2025 F3 Season Roundup: Round One – Australia

Roundup of the opening round of the 2025 F3 season in Melbourne, Australia. 

With a new-generation car making its debut, hopes were high that F3 would continue to thrill and excite as a rookie made a strong debut for Trident, whilst everyone got to grips with the new machinery amidst red flags.

 

Practice

AIX Racing’s rookies, Javier Sagrera and Nicola Marinangeli were first on track but Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Santiago Ramos and Rodin’s Louis Sharp soon set the initial pace, until Hitech GP’s Joshua Dufek twice lowered the benchmark to 1m 35.402 in the 19th minute.

Trident rookie, Rafael Camara however went fastest two minutes later with 1m 34.904 and eventually topped the timings with 1m 34.652 set ten minutes from the end of the session.

Practice though was ultimately curtailed six minutes early as the red flags came out after Sharp stopped on the track with a technical issue.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	1m 34.652
2	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.240
3	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.256
4	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.310
5	Noah Strømsted	Trident	+ 0.542
6	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 0.567
7	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	+ 0.646
8	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.649
9	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.784
10	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 0.978
11	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 1.047
12	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 1.054
13	Bruno del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 1.105
14	Roman Bilinksi	Rodin	+ 1.114
15	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	+ 1.169
16	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 1.306
17	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 1.354
18	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	+ 1.379
19	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 1.402
20	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 1.411
21	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 1.468
22	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 1.499
23	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 1.600
24	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 1.787
25	Brandon Badoer	PREMA	+ 1.836
26	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 2.169
27	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 2.208
28	Javier Sagrera	AIX Racing	+ 2.226
29	James Wharton	ART GP	+ 2.786
30	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 3.869

 

Qualifying

Sagrera was again first out on track but Voisin set the benchmark time of 1m 36.799 initially until his Rodin teammate, Bilinksi then Trident’s Strømsted lowered the benchmark to 1m 35.898.

VAR’s Theophile Nael threw up a surprise on his second flier in his opening stint to go onto provisional pole at the half-way mark, having posted 1m 35.566 to go top from Bedrin.

Camara however opted to go early for his second stint which saw him produce 1m 34.999 with 11 minutes left to claim pole position on debut, and he was joined on the front row by teammate, Strømsted.

Nael, Bedrin, Tramnitz, Wurz, Inthraphuvasak, Ugochukwu, Stenshorne and Bilinski rounded out the top ten ahead Zagazeta who qualified on the front row for DAMS’ first F3 race, behind Ramos who claimed reverse pole for the sprint.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	1m 34.999
2	Noah Strømsted	Trident	+ 0.129
3	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 0.567
4	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	+ 0.771
5	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.826
6	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 0.840
7	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 0.925
8	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	+ 1.039
9	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 1.120
10	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	+ 1.126
11	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 1.233
12	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 1.269
13	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	+ 1.293
14	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 1.337
15	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 1.345
16	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 1.491
17	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 1.656
18	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 1.670
19	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 1.743
20	Javier Sagrera	AIX Racing	+ 1.819
21	James Wharton	ART GP	+ 1.989
22	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 2.182
23	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 2.427
24	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 2.575
25	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 2.820
26	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 3.118
27	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 3.787
28	Brando Badoer	PREMA	+ 6.516
29	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 14.363
30	Bruno del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 18.659

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Ramos made a clean start to protect his lead whilst Zagazeta lost second to Bilinski and Inthraphuvasak, before Stenshorne benefitted from their scrap to snatch second into Turn 11.

The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was soon deployed to remove Charlie Wurz’s stricken Trident following contact and shortly after the VSC was ended on lap three, Wharton spun Camara at Turn 11 with Laurens van Hoepen collected amongst the melee which earned the former a five-place grid penalty for the main race.

Racing resumed on lap nine and the top three were set as Ramos won from Stenshorne and Bilinski, whilst Inthraphuvasak cleared Zagazeta on Lap 14 for fourth position.

The race eventually finished under the safety car after Sagrera and Del Pino collided at turn six on lap 15 to prevent further running.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Santiago Ramos	VAR	20	42m 20.594
2	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	20	+ 0.408
3	Roman Bilinksi	Rodin	20	+ 0.676
4	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	20	+ 0.891
5	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	20	+ 1.038
6	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	20	+ 1.217
7	Theophile Nael	VAR	20	+ 1.406
8	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	20	+ 1.738
9	Callum Voisin	Rodin	20	+ 2.403
10	Noel Leon	PREMA	20	+2.944
11	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	20	+ 3.256
12	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	20	+ 3.851
13	Mari Boya	Campos	20	+ 4.440
14	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	20	+ 4.587
15	Christian Ho	DAMS	20	+ 5.897
16	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	20	+ 7.116
17	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	20	+ 7.770
18	Louis Sharp	Rodin	20	+ 9.033
19	Brando Badoer	PREMA	20	+ 9.730
20	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	20	+ 11.057
21	Ivan Domingues	VAR	20	+ 11.461
22	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	20	+ 28.008
RET	Noah Strømsted	Trident	15	Damage
RET	Bruno del Pino	MP Motorsport	15	Collision
RET	Javier Sagrera	AIX Racing	15	Collision
RET	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	13	Mechanical
RET	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	2	Collision
RET	Rafael Camara	Trident	2	Collision
RET	James Wharton	ART GP	2	Collision
RET	Charlie Wurz	Trident	0	Accident

 

Feature Race

Heavy rainfall met the field for the main race which led stewards to opt for four formation laps before Camara led the field away, albeit with a reduced lap count of 20 due to the additional formation laps.

The safety car however was quickly deployed after Tsolov squeezed Voisin towards the outside wall, which caused the latter to collect the Bulgarian as the pair spun out of the race.

Racing resumed on lap six and two laps later, Stenshorne cleared Ugochukwu with Bilinski following suit a lap later whilst Camara led Strømsted by four seconds in a clear gap up front.

DAMS’ Christian Ho brought the safety car back out on lap 13 after he spun out at turn six just as the rain began to increase further in intensity, which ultimately brought out the red flags on lap 18 with Camara declared the winner.

Strømsted completed a Trident one-two whilst Nael, Bedrin, Tramnitz, Wurz, Inthraphuvasak, Stenshorne, Bilinski and Ugochukwu rounded out the top ten.

F3 will now head to Bahrain for the second round across the weekend of 11-13 April.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	16	–
2	Noah Strømsted	Trident	16	+ 0.5
3	Theophile Nael	VAR	16	+ 1.1
4	Nikita Bedrin	AIX Racing	16	+ 1.7
5	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	16	+ 2.2
6	Charlie Wurz	Trident	16	+ 3.2
7	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	16	+ 3.7
8	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	16	+ 4.9
9	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	16	+ 5.6
10	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	16	+ 7.1
11	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	16	+ 8.3
12	Laurens Van Hoepen	ART GP	16	+ 8.8
13	Noel Leon	PREMA	16	+ 9.9
14	Louis Sharp	Rodin	16	+ 11.6
15	Javier Sagrera	AIX Racing	16	+ 12.8
16	Santiago Ramos	VAR	16	+ 13.8
17	Mari Boya	Campos	16	+ 15.1
18	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	16	+ 16.7
19	Ivan Domingues	VAR	16	+ 18.9
20	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	16	+ 19.2
21	James Wharton	ART GP	16	+ 20.297
22	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	16	+ 21.299
23	Bruno del Pino	MP Motorsport	16	+ 21.380
24	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	16	+ 22.252
25	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	16	+ 23.020
26	Brando Badoer	PREMA	16	+ 23.648
27	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	16	+ 25.079
28	Christian Ho	DAMS	12	Spin
29	Callum Voisin	Rodin	0	Collision
30	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	0	Collision