Mercedes F1 junior Vesti takes first F3 pole of 2021 at Paul Ricard

Vesti toppled Hauger’s provisional pole time in the final three minutes of qualifying.

Hauger was the man to beat going into the latter stages of the session having led the way after the first runs, but Vesti’s 1m50.882s ensured he claimed top spot and the additional four points that comes with it.

Remarkably, Vesti didn’t have any purple sectors to his name on his best run.

Victor Martins completed the top three behind Vesti and Hauger in the lead MP Motorsport, ahead of Jack Doohan and MP teammate Caio Collet.

Next up was Clement Novalak and Aleksandr Smolyar, while Ayumu Iwasa left it late to go eighth with an impressive lap in the Hitech Grand Prix.

Juan Manuel Correa - who has recently joined the Sauber academy - was ninth fastest, with Logan Sargeant completing the top ten.

David Schumacher and Calan Williams will share the front row for the first sprint race as the top 12 on the grid are reversed for the Saturday morning event.

Matteo Nannini, Olli Caldwell and Tijmen van der Helm completed the top 15, just ahead of Jak Crawford.

Roman Stanek, Lorenzo Colombo, Armaury Cordeel and F3 debutant Johnathan Hoggard rounded out the top 20.

Arthur Leclerc’s torrid start to the season continued as his Prema ground to a halt with 22 minutes on the clock.

Leclerc’s stoppage caused a brief red flag stoppage with the Monegasque set to start from 30th.

Click here for the full FIA Formula 3 qualifying results from Paul Ricard.