On the second day of the official FIA Formula 3 European Championship tests at the 4.318-kilometre Red Bull Ring, Mick Schumacher (PREMA Theodore Racing) secured the top position on the time sheets. With his 1:22.828-minute lap, the German who is about to contest his second FIA F3 European Championship season defeated Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin, 1:22.928 minutes), the only Austrian in the field on the grid in the battle for the fastest lap time. Sacha Fenestraz (Carlin, 1:23.078), rookie and Renault junior, came third on the time sheet of day two, followed by three other rookies: Sebastian Fernandez (Motopark, 1:23.120), Enaam Ahmed (Hitech Grand Prix, 1:23.130) and Robert Shvartzman (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1:23.173).
Mick Schumacher can look back on successful pre-season tests. After all, the German was the quickest on day one in Hungary and day two at Spielberg. A tenth of a second behind the Prema driver, Ferdinand Habsburg finished second. For the first time in his career, the Austrian will race for a team that contests the season with six cars. « It just great to have so many fast team-mates, » Habsburg said. « This means that we can share the testing work and always will have a lot of data for finding the best possible setup. Furthermore, we have got a lot of staff and if there’s a problem on one of the cars a mechanic of another car will be able to help. Currently, I see only advantages when it comes to racing for a team as big as we are. »
Third place behind Habsburg was clinched by Sebastian Fernandez. The Spaniard who also has got a Venezuelan passport proved to be happy with his achievements: « Yesterday we still had problems with the car and I also didn’t deliver on the highest level. It was my first time at the Red Bull Ring and I clearly upped the ante, today. It goes without saying that I am happy about this development, » said the young gun that advanced to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship from Formula 4, this year. « Coming from Formula 4, accustoming to the clearly higher cornering speed in Formula 3 represents a particular challenge. »
Alex Palou (Hitech Grand Prix, 1:23.189 minutes) came seventh on day two, followed by Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1:23.204), Force-India protégé Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 1:23.243) and Daniel Ticktum (Motopark, 1:23.249) who is part of the Red Bull junior team.
Press release FIA F3 European Championship
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