By alley - Apr 7, 2015, 2:01 PM ET

Leclerc flies in final winter F3 test

Charles Leclerc went fastest in the Formula 3 European Championship's last pre-season test day at Silverstone on Tuesday.

The Monaco driver took his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen to what is believed to be the quickest time ever recorded around the current Silverstone Grand Prix circuit by an F3 car early in the morning session.

Leclerc, who makes his F3 race debut this weekend after finishing runner-up in the Formula Renault ALPS series last season, was just under half a second clear of Carlin duo Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell, who in turn were comfortably clear of the rest of the 36-car field.

"Today has gone really well," said Leclerc. "I'm really happy with the car but it's only testing at the moment. I put everything more or less together in the morning, and I was only four hundredths behind the ideal lap. I had the right tires at the right moment."

Giovinazzi inadvertently caused the only red flag of the morning session shortly before the end, when his steering column scarily locked solid as he stormed into the Maggotts/Becketts complex. He was able to bring the car to rest in the runoff without any damage.

After the early running the day warmed up considerably, and times were considerably slower in the afternoon. Once again, Leclerc went to the top at the end of the day when most of the leading runners bolted on new tires, this time by 0.137s from Giovinazzi.

Russell, like Leclerc making his F3 race debut this weekend, was just one hundredth adrift of Giovinazzi, just as he was in the morning.

Karting graduate Callum Ilott completed a Carlin 2-3-4 in the morning, the Red Bull junior leading Macau Grand Prix winner Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam), who was the top Mercedes-engined runner.

An impressive run by late Team West-Tec signing Raoul Hyman propeled him to sixth place. The South African, who did his F3 deal only last week, had just two sets of slicks to use all day, while the other competitors had spare rubber left over from the Valencia test, during which the second day was wet.

Hyman was the catalyst for the only red flag of the afternoon, when his fuel pump failed out on the circuit.

Mucke Motorsport's Santino Ferrucci narrowly pipped Rosenqvist to fourth – and leading Mercedes contender – in the afternoon, with Pietro Fittipaldi only just behind in his Fortec Motorsport machine.

Germans Markus Pommer and Marvin Kirchhofer rounded out the top eight on the day, although Kirchhofer will not race his EuroInternational car this weekend because his GP3 program takes priority, and this week's Valencia test finishes on the same day as free practice and qualifying at Silverstone.

MORNING TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Charles Leclerc	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 50.574s	-	51
2	Antonio Giovinazzi	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 51.041s	0.467s	32
3	George Russell	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 51.054s	0.480s	37
4	Callum Ilott	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 51.439s	0.865s	43
5	Felix Rosenqvist	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 51.634s	1.060s	38
6	Raoul Hyman	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 51.667s	1.093s	28
7	Markus Pommer	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 51.860s	1.286s	37
8	Marvin Kirchhofer	EuroInternational	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 51.893s	1.319s	55
9	Michele Beretta	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 51.898s	1.324s	43
10	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 51.953s	1.379s	38
11	Jake Dennis	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.035s	1.461s	40
12	Alexander Albon	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.066s	1.492s	41
13	Brandon Maisano	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.084s	1.510s	43
14	Julio Moreno	ThreeBond with T-Sport	Dallara/NBE	1m 52.164s	1.590s	52
15	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.217s	1.643s	37
16	Nicolas Beer	EuroInternational	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.254s	1.680s	37
17	Matthew Solomon	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.362s	1.788s	53
18	Fabian Schiller	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.412s	1.838s	54
19	Maximilian Gunther	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.423s	1.849s	42
20	Gustavo Menezes	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.439s	1.865s	40
21	Alessio Lorandi	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.505s	1.931s	55
22	Sam MacLeod	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.549s	1.975s	34
23	Santino Ferrucci	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.584s	2.010s	37
24	Arjun Maini	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.598s	2.024s	41
25	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.619s	2.045s	56
26	Mikkel Jensen	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.631s	2.057s	42
27	Nabil Jeffri	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.656s	2.082s	47
28	Ryan Tveter	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.856s	2.282s	49
29	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.901s	2.327s	30
30	Tatiana Calderon	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.927s	2.353s	32
31	Zhi Cong Li	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.996s	2.422s	33
32	Nicolas Pohler	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.009s	2.435s	44
33	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.251s	2.677s	24
34	Dorian Boccolacci	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.266s	2.692s	44
35	Kang Ling	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.332s	2.758s	32
36	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.480s	2.906s	55

AFTERNOON TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Charles Leclerc	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 51.580s	-	41
2	Antonio Giovinazzi	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 51.717s	0.137s	23
3	George Russell	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 51.727s	0.147s	32
4	Santino Ferrucci	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.092s	0.512s	34
5	Felix Rosenqvist	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.126s	0.546s	27
6	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.172s	0.592s	39
7	Jake Dennis	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.313s	0.733s	31
8	Brandon Maisano	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.379s	0.799s	32
9	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.406s	0.826s	32
10	Maximilian Gunther	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.483s	0.903s	36
11	Marvin Kirchhofer	EuroInternational	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.485s	0.905s	27
12	Arjun Maini	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.560s	0.980s	37
13	Nicolas Beer	EuroInternational	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.632s	1.052s	29
14	Michele Beretta	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.661s	1.081s	34
15	Gustavo Menezes	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.734s	1.154s	31
16	Raoul Hyman	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.774s	1.194s	19
17	Callum Ilott	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.775s	1.195s	33
18	Markus Pommer	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.776s	1.196s	23
19	Sam MacLeod	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.921s	1.341s	38
20	Alessio Lorandi	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.929s	1.349s	42
21	Julio Moreno	ThreeBond with T-Sport	Dallara/NBE	1m 52.937s	1.357s	39
22	Alexander Albon	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 52.949s	1.369s	31
23	Matthew Solomon	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 52.962s	1.382s	30
24	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.054s	1.474s	24
25	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.081s	1.501s	29
26	Fabian Schiller	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.154s	1.574s	26
27	Dorian Boccolacci	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.253s	1.673s	35
28	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.271s	1.691s	38
29	Ryan Tveter	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.304s	1.724s	32
30	Mikkel Jensen	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.317s	1.737s	37
31	Zhi Cong Li	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.379s	1.799s	25
32	Kang Ling	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 53.598s	2.018s	41
33	Tatiana Calderon	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.702s	2.122s	29
34	Nabil Jeffri	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.861s	2.281s	28
35	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m 53.871s	2.291s	28
36	Nicolas Pohler	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	1m 54.690s	3.110s	31