Luke Browning fastest in Formula 3 practice in Belgium

Hitech Pulse-Eight and Williams Academy driver Luke Browning was fastest in a mixed conditions free practice session on Friday morning in Belgium, at the iconic Spa Francorchamps circuit.

Browning was fastest in a session that saw wet and dry tyres used due to the change of conditions in the session.

The driver who is second in the championship was fastest ahead of Mexican driver Noel Leon of Van Amersfoort Racing, who finished in second place. ART driver Christian Mansell finished third in the final classification.

This weekend's round in Belgium is the penultimate round of the 2024 championship with the top seven in the drivers championship separated by just 30 points with Gabriele Mini of Prema leading the way.

How Formula 3 practice unfolded in Belgium

It was time for the penultimate round of the championship in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship with a very tight drivers' championship fight and a teams' championship that could be determined by the end of the weekend.

Just 30 points would separate the top seven in the drivers' standings coming into the final two rounds of the season. The penultimate round of the season would see just seven points separating the top four in the standings, coming into the round with Gabriele Mini leading the standings.

Friday would roll around for the start of round nine, the practice and qualifying sessions to take place on the first day of three days of action at the weekend in Belgium, at the iconic Spa Francorchamps circuit.

There would be a driver change made for the round, compared to the usual 30, as ART driver Nikola Tsolov would be banned for competing in another series before competing around the Spa circuit in he Formula 3 season. This would therefore according to the FIA F3 Sporting Regulations, give him an unfair advantage. Finland young Ferrari driver Tuukka Taponen would come in to make his debut.

To start off the day would be the free practice session at Spa. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of the session and the drivers would head out to compete and get to grips with a wet Spa Francorchamps circuit.

With the first few laps on the board, Luke Browning who was coming into the round second in the standings would set the fastest time for Hitech Pulse-Eight. The Williams Academy driver would initially set a 2:22.089. Browning had beaten a time in the 2m23s set by Van Amersfoort's Tommy Smith.

Drivers would be finding grip and pace around the circuit, as the rain had stopped so the condition was improving on the circuit. Noel Leon would take second place in the early stages to go within three tenths of Browning's time.

However, the British talent Browning would improve his lap time to go by six tenths of a second, a 2:21.310 for Browning. He would be joined in the top two by Formula 3's most recent race winner Nikita Bedrin. 

Bedrin would be finding some great pace and would momentarily go fastest overall but would lose the lap to give Browning first back. The AIX Racing of Bedrin had exceeded track limits and therefore his lap time would be deleted.

The ART cars would find some pace and the two full-time drivers, Christian Mansell and Laurens Van Hoepen, would go second and third fastest respectively. Their teammate making his debut, Tuukka Taponen would go sixth fastest. A great effort from a driver in his first session of Formula 3.

It would be then for drivers to come into the pit lane and have a look at data as well as change tyres with just over 20 minutes remaining. After a couple of minutes, some drivers would head back out trying out the dry compound tyres.

Drivers would set lap times on the dry compound tyres but no driver would be really improving their time as the practice session entered the final 10 minutes of the session. That would be until Irish McLaren junior Alex Dunne would go fastest for MP Motorsport, in a great time from the driver.

It seemed like the track would start to improve as it would become an MP Motorsport 1-2 as Tim Tramnitz would go second quickest and be just eight thousandths of a second (0.008) off his teammate.

This would be until Sebastian Montoya who would go fastest, but would drop to second as Trident's Santiago Ramos would soon beat it as the times were vastly starting to improve at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, as the practice session entered the final few minutes.

Noel Leon's Van Amersfoort car would be next to go fastest with a 2:18.749, the Mexican driver has shown great one lap pace in 2024 with him shining in qualifying sessions in the past. Many drivers would beat this time but as the chequered flag came out Tim Tramnitz, the Red Bull junior, was provisionally fastest but drivers would look to go quicker.

By the time all drivers had completed their final laps in the session it would be championship contender Luke Browning with the fastest lap time, by a slim margin as he and many drivers would have to slow for yellow flags in the final couple of corners.

The incident would be an initial spin for Trident's Santiago Ramos and then Sami Meguetounif would go straight on at that bus stop chicane, meaning the yellow flags would be out for the final few laps. Ramos would get back going while Meguetounif would be stranded.

Browning did lift and not go full pace past the incident and would set the fastest time of the session at Spa Francorchamps, with a 2:15.570. The Williams Academy Hitech Pulse-Eight driver would set the quickest lap, only just. Browning was just 0.030s clear of Van Amersfoort's Noel Leon who was second fastest.

Christian Mansell would finish third place for ART and would complete the top three. Irish MP Motorsport Alex Dunne would end up finishing fourth with his MP Motorsport teammate Kacper Sztuka finding pace to finish fifth fastest and completed the top five.

Laurens Van Hoepen would finish sixth for ART Grand Prix ahead of Campos Racing's Sebastian Montoya. Tim Tramnitz in eighth place would make it all MP Motorsport cars inside the top 10. Leonardo Fornaroli and Martinius Stenshorne would complete the top 10.

A session with a lot of running completed and a change of track condition with the rain stopping, meaning that if it was to rain before qualifying, it could be a dramatic session with drivers being on the right tyres at the right time making it count the most.

Formula 3 action will return on Friday afternoon for the qualifying session with the hunt for pole position in the penultimate qualifying of the season. The session will begin at 15:05 track time, 14:05 UK time. It is one not to be missed, report to follow.

2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 9 - Belgium free practice result

1. Luke Browning (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
2. Noel Leon (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
3. Christian Mansell (Australia, ART Grand Prix)
4. Alexander Dunne (Republic of Ireland, MP Motorsport)
5. Kacper Sztuka (Poland, MP Motorsport)
6. Laurens Van Hoepen (Netherlands, ART Grand Prix)
7. Sebastian Montoya (Colombia, Campos Racing)
8. Tim Tramnitz (Germany, MP Motorsport)
9. Leonardo Fornaroli (Italy, Trident)
10. Martinius Stenshorne (Norway, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
11. Mari Boya (Spain, Campos Racing)
12. Tuukka Taponen (Finland, ART Grand Prix)
13. Arvid Lindblad (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
14. Nikita Bedrin (Italy, AIX Racing)
15. Gabriele Mini (Italy, Prema Racing)
16. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (Thailand, AIX Racing)
17. Oliver Goethe (Germany, Campos Racing)
18. Tommy Smith (Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing)
19. Sophia Floersch (Germany, Van Amersfoort Racing)
20. Max Esterson (United States, Jenzer Motorsport)
21. Charlie Wurz (Austria, Jenzer Motorsport)
22. Dino Beganovic (Sweden, Prema Racing)
23. Joseph Loake (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
24. Matias Zagazeta (Peru, Jenzer Motorsport)
25. Cian Shields (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
26. Joshua Dufek (Austria, AIX Racing)
27. Santiago Ramos (Mexico, Trident)
28. Piotr Wisnicki (Poland, Rodin Motorsport)
29. Callum Voisin (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
30. Sami Meguetounif (France, Trident)

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal