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ROAD TO F1: Ilott takes pole in red-flagged F2 qualifying , Smolyar in rain-delayed F3 session

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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - JULY 17: Callum Ilott of Great Britain and UNI-Virtuosi Racing (4) drives

Ferrari junior Callum Ilott gave the perfect demonstration of a wet lap around the Hungaroring to grab his second Formula 2 pole position, while F3 qualifying – delayed until Friday afternoon due to heavy rain – was topped by the equally impressive Alex Smolyar.

UNI-Virtuosi got their strategy spot on, leaving Ilott and his teammate Guanyu Zhou out on track when the rest of the field pitted for fresh rubber.

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They responded brilliantly to take first and third, but it was Ilott’s lap which impressed the most. The Briton thundered around aggressively to find every last drop of pace from the Hungaroring and fire into P1, 0.3s ahead of Luca Ghiotto.

The field returned to the track to respond, but wouldn’t be given the time to do, as Jehan Daruvala spun into the gravel and brought out a red flag, which ended the session prematurely

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - JULY 17: Aleksandr Smolyar of Russia and ART Grand Prix (8) drives on track

Aleksandr Smolyar of ART Grand Prix took pole late on Friday evening for the F3 Feature Race

In F3, Smolyar was similarly impressive in difficult conditions. The ART Grand Prix rookie was almost untouchable in qualifying, maximising the drying sections of the track to find pace that others weren’t able to.

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Sebastian Fernandez, Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant all held provisional pole at one point, but none of them for very long, as Smolyar continually pushed the limits of the track further and further.

In the end, Sargeant would settle for second below him, with Smolyar’s ART team mate Theo Pourchaire in third, on his first ever appearance at the Hungaroring.

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