Alessandro Giusti was the fastest driver in the only free practice session for the penultimate round of the 2026 Formula 3 season. In the session held in the early hours of this Friday (4) at the Monza National Circuit in Italy, the MP Motorsport driver recorded his best lap time of 1min37s445, leading the team’s trio in the top 3.
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The team saw Tuukka Taponen take second place, 0.232 seconds behind Giusti’s time, while Mattia Colnaghi closed the session with the third best time. Gerrard Xie, driving a DAMS car, completed the practice in fourth place, ahead of Ernesto Rivera, the fifth fastest with Campos Racing.
Yevan David, from AIX Racing, finished with the sixth best time, ahead of Kanato Le, seventh with ART Grand Prix. Noah Stromsted, driving a Trident car, was eighth best, with Nicola Lacorte, from DAMS, finishing ninth. The top ten list in the early morning timing sheet was completed by Bruno del Pino, from Van Amersfoort.
The session was not good for the two main contenders for the 2026 Formula 3 season title. Championship leader Freddie Slater was 14th fastest with a Trident car. Meanwhile, Ugo Ugochukwu, currently second in the points table, was only 23rd with a Campos Racing car.
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The two Brazilian drivers on the grid also had modest performances in the only free practice session of the weekend. With a Rodin Motorsport car, Pedro Clerot was 12th, while Fernando Barrichello, who drives for AIX Racing, finished the activity with the 26th time among the 30 drivers on the grid.
From 9 a.m., qualifying will take place to determine the starting positions for the two races of the weekend, scheduled for 4:30 a.m. on Saturday and 3:15 a.m. on Sunday.
