With the new F3 season on the horizon, we caught up with MP Motorsport rookie, Tim Tramnitz to candidly discuss his motorsport journey and ambitions for the future.
From being inspired by an iconic four-time F1 world champion as he began his journey into motorsport to quickly fighting for titles in single-seater racing, Tramnitz is now set to take a huge step in his F1 ambitions as he steps up to F3 with MP Motorsport this season.
The 19 year-old German is now backed by Red Bull after he was accepted into their junior team in October 2023, which played a pivotal role in his move into F3 where he is expected to fight for the title in his first season in the category.
Who inspired you to become a racing driver?
Tramnitz: “I have always been a huge Sebastian Vettel fan and started to follow F1 more closely when he took his four world championships. This was also pretty much the phase when I started to begin drive in go-karting so yeah he is my inspiration. ”
Across your karting career, you claimed several titles and went on to enjoy a strong fourth-place finish in your first year of single-seater in 2020 ADAC F4 season. How important was your karting experience in that successful transition to single-seater racing?
Tramnitz: “For sure karting has been important to learn all the basics in motorsport so like the racing, wheel-to-wheel battles, how to defend and race techniques and strategies.
“So for sure karting is important at the start but in the end at some point, we always focus more on formula cars because if you want to compete in a professional series or championship in karting, it’s really expensive and so we started quite early on thinking about F4 and started to do some tests to understand the car and yeah learn the new challenge of the F4 car.”
2021 saw you build upon that progress with second-placed finishes in ADAC F4 and Italian F4 including nine wins in total. What was it like to experience your first proper title battles within single-seater racing despite missing two Italian F4 rounds?
Tramnitz: “I will say that the year 2021 was quite good and yeah it was nice to fight for the title. I mean in the end you always try to win the title so you always enjoy it a bit more if you come out first in the end.
“Especially in Italian F4 to take P2 in the championship in the end with missing in total six races was a really good effort and I had a lot of nice races in Italian F4 and the challenge was quite difficult so yeah overall we were really happy with the year.”
You went on to spend the last two seasons in FRECA where you found consistency in your second season. After a tough rookie campaign in 2022, how much did it mean to find consistency and finish third overall last year in a competitive season?
Tramnitz: “For sure in the end we went into the second year trying to win the title but I think that there were some points last year where I lost a lot of points because of some DNFs where I couldn’t do anything about it so I think in the end we were able to show the pace to fight for the title.
“But I mean the first win in FRECA in Barcelona then another win on the next day in Barcelona was really special and for sure after a tough year in 2022, I was really happy to just be back on top.”
This season sees you step up to F3 with MP Motorsport so what are your expectations for the campaign ahead with a team experienced in nurturing young drivers within F1 academies?
Tramnitz: “It’s a pleasure to race in F3 this year because during last year at some point it was quite difficult for us to look ahead at the future because obviously the costs of a F3 seat are now really high and in the end when I became a Red Bull junior, the plan for this year got more clear.
“So yeah for sure it means a lot to drive in F3 this year and also with MP, I mean the team has a lot of experience and they have showed the potential over the last years, so to compete in this series with a front-running team is always a good feeling.”
You are also part of Red Bull’s Junior Team so what is it like to be part of a F1 academy and gain support in order to hopefully progress up to F1 eventually?
Tramnitz: “It’s a really nice feeling to be a Red Bull junior now. I mean this is kind of what you want in your career when you start especially in formula cars.
“At some point, you want to get into a F1 academy and to be with Red Bull now is a really nice feeling and to work with all of the experienced people is a really big help for me, because I can just learn so much more and learn from very experienced people so it’s a really big benefit and without them, it would (of) not been possible to do FIA F3 this year.”
What are your ambitions for the future and how special would it be to have the German GP back and hopefully race on home soil in F1?
Tramnitz: “To ever race again in Germany would be so nice. I raced last year at Hockenheim at the last race of the season and the support of the home crowd was really special and I like the tracks that we have in Germany as well.
“So I would be really happy to have a German Grand Prix again.”
“I want to become a F1 world champion one day but it’s a long way and for sure a lot of work but for sure, this is the ultimate goal.”
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