Alex Smolyar put his ART on pole position for the first race of the FIA Formula 3 weekend at the Hungaroring in a session that was rescheduled due to heavy rain earlier on Friday.
The Russian tussled it out with Logan Sargeant, as the pair swapped positions with the track getting quicker as conditions improved.
Smolyar went fastest with 15 minutes to go, a tenth clear of Oscar Piastri in second, then Sargeant, Liam Lawson, Dennis Hauger, Theo Pourchaire, Sebastian Fernandez, Frederik Vesti, David Beckmann and Max Fewtrell.
The order remained the same until Jake Hughes pipped Fewtrell to put his HWA Racelab into the top ten a few minutes later.
As the drivers came out for their final stints in the final five minutes of qualifying, Smolyar improved to regain P1 by a quarter of a second following Sargeant setting a better time. Pourchaire and Vesti jumped to third and fourth, while the surprise of the session was Calan Williams in the Jenzer in fifth.
Championship-leader Piastri dropped down to sixth, with Fernandez, Richard Verschoor, Bent Viscaal and Hauger rounding out the top ten.
Race 1 for F3 begins on Saturday morning at 09:25 BST.
| # | Driver | Team | TIME | GAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. Smolyar | ART Grand Prix | 1:51.348 | – |
| 2 | L. Sargeant | PREMA Racing | 1:51.606 | 0.258 |
| 3 | T. Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1:51.714 | 0.366 |
| 4 | F. Vesti | PREMA Racing | 1:52.228 | 0.880 |
| 5 | C. Williams | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:52.252 | 0.904 |
| 6 | O. Piastri | PREMA Racing | 1:52.278 | 0.930 |
| 7 | S. Fernández | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.288 | 0.940 |
| 8 | R. Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:52.352 | 1.004 |
| 9 | B. Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 1:52.460 | 1.112 |
| 10 | D. Hauger | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:52.471 | 1.123 |
