2025 F3 Season Roundup: Round Three – Imola

Roundup of the third round of the 2025 F3 season as the grid touched down in Imola, Italy.

Ferrari Driver Academy member, Rafael Camara came into this round as the championship leader looking to extend his title lead over Tim Tramnitz as F3 began the European leg of the season.

 

Practice

Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Theophile Nael, Santiago Ramos and Ivan Domingues were first on track and it was Nael who set the initial benchmark time of 2m 02.815 in the eighth minute, which he soon lowered to a more representative 1m 37.246 on his next lap.

Lap times soon tumbled as Domingues and Nicola Lacorte twice went fastest in a busy opening stint once everyone hit the track, until championship leader – Camara went quickest with 1m 33,433 in the 25th minute.

He went on to twice lower his own benchmark to an eventual 1m 33.091 ahead of MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti and Tramnitz.

The session however came to a premature end with three minutes left after PREMA’s Ugo Ugochukwu spun out at Variante Villeneuve.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	1m 33.091
2	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.074
3	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.516
4	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 0.546
5	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.567
6	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	+ 0.573
7	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 0.631
8	James Hedley	AIX Racing	+ 0.692
9	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 0.732
10	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 0.744
11	Noah Strømsted	Trident	+ 0.758
12	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.785
13	Brando Badoer	PREMA	+ 0.840
14	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 0.855
15	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 0.856
16	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.862
17	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 0.883
18	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	+ 0.950
19	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 1.106
20	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 1.365
21	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 1.407
22	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 1.481
23	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 1.513
24	Gerard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 1.730
25	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 1.842
26	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 1.876
27	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 1.895
28	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 1.908
29	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	+ 2.023
30	James Wharton	ART GP	No Time

 

Qualifying

Nael, Ramos and Domingues were once again the first drivers on track with Nael setting 1m 34.158 as the initial representative benchmark in the sixth minute, before Ramos and Tramnitz replaced him until Camara produced 1m 32.909 to top the opening run from Badoer and Tramnitz.

The start of the second run however were brought to a halt with 11 minutes and eight seconds left after Campos’ Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak spun out at Acque Minerali, but not before Badoer posted 1m 32.894 to go onto provisional pole.

After a six-minute delay, the session resumed and Ramos delivered 1m 32.442 with just five minutes left, but Camara fought back in the penultimate minute with 1m 32.206 to become the first F3 driver to take pole in the first three rounds, having opted to do his final run later than everyone else.

Ramos settled for second ahead of Strømsted, Taponen, Sharp, Bilinski, Ugochukwu, Leon, Tsolov, Boya, Tramnitz and Del Pino who took reverse-pole for the sprint.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	1m 32.206
2	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 0.236
3	Noah Strømsted	Trident	+ 0.244
4	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 0.327
5	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 0.359
6	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	+ 0.373
7	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	+ 0.381
8	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 0.406
9	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.430
10	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.504
11	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.572
12	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 0.574
13	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.586
14	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 0.673
15	Brando Badoer	PREMA	+ 0.688
16	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.722
17	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 0.773
18	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 0.836
19	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	+ 0.881
20	James Wharton	ART GP	+ 0.890
21	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 0.971
22	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 1.014
23	James Hedley	AIX Racing	+ 1.075
24	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 1.164
25	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 1.269
26	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 1.300
27	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 1.388
28	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 1.656
29	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 1.715
30	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 33.325

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Del Pino led Tramnitz as the top 13 held position whilst Domingues got spun at the back but everyone continued safely.

Up front, Tramnitz kept his Spanish teammate honest until he swept round the outside of Tamburello on Lap 3 to snatch the lead, which he controlled until the safety car came out on Lap 5 after Marinangeli had stopped at Tosa a lap earlier after he lost his rear-right tyre.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 8 but Boya lost third to Tsolov into Tamburello at the start of the next lap with Sharp following through, before a power issue forced Boya to drop down the order and retire in the pits at the end of that lap.

The safety car meanwhile had been redeployed after Voisin spun Zagazeta out at Tamburello which earned the Brit a five-second time penalty, despite failing to score any points as he eventually finished 26th in the classification.

Tramnitz led everyone back racing at the end of Lap 11 in a quiet restart until Taponen squeezed Leon wide on the outside of Tosa for seventh on Lap 14, which dropped the Mexican down to tenth whilst Taponen lost seventh to Strømsted on Lap 16 into Tamburello.

Tramnitz eventually cruised to victory from Del Pino after he gave his teammate a tow to prevent third-placed Tsolov from getting past the Spaniard.

Sharp, Bilinski, Strømsted, Taponen, Ugochukwu, Leon and Giusti rounded out the top ten.

Tramnitz’s win now put him 16 points off Camara in the drivers’ standings after the latter missed out on points in 11th position, whilst Strømsted remained third and 23 points off the title lead on 33 points.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	18	33m 26.398
2	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	18	+ 0.782
3	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	18	+ 1.187
4	Louis Sharp	Rodin	18	+ 2.088
5	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	18	+ 3.328
6	Noah Strømsted	Trident	18	+ 4.257
7	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	18	+ 6.966
8	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	18	+ 8.206
9	Noel Leon	PREMA	18	+ 8.502
10	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	18	+8.829
11	Rafael Camara	Trident	18	+ 9.298
12	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	18	+ 10.577
13	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	18	+ 11.014
14	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	18	+ 11.578
15	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	18	+ 12.656
16	Brando Badoer	PREMA	18	+ 16.172
17	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	18	+ 16.386
18	James Hedley	AIX Racing	18	+ 16.850
19	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	18	+ 17.178
20	Theophile Nael	VAR	18	+17.335
21	Christian Ho	DAMS	18	+17.746
22	James Wharton	ART GP	18	+ 18.059
23	Charlie Wurz	Trident	18	+ 18.302
24	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	18	+ 18.597
25	Ivan Domingues	VAR	18	+ 19.342
26	Callum Voisin	Rodin	18	+ 28.870
27	Santiago Ramos	Trident	17	+ 1 Lap
RET	Mari Boya	Campos	9	Power
RET	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	8	Collision
RET	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	3	Tyre

 

Feature Race

Camara made a clean start but Ramos managed to match the Brazilian and swept round the outside of Tamburello for the lead, whilst Taponen and Sharp cleared Strømsted for third and fourth respectively.

DAMS’ Nicola Lacorte meanwhile was slow off the line from 18th and dropped to the back of the order.

Up front, Camara bided his time and cleared Ramos on the outside of Tamburello for the lead on Lap 4 whilst Strømsted cleared Sharp on Lap 6 then Taponen on Lap 10 to recover third.

Further back inside the top ten, Boya immediately cleared Tsolov for ninth at the start and steadily worked his way up to fifth in the closing half of the race, after Bilinski had initially passed Sharp for fifth before the Rodin pair got demoted a position by Boya into the clutches of Tramnitz.

Up front, Camara survived a virtual safety car on Lap 12 after Domingues got spun out by Benavides at Tamburello a lap earlier, but Ramos stuck to the rear of his Trident until he made a Lap 19 overtake into Tamburello on the outside to resume the lead.

Camara then released Strømsted into second later on that lap to hunt down Ramos but the Mexican clung on for his first F3 Feature Race win, as Strømsted finished second ahead of Camara who rounded out the podium.

Taponen, Boya, Tramnitz, Giusti, Bilinski, Tsolov and Van Hoepen rounded out the top ten.

Camara remained top of the standings as his title lead extended to 22 points ahead of teammate, Strømsted who jumped up to second ahead of Tramnitz and Taponen, whilst Ramos’ win propelled him up to fifth.

F3 now heads to Monaco for the second round of a triple-header from 22-25 May.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Santiago Ramos	VAR	22	35m 28.588
2	Noah Strømsted	Trident	22	+ 0.277
3	Rafael Camara	Trident	22	+ 6.838
4	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	22	+ 8.540
5	Mari Boya	Campos	22	+ 13.713
6	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	22	+ 14.887
7	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	22	+ 15.268
8	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	22	+ 16.315
9	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	22	+ 16.727
10	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	22	+ 17.829
11	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	22	+ 20.516
12	Louis Sharp	Rodin	22	+ 21.667
13	James Wharton	ART GP	22	+ 26.453
14	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	22	+ 27.074
15	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	22	+ 27.345
16	Charlie Wurz	Trident	22	+ 27.853
17	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	22	+ 29.857
18	Callum Voisin	Rodin	22	+ 34.266
19	Brando Badoer	PREMA	22	+ 35.516
20	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	22	+ 35.885
21	Christian Ho	DAMS	22	+ 36.307
22	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	22	+ 37.379
23	James Hedley	AIX Racing	22	+ 37.894
24	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	22	+ 41.212
25	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	22	+ 42.526
26	Theophile Nael	VAR	22	+ 69.330
27	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	22	+ 73.930
28	Noel Leon	PREMA	21	+ 1 Lap
RET	Ivan Domingues	VAR	10	Collision
RET	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	6	Tyre