Arthur Leclerc narrowly takes maiden F3 pole in Budapest at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

Credit: F3

The Monegasque did enough to clinch pole position for Sunday’s race three ahead of his Prema teammate Dennis Hauger, after an impressive lap during qualifying at the Hungaroring.

The pit lane opened to start the qualifying session and the whole F3 pack immediately took to the Hungaroring circuit, fronted by the Trident duo of Clement Novalak and Jack Doohan.

It was the latter who set the session’s first competitive time with a 1:33.830 which sent him to the top with 24 minutes left in the session.

Lorenzo Colombo then took provisional pole away from Doohan with a 1:33.805. The Italian’s time was 25-thousandths quicker than the Trident driver’s who subsequently dropped to second and nearly two-tenths quicker than Hauger’s third-place time.

The drivers’ first qualifying runs came to an end soon after, and with just over half of the session remaining the cars re-emerged for their second runs.

With 13 minutes to go, Hauger snatched pole position away from Colombo, but Trident duo Novalak and Doohan respectively topped the session just seconds later.

Arthur Leclerc followed the Tridents, becoming the latest driver to take provisional pole as he crossed the line setting a 1:33.164. Whilst these times flew in, Hauger dropped down to fifth as David Schumacher went quicker to move up to third meaning all three Trident drivers occupied a place within the top five heading into the final 10 minutes.

The cars headed into the pits to end their second run, however, Victor Martins took the opportunity to set some flying laps in with a clear track. The Frenchman could only go quick enough for 22nd, with his latest time over a second slower than Leclerc’s provisional pole time.

In the final five minutes, the drivers took to the track for their final qualifying run, to hopefully set a lap that could propel them further up the grid for the start of Sunday’s race three.

As the track temperature continued to drop, the only drivers that could improve were Jonny Edgar, who moved up to 12th, and Hauger as the Championship leader finished qualifying in second.

Leclerc held onto pole position as he will line up from the front of the grid for the first time in his F3 career at the start of Sunday’s race three ahead of his Prema teammate Hauger. Doohan will front the second row of the grid, ahead of his fellow Trident driver Schumacher.

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