Alesi snatches control of Silverstone Free Practice

Giuliano Alesi
Giuliano Alesi

Giuliano Alesi drew first blood in the GP3 Series Free Practice session at Silverstone, Great Britain, topping the timesheets with a 1:46.492 at the death of the morning’s running to take the early advantage. The Trident driver’s lap overhauled that of Niko Kari, as the Finn beat his MP Motorsport teammate Dorian Boccolacci – who completed the top three.

The session began in cool, sunny conditions, and the already-bulging Silverstone crowd were first greeted with the presence of ART Grand Prix drivers Jake Hughes and Nikita Mazepin. Before full-speed running got underway, a virtual safety car test took place before the opening laps were set – Boccolacci heading the early timing boards until the drivers started to circulate at a more representative pace – ART’s Callum Ilott bringing the times into the 1m50s.

Alesi then raised the bar, finding almost two seconds over Ilott’s time before Mazepin edged his way ahead of the Frenchman. Boccolacci then found his way to the top of the pile after a Pedro Piquet spin left the Trident driver facing the wrong way at Becketts, but Alesi soon regained control of the session and brought the pace into the 1m47s – immediately spinning at turn 1 before quickly recovering.

Trident continued to control the session as Lorandi found three tenths over Alesi’s time, and the Italian found even more pace inside the final fifteen minutes – scorching his way to a trio of purple sectors. Arden International’s Joey Mawson then put Lorandi in the shade, breaking into the 1m46s moments before trading best times with Kari. Boccolacci then claimed top spot with a minute left on the clock, looking set to head an MP 1-2 before Alesi surged to first with a last-gasp 1:46.492 laptime at the checkered flag.

Kari beat Boccolacci to second in the final stages, as Mawson held on for fourth place ahead of Lorandi. Leonardo Pulcini (Campos Racing) claimed sixth place, 0.005s faster than Jenzer Motorsport’s David Beckmann. Piquet recovered from his earlier spin to take eighth, as Julien Falchero (Arden) and Diego Menchaca (Campos) completed the top ten.

Free Practice Classification

Pos

DRIVER

TEAM

TIME

LAPS

1

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:46.492

19

2

Niko Kari

MP Motorsport

1:46.601

22

3

Dorian Boccolacci

MP Motorsport

1:46.650

20

4

Joey Mawson

Arden International

1:46.839

20

5

Alessio Lorandi

Trident

1:46.933

18

6

Leonardo Pulcini

Campos Racing

1:46.951

20

7

David Beckmann

Jenzer Motorsport

1:46.956

20

8

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:47.356

18

9

Julien Fachero

Arden International

1:47.361

19

10

Diego Menchaca

Campos Racing

1:47.443

20

11

Gabriel Aubry

Arden International

1:47.450

18

12

Callum Ilott

ART Grand Prix

1:47.485

20

13

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:47.567

21

14

Devlin DeFrancesco

MP Motorsport

1:47.583

20

15

Simo Laaksonen

Campos Racing

1:47.598

20

16

Ryan Tveter

Trident

1:47.719

19

17

Anthoine Hubert

ART Grand Prix

1:47.788

20

18

Tatiana Calderon

Jenzer Motorsport

1:47.841

22

19

Juan Manuel Correa

Jenzer Motorsport

1:48.025

20

20

Jake Hughes

ART Grand Prix

1:48.099

21

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