World karting champion Max Verstappen surprised the Formula 3 European Championship opposition by topping the times on the first official pre-season test day at the Hungaroring.

The 16-year-old son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen was one of a group of drivers to improve their times right at the end of the day to put his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen at the top of the heap.

Reigning British F3 champion Jordan King's morning time was good enough to be fastest overall for the day until three minutes before the end of the afternoon running, when Verstappen eclipsed it.

Verstappen was then on an even faster lap, before losing time in the final sector.

King did little running in the afternoon due to a small technical problem, but headed a 2-3-4 for the Carlin team, with Antonio Giovinazzi and Jake Dennis both making late improvements to go third and fourth respectively.

Title favourite Felix Rosenqvist was the leading Mercedes-powered driver, the Mucke Motorsport man pipping Prema Powerteam's Esteban Ocon, who was second in the morning but - along with King - was one of just five drivers not to go faster in the afternoon.

Ocon's Prema team-mate Nicholas Latifi completed just three laps in the morning before fire - thought to have originated in the airbox - damaged his engine and forced him out for the remainder of the two-day test.

Another to lose time was Michele Beretta, who crashed in the morning but who got back on track after repairs.

Pos Driver                Car-Engine                        Time

 1. Max Verstappen        Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW         1m36.505s

 2. Jordan King           Carlin Dallara-VW                 1m36.604s

 3. Antonio Giovinazzi    Carlin Dallara-VW                 1m36.661s

 4. Jake Dennis           Carlin Dallara-VW                 1m36.676s

 5. Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Mercedes            1m36.728s

 6. Esteban Ocon          Prema Dallara-Mercedes            1m36.737s

 7. Lucas Auer            Mucke Dallara-Mercedes            1m36.805s

 8. Tom Blomqvist         Carlin Dallara-VW                 1m36.820s

 9. Riccardo Agostini     EuroInternational Dallara-Merc    1m36.936s

10. Jules Szymkowiak      Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW         1m36.945s

11. Ed Jones              Carlin Dallara-VW                 1m37.023s

12. Roy Nissany           Mucke Dallara-Mercedes            1m37.069s

13. Sean Gelael           Carlin Dallara-VW                 1m37.199s

14. Gustavo Menezes       Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW         1m37.235s

15. Antonio Fuoco         Prema Dallara-Mercedes            1m37.266s

16. Mitch Gilbert         Fortec Dallara-Mercedes           1m37.343s

17. Dennis van de Laar    Prema Dallara-Mercedes            1m37.604s

18. Alexander Toril       T-Sport Dallara-NBE               1m37.632s

19. John Bryant-Meisner   Fortec Dallara-Mercedes           1m37.729s

20. Felipe Guimaraes      Double R Dallara-Mercedes         1m37.827s

21. Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-NBE               1m37.865s

22. Michele Beretta       EuroInternational Dallara-Merc    1m37.884s

23. Hector Hurst          West-Tec Dallara-Mercedes         1m38.159s

24. Oscar Tunjo           Signature Dallara-Renault         1m38.228s

25. Felix Serralles       West-Tec Dallara-Mercedes         1m38.345s

26. Tatiana Calderon      Signature Dallara-Renault         1m38.963s

27. Sandro Zeller         Jo Zeller Dallara-Mercedes        1m39.442s

28. Nicholas Latifi       Prema Dallara-Mercedes            1m47.547s

(Autosport.com/Marcus Simmons/arl)