In practice races, traffic conditions are often worse than in qualifying.
The reason is simple: during a qualifying lap, slow cars ahead must voluntarily yield the racing line. If they maliciously block, they will face post-race penalties from the FIA.
Though the FIA regulations on blocking in this era are far less detailed and strict than they will be in a decade,
having them versus not having them makes a fundamental difference!
Chen Xiangbei achieving a lap speed of 2 minutes 9.926 seconds in practice means that, if everything goes well in qualifying, he has a great chance to break the Grand Prix F3 pole record.
The last driver who could achieve this was Lewis Hamilton.
