Maisano. "That wasn't easy, but I did two quick laps."

Rosenqvist finished up less than seven hundredths adrift, despite having to pass a backmarker into Stowe Corner on his quickest lap.

Briton George Russell led much of the first session before Stroll's late effort, and in the second period he chased Maisano round in relatively clear air to pip Antonio Giovinazzi in the intra-team Carlin battle for third place by a mere one thousandth of a second.

Tuesday pacesetter Charles Leclerc ended up fifth, the Van Amersfoort Racing team reporting that most of the time he was shouting "traffic" down the radio.

Stroll made only a small improvement on his first-session time to take sixth, with Jake Dennis making it all four Prema cars in the top seven.

Red Bull junior Callum Ilott did a tidy job to take eighth in his Carlin machine, while Mikkel Jensen was the best of the lairy-looking Mucke Motorsport cars in ninth.

Markus Pommer rounded out the top 10, the German briefly topping the times in his Motopark entry before hitting a congested track.

Of those who hit trouble, Santino Ferrucci did very few laps in his Mucke Dallara before a clutch spring broke, while Motopark's Sam MacLeod had a wiring issue in the electronics that hampered his downshifts.

There was one red flag, which came in the second half of the first session, when Peter Li's excursion meant gravel had to be cleared from the track.

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PRACTICE PART TWO: