After a disappointing weekend for the whole Mücke Motorsport team in the opening weekend of the season at Silverstone, Austrian Lucas Auer qualified on pole position for them for the opening race of the Hockenheim FIA European Formula 3 weekend.
The nineteen-year-old set a best lap time of 1:32.387s to beat Italian Antonio Giovinazzi of the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin by 0.118s, while United Arab Emirates driver Ed Jones was third for Carlin, ahead of sixteen-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen for Van Amersfoort Racing. The top 22 drivers all set times within a second of each other.
The leading race winner from Silverstone was Esteban Ocon in fifth in the leading Prema Powerteam car, while the winner of the opening race of the season, Brit Tom Blomqvist, is set to start alongside the Frenchman on the third row. The Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver set the sixth fastest time to pip Canadian Nicholas Latifi (Prema) and Swede Felix Rosenqvist (Mücke). The leading Fortec Motorsport machine of John Bryant-Meisner, and the second Carlin entry of Jordan King rounded out the top ten.
The biggest surprise of qualifying was the form of the third race winner from Silverstone Antonio Fuoco. The Ferrari-backed youngster could only muster eighteenth on the grid, and will start alongside the only female in the field, Tatiana Calderon in the Jo Zeller/Mücke Motorsport entry, who qualified 0.050s faster in seventeenth.
Hockenheim Race 1 Qualifying Times
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Lucas Auer | AUT | Mücke Motorsport | 1:32.387 |
| 2 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:32.505 |
| 3 | Ed Jones | UAE | Carlin | 1:32.547 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | NED | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:32.586 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Prema Powerteam | 1:32.588 |
| 6 | Tom Blomqvist | GBR | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:32.602 |
| 7 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Prema Powerteam | 1:32.634 |
| 8 | Felix Rosenqvist | SWE | Mücke Motorsport | 1:32.688 |
| 9 | John Bryant-Meisner | SWE | Fortec Motorsport | 1:32.708 |
| 10 | Jordan King | GBR | Carlin | 1:32.740 |
| 11 | Jake Dennis | GBR | Carlin | 1:32.786 |
| 12 | Mitchell Gilbert | AUS | Fortec Motorsport | 1:32.860 |
| 13 | Felix Serralles | PUE | Team West-Tec | 1:32.990 |
| 14 | Jules Szymkowiak | NED | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:33.041 |
| 15 | Dennis van de Laar | NED | Prema Powerteam | 1:33.042 |
| 16 | Spike Goddard | AUS | T-Sport | 1:33.183 |
| 17 | Tatiana Calderon | COL | Jo Zeller Racing | 1:33.183 |
| 18 | Antonio Fuoco | ITA | Prema Powerteam | 1:33.233 |
| 19 | Riccardo Agostini | ITA | EuroInternational | 1:33.236 |
| 20 | Alexander Toril | ESP | T-Sport | 1:33.252 |
| 21 | Roy Nissany | ISR | Mücke Motorsport | 1:33.278 |
| 22 | Gustavo Menezes | BRZ | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:33.316 |
| 23 | Sean Gelael | INO | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:33.496 |
| 24 | Felipe Guimaraes | BRZ | Double R Racing | 1:33.780 |
| 25 | Michele Beretta | ITA | EuroInternational | 1:33.876 |
| 26 | Hector Hurst | GBR | Team West-Tec | 1:34.022 |
| 27 | Sandro Zeller | SWI | Jo Zeller Racing | 1:34.074 |
