Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen kept their tenuous hopes of lifting the Formula 3 European Championship alive by taking a pole position apiece for Sunday’s two races at Imola.
New Toro Rosso Formula 1 signing Verstappen set the two fastest times of the session, but must serve the last of his three 10-place grid penalties, incurred for an engine change last time out at the Nurburgring, in race two.
Verstappen had just set a lap time three tenths clear of the opposition in his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen when the session was red-flagged with just under seven minutes remaining due to an enormous shunt at the Villeneuve chicane for Ed Jones.
Emirati Jones, who has been suffering back problems since he crashed heavily in May at Pau, complained of a pain in the back of his neck, so some time was taken to remove him before placing him aboard a waiting ambulance and taking him to the medical centre.
He will now be taken to hospital for precautionary checks. The rear end of Jones’s Dallara is in a very sorry state
With daylight fading, and black clouds rolling in to further hamper vision, as well as the time taken to extract Jones, the decision was made to abandon the session.
Blomqvist’s Jagonya Ayam with Carlin stablemate Antonio Giovinazzi set a lap time that would have earned him pole position for race two – albeit two tenths slower than Verstappen – but this was disallowed for a track-limits infringement, leaving him to take third on the grid.
Sharing the front row with Blomqvist for race two is championship leader Esteban Ocon, and the Lotus F1 junior set the second fastest second-best lap to join Verstappen (pictured) at the front for race three.
Ocon’s Prema team-mate Antonio Fuoco will start alongside Giovinazzi in fourth for race two, with Will Buller making encouraging progress for the returning Signature team and taking fifth.
Rounding out the top 10 on the grid for race two are Nicholas Latifi, Jake Dennis (who, like Giovinazzi, lost a front-row time to a track-limits cancellation), Roy Nissany, Lucas Auer and Nick Cassidy. The last-named provided further pace for the Three Bond T-Sport team after almost taking fastest lap in Saturday’s race.
Fuoco jumps to third on the grid for race three, with Blomqvist alongside him on the second row. Buller and Latifi again share the third row, with Felix Serralles, Dennis, Jordan King and Giovinazzi completing the top 10.
RACE TWO TIMES – Max Verstappen will receive 10-place penalty:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m36.816s | – |
2 | Tom Blomqvist | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m37.125s | 0.309s |
3 | Esteban Ocon | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m37.155s | 0.339s |
4 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m37.196s | 0.380s |
5 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m37.221s | 0.405s |
6 | William Buller | Signature | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m37.312s | 0.496s |
7 | Nicholas Latifi | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m37.318s | 0.502s |
8 | Jake Dennis | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m37.388s | 0.572s |
9 | Roy Nissany | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m37.625s | 0.809s |
10 | Lucas Auer | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m37.666s | 0.850s |
11 | Nick Cassidy | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 1m37.668s | 0.852s |
12 | Felix Serralles | Team West-Tec F3 | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m37.681s | 0.865s |
13 | Jordan King | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m37.781s | 0.965s |
14 | Edward Jones | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m37.886s | 1.070s |
15 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m37.939s | 1.123s |
16 | Felix Rosenqvist | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m37.971s | 1.155s |
17 | Richard Goddard | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 1m38.181s | 1.365s |
18 | Dennis van de Laar | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m38.188s | 1.372s |
19 | Gustavo Menezes | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m38.235s | 1.419s |
20 | Tatiana Calderon | Jo Zeller Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m38.293s | 1.477s |
21 | Alexander Toril | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 1m38.300s | 1.484s |
22 | Jules Szymkowiak | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m38.327s | 1.511s |
23 | Michele Beretta | EuroInternational | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m38.430s | 1.614s |
24 | Sergio Sette Camara | EuroInternational | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m38.571s | 1.755s |
25 | Santino Ferrucci | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m38.819s | 2.003s |
26 | Martin Cao | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m39.235s | 2.419s |
27 | Andy Chang | Team West-Tec F3 | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m39.493s | 2.677s |