Martinius Stenshorne top in Barcelona Practice

Norwegian McLaren junior driver Martinius Stenshorne ended top in free practice in Barcelona on Friday.

He ended top of the times, narrowly ahead of second place Oliver Goethe of Campos. Stenshorne of Hitech was top as the top three were separated by less than a tenth. 

Gabriele Mini was third for Prema, and the Italian Alpine Academy driver leads the championship coming into round five.

How free practice unfolded in Barcelona

Free practice arrived in a sunny morning at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya with a lot of excitement about the start of the triple header.

This would be a momentous weekend for the sport with the 100th race to come in Sunday's feature race, where it all began in May 2019.

At Jenzer, Matias Zagazeta was back in the car 19 after missing the Monaco round due to appendicitis. James Hedley replaced him but now the Peruvian can get back to it.

It was a very slow start to proceedings in Formula 3 practice with little action and apart from an early out lap, no drivers were out on track until there were 25 minutes to go, when drivers were starting to venture out. After a couple of laps, the drivers out on track began to set lap times.

As these were the first lap times, the times would begin to tumble, but Gabriele Mini would have the fastest time in the early laps, with a 1:28.847, which was some six tenths faster than Mexican Van Amersfoort driver Noel Leon. Max Esterson was third provisionally with over seven tenths separating the American from Mini.

All three Hitech Pulse-Eight cars were quite slow in venturing out onto the circuit and were missing out on track times compared to the others, as times were starting to improve. Sami Meguetounif and Alex Dunne would momentarily go second and third ahead of Leon, showing the improvement of time on the circuit.

Campos had great pace when Formula 3 visited Barcelona for mid-season testing in April and they were quick once again. Oliver Goethe went fastest with an impressive 1:28.810. He beat the Prema of Gabriele Mini by 0.037s. His teammate, Sebastian Montoya would go third fastest. The Colombian would be just shy of two tenths off the pace.

Kacper Sztuka had a moment in the gravel on the final corner ruining his lap time. Sztuka would have been wanting to start well here after him with a point to prove - after he and the Red Bull Academy parted ways earlier in the week. 

McLaren junior driver Martinius Stenshorne went quickest with a splendid time of a 1:28.774. Stenshorne, race winner in Melbourne, set a great lap time.

Drivers were getting in each other's way and it was starting to become a little bit messy out there, especially an incident with Leonardo Fornaroli and Luke Browning in sector 3. Fornaroli was on a quick lap and Browning did not see him coming. It would be interesting to see what the Stewards thought of it.

Mari Boya found the barrier at the end of turn 1 and ended the session abruptly with a red flag. Race Control confirmed the session would not be restarted. A suspension issue seemingly caused the accident

This meaning after a session of little running, Martinius Stenshorne would end the session narrowly at the top, ahead of Oliver Goethe and Gabriele Mini, who were second and third respectively.

Luke Browning would be fourth ahead of Sebastian Montoya who completed the top five. Sami Meguetounif was sixth ahead of his Trident teammate Santiago Ramos, who was seventh. Cian Shields, Alex Dunne and Leonardo Fornaroli rounded off the top 10.

Not much running and all to play for ahead of qualifying

Not much running was completed in the free practice session in Barcelona for the FIA Formula 3 grid, with 25 minutes of many cars on track trying to set lap times.

Martinius Stenshorne, race winner from the Australian sprint race, will be feeling the most confident but a lot can still change from now until the day's later qualifying.

Action in FIA Formula 3 will resume in Friday's later qualifying session

2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 5 - Spain Free Practice result

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