2025 F3 Season Roundup: Round Four – Monaco

Roundup of the fourth round of the 2025 F3 season as the grid touched down in Monaco for the second part of their triple-header.

Trident’s Rafael Camara arrived in Monaco with a solid title lead but the streets of the Principality held no prisoners as is normally the case, where Qualifying and clean races proved key to some big moves up the drivers’ standings.

 

Practice

MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz, Bruno Del Pino and Alessandro Giusti were first on track and Tramnitz set 1m 49.184 as the initial benchmark, which he then lowered to 1m 36.685 on his second flier.

ART GP’s Laurens van Hoepen then Trident’s Noah Strømsted proceeded to further lower the benchmark time to 1m 30.051, before Tramnitz and Callum Voisin proceeded to exchange fastest laps until Tramnitz posted 1m 27.733 in the 12th minute.

Tramnitz then found 0.274 seconds six minutes later, before he then set 1m 27.059 to put himself top at the half-way mark, before Giusti produced 1m 26.902 in the 23rd minute to briefly displace him but he immediately responded with 1m 26.608 moments later.

Trident’s Noah Strømsted caused a red flag in the 34th minute after he locked up into St. Devote and slid into the barriers but the session resumed six minutes later with a late flurry of flying laps.

At the checkered flag, Campos’ Nikola Tsolov snatched the fastest lap with 1m 25.622 ahead of Tramnitz and Trident’s Charlie Wurz.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	1m 25.622
2	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.219
3	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 0.443
4	Rafael Camara	Trident	+ 0.466
5	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 0.565
6	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 0.619
7	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.738
8	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.768
9	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 0.779
10	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 1.038
11	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 1.186
12	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	+ 1.187
13	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motosport	+ 1.215
14	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	+ 1.255
15	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 1.260
16	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 1.265
17	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	+ 1.314
18	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 1.327
19	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 1.447
20	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 1.474
21	Noah Strømsted	Trident	+ 1.515
22	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 1.626
23	James Hedley	AIX Racing	+ 1.698
24	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 1.824
25	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 2.036
26	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 2.085
27	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 2.129
28	Brando Badoer	PREMA	+ 2.446
29	James Wharton	ART GP	+ 2.532
30	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 3.183

 

Qualifying

Qualifying Group A

As is traditional for F3 Qualifying in Monaco, the grid were split into two groups with even-numbered cars drawn to go out first which meant that Del Pino was first on track, and the Spaniard soon set 1m 53.892 as the unrepresentative benchmark.

Benavides however was the first driver to set a representative lap time of 1m 27.860 to go top, but Tsolov and Leon soon traded fastest laps until the checkered flag, when Tsolov won out with 1m 24.882 to top the group whilst Boya produced a last-gasp lap to pip Leon to second.

Wurz, Taponen, Stenshorne, Sharp, Strømsted, Domingues, Benavides, Zagazeta, Nael, Del Pino, Xie and Hedley completed Group A’s classification.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	1m 24.882
2	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.127
3	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 0.504
4	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 0.530
5	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 0.638
6	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.840
7	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 0.943
8	Noah Strømsted	Trident	+ 0.959
9	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 0.966
10	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 1.072
11	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 1.119
12	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 1.122
13	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 1.127
14	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 1.203
15	James Hedley	AIX Racing	+ 1.712

 

Qualifying Group B

Tramnitz was first out of the pit lane in the second group but it was Ramos who set the first representative lap time of 1m 27.797 in the sixth minute, although it was Camara who sat top at the end of the first fliers with 1m 25.635 from Voisin.

Voisin however topped the second fliers with 1m 25.359 from his Rodin teammate, Bilinski, but the red flags were out with three minutes and 21s left after Badoer crashed at St Devote, which caused a five-minute stoppage and he lost his fastest lap which left him 13th in the classification at the checkered flag.

Once the session resumed, some drivers managed to improve unlike others as Bilinski snatched the fastest lap to top the group from Voisin, Tramnitz, Camara, Van Hoepen, Giusti, Ugochukwu, Dufek, Inthraphuvasak and Ho.

Wharton, Ramos, Badoer and Marinangeli rounded out the Qualifying Group B classification, whilst Lacorte was disqualified after he received outside assistance to re-join the track at St Devote.

Bilinski’s lap time was 0.450s slower than Tsolov’s fastest Group A time which meant that those in Group A lined up on the odd-numbered side of the grid, whilst Group B occupied the even-numbered side and Giusti inherited reverse-pole for the sprint.

Camara however was handed a three-place grid penalty for both races after he was found to be below the minimum delta time during the red flag period,

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	1m 25.332
2	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 0.027
3	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.093
4	Rafael Camara	Trident	+ 0.152
5	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 0.233
6	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.321
7	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	+ 0.604
8	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	+ 0.781
9	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 0.877
10	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 1.067
11	James Wharton	ART GP	+ 1.125
12	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 2.465
13	Brando Badoer	PREMA	+ 2.500
14	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 2.644
DSQ	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	No Time

 

Sprint Race

Prior to the start, Domingues encountered a technical issue which caused half of the grid to grind to a halt into Rascasse, but all drivers eventually made the start without delay.

At lights out, Giusti got a slow getaway from reverse-pole which allowed Stenshorne to sweep into the lead ahead of Taponen and Van Hoepen, whilst Leon improved briefly to seventh but got passed by Camara at Mirabeau before he then hit the outside wall on the exit of Lowes hairpin battling Voisin.

He managed to find an escape road near Portier to pull over and retire but the safety car was deployed after Lacorte and Ramos collided, with Domingues and Hedley innocently caught up in the incident with the quartet eliminated.

Lacorte post-race was handed a five-place grid drop for the Feature Race after he was adjudged to have been responsible for the incident.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 8 and Boya quickly cleared Voisin for eighth as everyone soon settled into a stable pattern, whilst Strømsted suffered a race-ending puncture on Lap 13 after he ran into the rear of Benavides’ AIX Racing car at St Devote as he passed on the inside of Dufek.

Up front, Stenshorne held off Taponen to claim his second F3 sprint victory after he won the 2024 Australian Sprint last season.

Van Hoepen, Giusti, Tramnitz, Wurz, Camara and Boya rounded out the top eight, ahead of Sharp who climbed up from 13th to ninth at the checkered flag from Voisin.

Post-race, Hedley and Del Pino received five-second time penalties for false starts, whilst Inthraphuvasak was hit with a 30s time penalty after he was found out of position at safety car line 1 on the formation lap – which dropped the Thai to 23rd in the classification.

Camara’s title lead was slightly reduced to 23 points as Tramnitz climbed to second ahead of Strømsted and Taponen.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	23	38m 25.135
2	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	23	+ 2.253
3	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	23	+ 4.770
4	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	23	+ 6.002
5	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	23	+ 6.396
6	Charlie Wurz	Trident	23	+ 8.454
7	Rafael Camara	Trident	23	+ 8.732
8	Mari Boya	Campos	23	+ 10.614
9	Louis Sharp	Rodin	23	+ 12.203
10	Callum Voisin	Rodin	23	+ 12.907
11	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	23	+ 13.636
12	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	23	+ 14.828
13	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	23	+ 21.287
14	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	23	+ 21.629
15	Christian Ho	DAMS	23	+ 22.214
16	Theophile Nael	VAR	23	+ 22.508
17	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	23	+ 24.864
18	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	23	+ 27.816
19	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	23	+ 29.272
20	Brando Badoer	PREMA	23	+ 30.580
21	James Wharton	ART GP	23	+ 32.540
22	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	23	+ 40.411
23	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	23	+ 55.832
24	Nikola Tsolov	ART GP	22	+ 1 Lap
RET	Noah Strømsted	Trident	13	Accident
RET	Noel Leon	PREMA	0	Damage
RET	Ivan Domingues	VAR	0	Collision
RET	Santiago Ramos	VAR	0	Collision
RET	James Hedley	AIX Racing	0	Collision
RET	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	0	Collision

 

Feature Race

AIX Racing’s Hedley withdrew after the sprint race due to a hand injury but at lights light, Tsolov retained his lead from the top four as Tramnitz took fifth from Leon. amidst an otherwise clean start for the top 11 drivers, whilst Giusti lost 12th to Ugochukwu.

Del Pino’s race however suffered a massive dent after contact with Marinangeli at Nouvelle chicane but he re-joined several laps down after repairs to his MP Motorsport car.

Up front, Tsolov held off a charge from Bilinski, Boya and Voisin whilst Tramnitz sat in fifth ahead of Leon in a quiet race, until the safety car came out on Lap 18 after Leon crashed into the barriers at Portier.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 19 with the top five holding position but Wurz in sixth had picked up a puncture and lost the position to Van Hoepen as he held everyone up for a lap until he lost full control and ploughed into the barriers at Massenet on Lap 21.

Badoer on the same lap spun out at Portier after contact with Marinangeli which brought back out the safety car as Sharp snuck into the top ten from 13th on the grid, although he had slipped to 14th at the start but benefitted from the safety car restart chaos.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 23 but Camara was forced to pit immediately without his right rear tyre after contact with Dufek, whilst Tsolov proceeded to cruise to victory from Bilinski, Boya and Voisin.

Tramnitz finished fifth ahead of Van Hoepen, Taponen, Stenshorne, Sharp and Giusti.

Camara’s failure to finish meant that Tramnitz was able to cut his title deficit down to 13 points with his fifth-placed finish, whilst Tsolov surged up to third and only three points off Tramnitz.

F3 now concludes their triple-header with a trip to Barcelona across the weekend of 30 May – 1 June.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	27	42m 16.874
2	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	27	+ 7.243
3	Mari Boya	Campos	27	+ 7.737
4	Callum Voisin	Rodin	27	+ 8.408
5	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	27	+ 8.728
6	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	27	+ 9.416
7	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	27	+ 12.970
8	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	27	+ 13.720
9	Louis Sharp	Rodin	27	+ 14.312
10	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	27	+ 14.854
11	James Wharton	ART GP	27	+ 15.382
12	Joshua Dufek	Hitech GP	27	+ 26.205
13	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	27	+ 27.105
14	Noah Strømsted	Trident	27	+ 27.299
15	Christian Ho	DAMS	27	+ 27.713
16	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	27	+ 28.660
17	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	27	+ 29.513
18	Santiago Ramos	VAR	27	+ 35.250
19	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	27	+ 37.971
20	Ivan Domingues	VAR	27	+ 40.745
21	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	27	+ 44.300
NC	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	27	+ 5 Laps
RET	Theophile Nael	Trident	26	Mechanical
RET	Rafael Camara	MP Motorsport	22	Collision
RET	Brando Badoer	PREMA	20	Collision
RET	Charlie Wurz	Trident	20	Crash
RET	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	20	Damage
RET	Noel Leon	PREMA	17	Crash
RET	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	15	Damage
DNS	James Hedley	AIX Racing	27	Hand