The first official practice session of the 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship saw Norway’s Dennis Hauger top the times at the sun-soaked Barcelona Circuit.
The Red Bull junior, racing for PREMA, did a 1:33:596 to lead the field by over two tenths and send an early message to his title rivals that he is on his A-game.
Second fastest was pre-season pace-setter and leading rookie Victor Martins of MP Motorsport who has given the Dutch team renewed hope of more race wins this year after Bent Viscaal’s lone victory last season.
Another of the title favourites Frederik Vesti was third quickest for ART as he returns for a second year in F3. The Mercedes junior won more races than anyone last year with PREMA and is sure to be at the front again this time around.
Arthur Leclerc is the only PREMA rookie on the grid and he started as he means to go on with the fourth fastest time ahead of Aleksandr Smolyar who stays with ART after steadily improving throughout 2020.
Clément Novalak moves to Trident this year and led the trio in sixth with Jack Doohan eighth and David Schumacher 13th.
Logan Sargeant split Novalak and Doohan after being a very late appointment for the Charouz team. Sargeant was a title contender last year and will hope to lead Charouz to better things in 2021.
Martins’ teammate this year Caio Collet was ninth fastest as the field remained as tight as ever in the midfield while Olli Caldwell snuck into the top ten in the third PREMA.
| Pos. | Name | Team | Lap Time |
| 1 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 1:33:596 |
| 2 | Victor Martins | MP Motorsport | 1:33:811 |
| 3 | Frederik Vesti | ART | 1:33:871 |
| 4 | Arthur Leclerc | PREMA | 1:33:923 |
| 5 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART | 1:33:934 |
| 6 | Clément Novalak | Trident | 1:34:089 |
| 7 | Logan Sargeant | Charouz | 1:34:129 |
| 8 | Jack Doohan | Trident | 1:34:151 |
| 9 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | 1:34:166 |
| 10 | Olli Caldwell | PREMA | 1:34:235 |
| 11 | Roman Stanek | Hitech GP | 1:34:283 |
| 12 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | 1:34:324 |
| 13 | David Schumacher | Trident | 1:34:383 |
| 14 | Ayumu Iwasa | Hitech GP | 1:34:409 |
| 15 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos | 1:34:415 |
| 16 | Kaylen Frederick | Carlin | 1:34:459 |
| 17 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | 1:34:481 |
| 18 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA Racelab | 1:34:524 |
| 19 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin | 1:34:569 |
| 20 | Lorenzo Colombo | Campos | 1:34:620 |
| 21 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 1:34:783 |
| 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 1:35:079 |
| 23 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART | 1:35:102 |
| 24 | Rafael Villagomez | HWA Racelab | 1:35:130 |
| 25 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | 1:35:163 |
| 26 | Reshad De Gerus | Charouz | 1:35:355 |
| 27 | László Tóth | Campos | 1:35:466 |
| 28 | Tijmen van der Helm | MP Motorsport | 1:35:575 |
| 29 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | Jenzer | 1:35:701 |
| 30 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer | 1:35:818 |
