Edward Jones, the Dubai-based British national who is harbouring ambitions of securing a Formula One seat sometime in the future, went fourth fastest on the second and final day of pre-season testing of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at the 4.326km Red Bull Ring in Austria last week.

The 11-round championship comprising of 33 races gets under way on April 20 at Silverstone in the United Kingdom, and Jones has been preparing for the series in Europe for the past several weeks, which included the pre-season tests.

Max Verstappen went fastest at 1:23.690 minutes while Jones was not too far behind in fourth in a time of 1:24.296mins.

Interestingly, Jones was one of 25 young drivers who set lap times faster than the existing Formula 3 lap record of 1:25.921min, established by Felix Rosenqvist last year.

Jones is the reigning Formula 3 European Open Champion, having won the title last season, also securing two podiums in Formula Renault Eurocup in 2013.

The Dubai based youngster races for Carlin, formerly Carlin Motorsport, a racing team based in the United Kingdom. Carlin compete in five championships — British Formula 3 Championship, GP3 Series, World Series by Renault and GP2 Series.

In total, 30 outstanding young drivers and 12 teams will be competing for the F3 European Championship title, racing at the highest level.

And like Jones, all these drivers have one clear goal- making it into Formula 1.

Jones though says that his immediate priority is to concentrate on the current season with a view to delivering the best results possible and hopefully secure a GP2 Series on his way to fulfilling his F1 ambitions.

The championship will be run on a number of F1 circuits worldwide.