Sebastian Fernandez will start from pole position for Saturday’s opening FIA Formula 3 Championship race in Austria after putting his ART Grand Prix at the top of the times during qualifying.
The Spaniard pulled out a last-minute flyer to snatch the top spot on the grid away from Trident’s Lirim Zendeli by less than a tenth of a second.
Oscar Piastri was next up in third for PREMA Racing, with his American team-mate Logan Sargeant in fourth after topping the timing screens at the end of the first part of running.
Last year’s race winner, Jake Hughes, took a strong fifth for HWA Racelab, less than two tenths off the pole time.
Frederik Vesti was the last of the PREMA drivers in sixth as he recovered from spinning onto the start-finish straight in the first part of the session.
The top 10 was rounded out by David Beckmann, Alex Peroni, Richard Verschoor and newcomer Roman Stanek.
The first race of the Formula 3 season begins on Saturday at 09:25 BST.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S. Fernández | ART Grand Prix | 1:19.429 | – |
| 2 | L. Zendeli | Trident | 1:19.445 | +0.016 |
| 3 | O. Piastri | PREMA Racing | 1:19.564 | +0.135 |
| 4 | L. Sargeant | PREMA Racing | 1:19.595 | +0.166 |
| 5 | J. Hughes | HWA RACELAB | 1:19.618 | +0.189 |
| 6 | F. Vesti | PREMA Racing | 1:19.676 | +0.247 |
| 7 | D. Beckmann | Trident | 1:19.693 | +0.264 |
| 8 | A. Peroni | Campos Racing | 1:19.709 | +0.280 |
| 9 | R. Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:19.809 | +0.380 |
| 10 | R. Stanek | Charouz Racing System | 1:19.826 | +0.397 |
