F3 opens the English weekend by taking to the track first. Free practice inaugurates the third consecutive race week for the category, which has now reached Silverstone for the seventh round of the season. The English dawn welcomes a new one standings changed after Austria, they are Minì and Fornaroli now attack Browning's first position. Prema on the other hand is alone at the top 83 points behind second. Absent this weekend Stenshorne replaced by Wharton. What awaits us at Silverstone? Let's warm up the engines.
Free practice… with few tests
Free practice begins without much enthusiasm, the track is wet, it slips and we see Wharton and Sktuka go long, but the situation returns immediately. Not everyone takes to the track. Among those absent were Fornaroli and Browning, here is the owner, watching attentively from the pit lane. The first interesting ideas don't arrive immediately, the times drop but no one drops below two minutes, Shields in Hitech is the rider who comes closest with a 2.00.267.
Twenty minutes from the start of the session, there are only 4 riders on track, many running out of time.
The rain is coming and the big names emerge
The missing tricolor takes to the track, tries the slick tire on a track that is not completely dry, the choice does not pay off and Fornaroli is forced to return to the pits. Meanwhile, Wharton is the driver who clocks up the most kilometers in these free practices. The Australian makes his F3 debut on the Silverstone track, which is also new to the eighteen-year-old.
Meantime the intensity of the rain increases and Beganovic's Prema emerges from the pit lane looking for a lap in difficult weather conditions, in view of a possible wet qualifying. Fornaroli and Minì follow closely behind. Conditions continue to worsen. The only shock of the session is the Meguetounif traverse, which causes a yellow sector for a few seconds. Esterson brings home the best time, 2.00.153.
The leader's box remains empty, with little information arriving from the session.
Let's remember the times
F3 returns to the track at 15:05 for the qualifications.
Friday July 5
11am: F00 – Free Practice 2pm: F15 – Qualifying 05pm: F3 – Qualifying
Saturday July 6
10am: F15 – Sprint Race 3pm: F14 – Sprint Race
Sunday July 7
9am: F15 – Feature Race 3am: F10 – Feature Race
