The FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader was 0.152 seconds faster than George Russell (Carlin, 1:21.278 minutes), who was classified second as the best-placed rookie. Nick Cassidy (Prema Powerteam, 1:21.379 minutes), Callum Ilott (Carlin, 1:21.440 minutes), Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam, 1:21.483 minues) and Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1:21.532 minutes) ended up in third to sixth place, followed by Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 1:21.653 minutes), Rosenqvist’s fiercest rival in the battle for the title, in seventh position.

Felix Rosenqvist waited long before joining the action in qualifying. Eight minutes before the end of the session, he wasn’t even in the top 30, but one minute later, his name already showed up on top of the ranking. After that, he battled for first place with Nick Cassidy and managed to beat the New-Zealander. Cassidy, in turn, was demoted to third by George Russell in the closing stages while Callum Ilott slotted in just behind Cassidy after his final attack.

Jake Dennis, currently fourth in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings and still in with chances of winning the title, secured himself fifth place. One place further down, Charles Leclerc, third in the drivers’ standings, followed in sixth ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi, runner-up in the points’ standings, who was seventh in first qualifying at the Nürburgring. The Italian, who is 34.5 points down on Rosenqvist in the drivers’ standings, only made it into the top ten in the closing stages of the session. Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 1:21.656 minutes), Markus Pommer (Motopark, 1:21.745 minutes) and Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark, 1:21749 minutes) rounded out the first ten positions. Harald Schlegelmilch (ArtLine Engineering, 1:25.887 minutes), who took on the first-ever FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying for his team ArtLine Engineering, put the Russian team’s home-constructed ARTTech P315 chassis in 33rd place.

Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam): “Qualifying was good, my car was great and I am happy with my lap time. Just the traffic was a slight problem. Therefore, I was only able to set my fastest lap time towards the end and I was happy that things were right on this lap. However, I didn’t take a lot of risk, because I wanted to avoid any accidents. Probably, I could have gone a little bit faster as a result, but I think that it was likewise for other drivers.”