Jehan Daruvala ends Budapest testing as third fastest: F3

David Bodapati April 18, 2019

484 4 minutes read

Budapest, 18 April 2019: Indian racer Jehan Daruvala came third for Prema Racing while his teammate Robert Shwartzman was fastest on Day 2 of the Final FIA Formula 3 pre-season tests in Budapest, Hungary. Shwartzman, 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 was second fastest and Jehan Daruvala completed the top 3, less than a tenth (0.081) of a second behind.

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 tyres, 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

	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPTIME	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

	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPTIME	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