F3: Arthur Leclerc takes maiden pole position ahead of championship leader Hauger in Hungary

Having never previously qualified higher than ninth in Formula 3, Ferrari junior Arthur Leclerc enjoyed a dramatic improvement on Friday at the Hungaroring, taking a maiden pole position ahead of championship leader Dennis Hauger.

Campos’ Lorenzo Colombo had been a surprise name at the top of the timesheet after the first set of runs, but the order was given a mighty shake-up in the second half of the session as the teams got to grips with scorching 64-degree track heat.

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Colombo fell to 11th as Leclerc took control of the session with a time of 1m33.164s. Track temperature made it unlikely that the Monegasque would be beaten, although his PREMA team mate, Dennis Hauger, did head off for one final attempt.

Despite struggling for grip, the Red Bull junior was able to haul his PREMA up to P2 with seconds to spare, although he fell 0.089s short of Leclerc’s lap.

The Monegasque – who is the younger brother of Charles Leclerc – has a three-place grid drop to serve from Round 3 at Spielberg, after he was found to have caused a collision with Victor Martins in Race 3. Crucially, the penalty will be applied for Race 1 in Hungary, which means that Leclerc will retain pole position and the four points that come with it for Race 3.

A trio of Trident drivers completed the top five, with Red Bull junior Jack Doohan missing out on pole by less than a tenth. The Australian finished in third, followed by David Schumacher and Clement Novalak.

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Finishing 12th overall, Red Bull prodigy Jonny Edgar will start ahead of Colombo in Saturday’s reverse grid Race 1, which takes place at 1035 local time.

Qualifying set the grid for Sunday morning's Race 3 that takes place at 1045 local time, while the grid for Race 2 at 1755 on Saturday will be set by reversing the top 12 finishers of Race 1.

For the full report, results and more news, visit the official F3 website.