Zane Maloney set the pace in practice in Hungary for Rodin Motorsport ahead of American Jak Crawford.

Enzo Fittipaldi set the third-quickest time for Van Amersfoort on a very hot circuit in the opening stages of the weekend.

The track gained grip in the opening stages, and Mercedes’s young driver, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, set the quickest time with a 1:34.125.

Multiple drivers quickly beat the Italians’ effort, including Maloney, who improved to the top of the timesheets.

ART driver Victor Martins suffered a quiet session and remained in the pit lane, losing valuable track time at a circuit he won at while racing in Formula Renault.

The Barbados driver remained the pacesetter, with half an hour to go, ahead of Antonelli and Norwegian Dennis Hauger.

The yellow flags and, eventually, the Virtual Safety Car were brought out after Campos driver Pepe Marti stopped at the exit of Turn 11.

The Spaniard spun as he turned into the quick right-hander but avoided the barrier. The Red Bull junior was pushed behind the wall after stalling, ending his session.

Green flag running resumed with just over 20 minutes remaining as Paul Aron sat down in 20th place.

Turn 11 proved problematic for much of the field as Franco Colapinto caught a slide in his MP Motorsport car and continued.

Martins improved to the top of the timesheets by just 0.002 over Maloney after a lacklustre start to the session.

Richard Verschoor sat in third place as Crawford stepped into fourth, four-tenths away from Martins’ time.

The times continued to tumble as the reigning FIA F3 champion, Gabriel Bortoleto, briefly went fastest before Hauger went quicker still.

Taylor Barnard locked up at Turn 1, the heaviest braking zone on the track and continued with a flat spot on his Pirelli tyre. Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan ran wide at Turn 11 as the track temperature rose. 

The British driver recovered from his mistake at Turn 11; his 1:33.638 was good enough for eighth quickest, half a second away from pacesetter Hauger.

Antonelli and Barnard stalled at the pit exit while attempting practice starts before getting restarted by the mechanics and joining the circuit.

In the closing stages, Aron knocked Hauger off the top of the times before Maloney went even faster, driving to a 1:32.668 on the hard tyre.

The track continued to develop in the closing stages, as Fittipaldi took second place before Crawford took second from the Brazilian.

Aron took fourth ahead of Hauger, with Ritomo Miyata in sixth place. Martins ended up in seventh place in front of Colapinto as Bortoleto and Hadjar rounded out the top 10.

Image: FML