General Formula 3

Bianchi on Pole for season finale

2 Mins read

Jules Bianchi took his sixth Pole Position of the season at Hockenheim, but Tom Dillmann almost pulled off a shock result for F3 Euroseries minnows HBR Motorsport.

Dillmann set the pace early on, but eventually Bianchi smashed his time by almost 7 tenths of a second, with his ART team-mate Valtteri Bottas in 3rd place.

“This was a very good qualifying,” said Bianchi. “My car was quick and we had found a perfect set-up for the session. After the race victory at Dijon and the title win that same weekend, it is just super for me that I have gained pole position here in the rain, too.”

But Dillmann’s time in the limelight was short-lived after he, along with Stefano Coletti, Jake Rosenzweig, Esteban Gutierrez, Adrien Tambay, Tiago Geronimi, Roberto Mehri, Andres Caldarelli, Eduardo Mortara and Mirko Bortolotti, had his best qualifying times annulled, which dropped him to 5th, still a good performance nonetheless though.

This promoted Bottas to 2nd on the grid, securing an all-ART front row, and a critical head-start in the team’s championship against Mücke Motorsport, and also for Bottas against Alexander Sims in the Rookie’s title race.

“The conditions had been very difficult,” said Bottas. “I started too late as we thought that the weather would improve. But quite the contrary, it got worse and worse. I was therefore not as quick as Jules, but I am nevertheless happy with my second place.”

Despite the penalties applied, Mehri still manageed to qualify in 3rd place. He described his eventful qualifying session, making his 3rd place grid slot even harder to believe.

“The qualifying was not that good as I have always had traffic, in particular in the last sector. I was even blocked by another driver in my fast lap. Everything had been running perfectly in today's free practice but with the problems I had in qualifying I was simply not able to set faster lap times.”

Qualifying Results

1. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix Dallara-Mercedes 1min 48.890s
2. Valtteri Bottas* ART Grand Prix Dallara-Mercedes 1min 49.619s
3. Roberto Mehri Manor Dallara-Mercedes 1min 49.974s
4. Victor Garcia Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 50.038s
5. Tom Dilmann HBR Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes 1min 50.156s
6. Marco Wittmann* Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1min 50.310s
7. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 50.351s
8. Esteban Gutierrez ART Grand Prix Dallara-Mercedes 1min 50.381s
9. Mika Maki Signature Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 50.423s
10. Adrien Tambay* ART Grand Prix Dallara-Mercedes 1min 50.818s
11. Andres Caldarelli* SG Formula Dallara-Mercedes 1min 50.859s
12. Renger van der Zande Motopark Academy Dallara-Mercedes 1min 51.103s
13. Alex Sims* Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1min 51.143s
14. Edoardo Mortara Kolles & Heinz Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 51.159s
15. Henkie Waldschmidt SG Formula Dallara-Mercedes 1min 51.626s
16. Christopher Zanella* Motopark Academy Dallara-Mercedes 1min 51.684s
17. Nico Moninen Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1min 51.738s
18. Jake Rosenweig* Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 51.886s
19. Tiago Geronimi* Signature Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 52.241s
20. Mirko Bortolotti Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 52.327s
21. Basil Shaaban Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes 1min 52.469s
22. Stefano Coletti Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes 1min 52.929s
23. Johan Jokinen* Kolles & Heinz Dallara-Volkswagen 1min 53.815s
24. Pedro Enrique Manor Dallara-Mercedes 1min 54.374s

*Denotes Rookie

450 posts

About author
Alasdair Lindsay is a Regular Contributor to TCF and can be found on twitter at @AlasdairLindsay
Articles
Related posts
General Formula 3

Schumacher joins Charouz as Kari heads up trio of drivers

2 Mins read
Charouz have assembled their trio of drivers for the 2020 FIA Formula 3 season
General Formula 3Season Review

SEASON REVIEW: 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship - Supreme Shwartzman

4 Mins read
The Checkered Flag looks back on the inaugural 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship which saw Robert Shwartzman crowned champion.
Formula 3General Formula 3

Fernández makes ART F3 switch

1 Mins read
Spaniard Sebastián Fernández will complete ART Grand Prix’s driver line up for the 2020 FIA Formula 3 season after completing a move from Campos Racing.