Shwartzman shifts up a gear in final F3 test

Robert Shwartzman
Robert Shwartzman

Robert Shwartzman was fastest on Day 2 of the Final FIA Formula 3 pre-season tests in Budapest, Hungary. The rampant Russian set the best time in the morning session, lapping the circuit in 1:30.746. This time was the best of Budapest testing overall. ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard and PREMA teammate Jehan Daruvala completed the top 3.

No sooner had the thirty cars hit the track on Day 2 of Testing in Budapest, were they having to return to the pits. Andreas Estner had stopped at Turn 9 resulting in a red flag just minutes into the session. The drivers swiftly got back out there and Jüri Vips wasted no time in setting the early pace with 1:32.002.

The familiar sight of Leonardo Pulcini leading the pack was spotted half an hour into the session, when the cars dipped under 1m32s. With this achieved, PREMA Racing, Carlin Buzz Racing, Campos Racing, Jenzer Motorsport and ART Grand Prix all switched to new slick tires, perhaps signifying a Qualifying simulation.

The best time from Day One of testing yesterday was beaten by the rapid Robert Shwartzman. Yuki Tsunoda, David Beckmann and Jake Hughes were all jostling for second position, but no one had been able to improve on the speed of the Russian from PREMA, before a Red Flag halfway through the session forced the cars back into the pitlane, due to Alex Peroni stopping on Turn 10.

The 1m31s barrier was broken for the first time in this year’s F3 Budapest Testing when they restarted, as Christian Lundgaard flew round the track to set a best time of 1:30.940. Not to be outdone, Shwartzman reclaimed the top spot when we entered the final hour, beating Lundgaard’s lap by 0.194s.

The Ferrari Academy driver continued to lead the way for the final hour and couldn’t be knocked off top spot. The 19-year-old was only separated by his PREMA teammates Jehan Daruvala and Marcus Armstrong in third and fourth by the second placed Lundgaard. The rest of the top ten was completed by Tsunoda, Beckmann, Hughes, Raoul Hyman, Liam Lawson and Max Fewtrell.

Yuki Tsunoda was the sole driver back out on track when testing restarted in the afternoon and set the bar at 1:32.177, ahead of the other cars returning onto the Hungaroring circuit, with temperatures hitting 18 degrees.

There were successive red flags after Sebastian Fernandez stopped at the pit lane entry and Pulcini stopped at Turn 2. Following this, Jenzer continued to dominate the afternoon and had their trio of drivers in the front three. Tsunoda led teammates Artem Petrov and Andreas Estner, while many of the teams focused on their lap count. There was little shakeup in the order prior to a red flag when Jüri Vips stopped at Turn 11.

With less than 15 minutes remaining, Felipe Drugovich and Shwartzman broke into the top 3, propping up frontman Tsunoda. Petrov, Hughes, Vips, Pedro Piquet, Hyman, Bent Viscaal and Niko Kari then made up the rest of the top ten.

This concluded the final FIA Formula 3 pre-season tests and the drivers and the teams will now look ahead to the first race weekend of the season, in Barcelona, Spain, on 10-12 May 2019.

FIA Formula 3 Budapest Test – Day 2 Morning Session

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

TIME

LAPS

1

Robert Shwartzman

PREMA Racing

1:30.746

37

2

Christian Lundgaard

ART Grand Prix

1:30.940

53

3

Jehan Daruvala

PREMA Racing

1:31.021

27

4

Marcus Armstrong

PREMA Racing

1:31.122

27

5

Yuki Tsunoda

Jenzer Motorsport

1:31.146

39

6

David Beckmann

ART Grand Prix

1:31.184

55

7

Jake Hughes

HWA RACELAB

1:31.207

54

8

Raoul Hyman

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:31.213

37

9

Liam Lawson

MP Motorsport

1:31.273

53

10

Max Fewtrell

ART Grand Prix

1:31.291

58

11

Jüri Vips

Hitech Grand Prix

1:31.347

48

12

Leonardo Pulcini

Hitech Grand Prix

1:31.384

47

13

Fabio Scherer

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:31.442

54

14

Sebastian Fernandez

Campos Racing

1:31.442

36

15

Niko Kari

Trident

1:31.467

41

16

Lirim Zendeli

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:31.501

48

17

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:31.503

32

18

Richard Verschoor

MP Motorsport

1:31.508

51

19

Alexander Peroni

Campos Racing

1:31.530

46

20

Simo Laaksonen

MP Motorsport

1:31.604

51

21

Ye Yifei

Hitech Grand Prix

1:31.670

48

22

Artem Petrov

Jenzer Motorsport

1:31.692

37

23

Felipe Drugovich

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:31.704

41

24

Logan Sargeant

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:31.785

33

25

Andreas Estner

Jenzer Motorsport

1:31.964

27

26

Devlin DeFrancesco

Trident

1:32.106

44

27

Bent Viscaal

HWA RACELAB

1:32.146

52

28

Teppei Natori

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:32.415

34

29

Keyvan Andres

HWA RACELAB

1:32.549

45

30

Alessio Deledda

Campos Racing

1:33.320

44

FIA Formula 3 Budapest Test – Day 2 Afternoon Session

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

TIME

LAPS

1

Yuki Tsunoda

Jenzer Motorsport

1:32.177

50

2

Felipe Drugovich

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:32.382

49

3

Robert Shwartzman

PREMA Racing

1:32.464

53

4

Artem Petrov

Jenzer Motorsport

1:32.520

48

5

Jake Hughes

HWA RACELAB

1:32.547

27

6

Jüri Vips

Hitech Grand Prix

1:32.733

32

7

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:32.733

57

8

Raoul Hyman

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:32.800

42

9

Bent Viscaal

HWA RACELAB

1:32.880

45

10

Niko Kari

Trident

1:32.905

56

11

Andreas Estner

Jenzer Motorsport

1:32.939

48

12

Jehan Daruvala

PREMA Racing

1:33.006

49

13

Keyvan Andres

HWA RACELAB

1:33.017

46

14

Liam Lawson

MP Motorsport

1:33.114

36

15

Marcus Armstrong

PREMA Racing

1:33.123

50

16

Simo Laaksonen

MP Motorsport

1:33.195

39

17

Alexander Peroni

Campos Racing

1:33.212

41

18

Teppei Natori

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:33.455

48

19

Richard Verschoor

MP Motorsport

1:33.827

35

20

Lirim Zendeli

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:33.849

56

21

Devlin DeFrancesco

Trident

1:33.925

44

22

David Beckmann

ART Grand Prix

1:33.950

41

23

Sebastian Fernandez

Campos Racing

1:33.983

43

24

Ye Yifei

Hitech Grand Prix

1:33.990

37

25

Max Fewtrell

ART Grand Prix

1:34.085

37

26

Logan Sargeant

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:34.193

46

27

Leonardo Pulcini

Hitech Grand Prix

1:34.227

32

28

Fabio Scherer

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:34.299

55

29

Alessio Deledda

Campos Racing

1:34.311

23

30

Christian Lundgaard

ART Grand Prix

1:34.424

40