After topping the morning’s practice session, Dennis Hauger asserted his dominance by taking the first pole position of the 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship in Barcelona.
The Norwegian pipped Jack Doohan to the top spot by just six thousandths of a second as he returned to PREMA with style having spent 2020 with Hitech GP.
Doohan led the field for much of the session but on Hauger’s last run, the Red Bull junior found something extra which was enough to topple the Australian in the Trident.
Their party was almost spoiled late on by the impressive rookie Victor Martins but the Frenchman just missed out on the front row despite a purple middle sector, although he will be happy with such a good start to his first F3 year.
He and Matteo Nannini will line up for Sunday’s race on the second row after the Italian, doing both F3 and FIA Formula 2 in 2021, also put in a late lap to boost himself up the order.
Their late improvements saw Frederik Vesti bumped down to fifth while Hauger’s teammate Olli Caldwell found more speed by ending the half hour session in sixth.
Clément Novalak was out shadowed by his teammate Doohan but seventh is still a solid start to his second campaign in the series after moving to Trident from Carlin over the winter.
Charouz’s late signing Logan Sargeant was eighth fastest which is an achievement in itself with such little time to properly prepare for the season. He headed David Schumacher and Caio Collet who rounded out the top ten.
The first race of the season on Saturday morning though will see Jonny Edgar start from pole. With the top twelve reversed, the British teenager was delighted to sneak into that top twelve giving him a great chance of good points tomorrow. As does Aleksandr Smolyar who starts second for the season opener.
| Pos. | Name | Team | Lap Time |
| 1 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 1:32:904 |
| 2 | Jack Doohan | Trident | 1:32:910 |
| 3 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport | 1:32:965 |
| 4 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | 1:33:113 |
| 5 | Frederik Vesti | ART | 1:33:173 |
| 6 | Olli Caldwell | PREMA | 1:33:184 |
| 7 | Clément Novalak | Trident | 1:33:225 |
| 8 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz | 1:33:263 |
| 9 | David Schumacher | Trident | 1:33:274 |
| 10 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | 1:33:305 |
| 11 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART | 1:33:355 |
| 12 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin | 1:33:370 |
| 13 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART | 1:33:459 |
| 14 | Roman Stanek | Hitech GP | 1:33:522 |
| 15 | Arthur Leclerc | PREMA | 1:33:535 |
| 16 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA Racelab | 1:33:637 |
| 17 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA Racelab | 1:33:675 |
| 18 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 1:33:806 |
| 19 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech GP | 1:33:865 |
| 20 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 1:33:876 |
| 21 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | 1:33:881 |
| 22 | Tijmen van der Helm | MP Motorsport | 1:33:908 |
| 23 | Kaylen Frederick | Carlin | 1:33:961 |
| 24 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos | 1:34:024 |
| 25 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos | 1:34:191 |
| 26 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | 1:34:333 |
| 27 | László Tóth | Campos | 1:34:470 |
| 28 | Reshad De Gerus | Charouz | 1:34:775 |
| 29 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | Jenzer | 1:34:778 |
| 30 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer | 1:35:132 |
