F2 testing: Schumacher tops Jerez day three, sets fastest test lap

Schumacher completed a best lap of 1m24.028s after constantly improving his time over the course of the morning session.

Like the previous two days, the second half of the morning and the whole afternoon session was dedicated to long runs, which meant the times from the morning push laps again stood as the best.

Jack Aitken, confirmed yesterday as a Renault F1 test driver for 2019, set the second fastest time for his new team Campos Racing, 0.218s adrift of Schumacher.

Carlin's Louis Deletraz - switching from the Charouz team to last year's teams' champion for 2019 - had usurped Schumacher earlier in the morning session, but then lost out as the German driver improved.

Williams F1 junior and DAMS driver Nicholas Latifi and the fastest man during day one and two, ART Grand Prix's Nyck de Vries, completed the top five.

Just over six tenths split the top 10 in a frantic morning session, with Aitken's Campos team-mate Dorian Boccolacci taking the sixth fastest time after topping Wednesday's afternoon session.

Giuliano Alesi took seventh for Trident, but his running was halted just before the end of the afternoon session as his car stopped on track.

Virtuosi Racing's Luca Ghiotto, second on day two, took seventh on Thursday.

Sean Gelael (Prema), who had ground to a halt early in the lap after an hour had passed by in the morning, and MP Motorsport's Richard Verschoor rounded out the top 10.

Jordan King returned after a mechanical issue kept him out of Wednesday's running and he ended up 17th for MP, one spot behind Antonio Fuoco, who continued in the Trident car he took over on Wednesday from Ralph Boschung.

The two Arden-run cars rounded out the order with GP3 champion Anthoine Hubert finishing ahead of Tatiana Calderon.

Day three morning times

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Mick Schumacher	Prema Racing	1m24.028s	-	34
2	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing	1m24.240s	0.212s	43
3	Louis Deletraz	Carlin	1m24.247s	0.219s	41
4	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1m24.294s	0.266s	43
5	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1m24.357s	0.329s	39
6	Dorian Boccolacci	Campos Racing	1m24.362s	0.334s	54
7	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1m24.401s	0.373s	58
8	Luca Ghiotto	UNI-Virtuosi	1m24.516s	0.488s	41
9	Sean Gelael	Prema Racing	1m24.528s	0.500s	41
10	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	1m24.638s	0.610s	29
11	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	1m24.753s	0.725s	22
12	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	1m24.776s	0.748s	47
13	Sergio Sette Camara	DAMS	1m24.853s	0.825s	39
14	Callum Ilott	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1m24.924s	0.896s	55
15	Juan Manuel Correa	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1m25.020s	0.992s	59
16	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	1m25.023s	0.995s	25
17	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	1m25.176s	1.148s	28
18	Nobuharu Matsushita	Carlin	1m25.257s	1.229s	42
19	Anthoine Hubert	BWT Arden	1m25.262s	1.234s	28
20	Tatiana Calderon	BWT Arden	1m26.036s	2.008s	39

Day three afternoon times

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	1m25.706s	-	27
2	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	1m25.710s	0.004s	36
3	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1m25.712s	0.006s	44
4	Louis Deletraz	Carlin	1m27.880s	2.174s	52
5	Nobuharu Matsushita	Carlin	1m28.108s	2.402s	50
6	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1m28.268s	2.562s	63
7	Luca Ghiotto	UNI-Virtuosi	1m28.303s	2.597s	41
8	Tatiana Calderon	BWT Arden	1m28.539s	2.833s	52
9	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing	1m28.863s	3.157s	48
10	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1m28.884s	3.178s	55
11	Callum Ilott	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1m28.897s	3.191s	52
12	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	1m29.044s	3.338s	54
13	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	1m29.290s	3.584s	54
14	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	1m29.384s	3.678s	33
15	Anthoine Hubert	BWT Arden	1m29.395s	3.689s	62
16	Sean Gelael	Prema Racing	1m29.416s	3.710s	53
17	Sergio Sette Camara	DAMS	1m29.516s	3.810s	45
18	Juan Manuel Correa	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1m29.519s	3.813s	48
19	Mick Schumacher	Prema Racing	1m29.762s	4.056s	19
20	Dorian Boccolacci	Campos Racing	1m30.638s	4.932s	49