2025 F3 Season Roundup: Round Five – Spain

Roundup of the fifth round of the 2025 F3 season as the grid touched down in Spain for the final part of their triple-header.

Trident’s Rafael Camara headed MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz in the title race coming into the round which marked the half-way mark of the season, in a weekend which saw one team get all three of their drivers onto the podium across both races.

 

Practice

Martinius Stenshorne, Jesse Carrasquedo and Gerrard Xie were first on track for Hitech but everyone quickly pitted at the end of their installation laps.

Xie proceeded to set an unrepresentative benchmark time of 2m 09.279 in the 20th minute as everyone opted for just one flier in the session, which saw Campos’ Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Nikola Tsolov go quickest in the 22nd minute but their times were deleted due to breaches of time limit.

Camara barely a minute later set the fastest overall time of 1m 29.024 ahead of Alessandro Giusti and home favourite, Mari Boya.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	1m 29.024
2	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.322
3	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.478
4	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 0.591
5	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.613
6	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.655
7	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 0.691
8	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 0.748
9	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 0.768
10	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.771
11	Noah Strømsted	VAR	+ 0.774
12	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 0.814
13	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	+ 0.824
14	James Wharton	ART GP	+ 0.910
15	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 0.928
16	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 0.971
17	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 1.008
18	Brando Badoer	PREMA	+ 1.095
19	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 1.215
20	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 1.323
21	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 1.340
22	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 1.374
23	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 1.612
24	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 1.624
25	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	+ 1.655
26	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 1.762
27	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 1.813
28	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 2.000
29	Jesse Carrasquedo	Hitech GP	+ 2.259
30	Jose Garfias	AIX Racing	+ 2.584

 

Qualifying

The Hitech GP trio of Stenshorne, Carrasquedo and Xie were first out on track but traffic soon began to form behind them, in which Strømsted battled his way through to set the unrepresentative benchmark time of 1m 51.397.

Taponen however proved quickest in the opening runs after he found space to produce 1m 29.391 to go fastest from Inthraphuvasak and Wharton.

The second run mid-session after a brief return to the pit lane proved defining as Van Hoepen briefly went quickest in the 19th minute, but Camara just seconds later produced 1m 28.761 to snatch pole position ahead of Tsolov who leapt up to second at the checkered flag.

Van Hoepen found himself third on the grid ahead of Nael, Ramos, Giusti, Domingues, Strømsted, Taponen, Tramnitz and Stenshorne.

Bilinski initially qualified for reverse-pole in 12th position but his lap time was deleted due to having exceeded track limits, but was reinstated on appeal.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	1m 28.761
2	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.216
3	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	+ 0.345
4	Theophile Nael	VAR	+ 0.353
5	Santiago Ramos	VAR	+ 0.389
6	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.434
7	Ivan Domingues	VAR	+ 0.514
8	Noah Strømsted	Trident	+ 0.530
9	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	+ 0.534
10	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	+ 0.566
11	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	+ 0.578
12	Roman Bilinksi	Rodin	+ 0.618
13	James Wharton	ART GP	+ 0.622
14	Noel Leon	PREMA	+ 0.629
15	Mari Boya	Campos	+ 0.671
16	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	+ 0.672
17	Callum Voisin	Rodin	+ 0.681
18	Louis Sharp	Rodin	+ 0.704
19	Charlie Wurz	Trident	+ 0.724
20	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	+ 0.754
21	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 0.754
22	Brando Badoer	PREMA	+ 0.790
23	Christian Ho	DAMS	+ 0.866
24	Ugo Ugochukwu	PRENA	+ 0.938
25	Jose Garfias	AIX Racing	+ 0.955
26	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 0.993
27	Jesse Carrasquedo	Hitech GP	+ 1.214
28	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	+ 1.265
29	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	+ 1.395
30	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	+ 1.816

 

Sprint Race

A dramatic start saw Stenshorne get up the inside of Bilinski into the opening corner but drifted slightly wide which handed the lead back to the Rodin driver mid-corner, whilst he collided with Tramnitz’s front right tyre which eliminated both drivers with Bilinski collected by an out-of-control Stenshorne.

Stewards post-race ruled that Tramnitz didn’t have racing room on the outside of the corner and was at fault for the incident, which resulted in a three-place grid penalty for the German who would start the feature race from 13th as a consequence.

Further back, Taponen stalled from fourth on the grid with Camara unable to avoid the Finnish driver’s rear as the pair collided, although the championship leader was able to crawl back to the pits and retire.

The safety car was deployed until the end of lap five with Domingues having inherited the lead which he held from Strømsted on the restart, whilst Giusti cleared Del Pino then Leon for eighth.

Van Hoepen meanwhile got cut adrift in fifth and conceded position to Tsolov on Lap 13, before Giusti cleared Wharton for seventh two laps later.

Campos’ Inthraphuvasak and Boya meanwhile quietly carved their way into the lower half of the top ten by Lap 16.

Up front, Strømsted kept Domingues within sight until a technical issue forced him to retire at the end of Lap 17, and left Domingues free to cruise to his first victory from Ramos in VAR’s first F3 one-two finish

Tsolov settled for third ahead of Van Hoepen, Nael and Giusti whilst Boya worked his way up to seventh, with Wharton, Inthraphuvasak and Leon rounding out the top ten.

Camara and Tramnitz’s retirements meant that Tsolov moved up to second in the drivers’ standings in-between the former pair, with the Bulgarian now just eight points off Camara and five points ahead of Tramnitz.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Ivan Domingues	VAR	21	35m 54.369
2	Santiago Ramos	VAR	21	+ 2.108
3	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	21	+ 4.292
4	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	21	+ 8.429
5	Theophile Nael	VAR	21	+ 9.906
6	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	21	+ 12.038
7	Mari Boya	Campos	21	+ 14.560
8	James Wharton	ART GP	21	+ 18.548
9	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	21	+ 18.990
10	Noel Leon	PREMA	21	+ 22.413
11	Christian Ho	DAMS	21	+ 23.203
12	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	21	+ 23.783
13	Louis Sharp	Rodin	21	+ 25.140
14	Charlie Wurz	Trident	21	+ 26.452
15	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	21	+ 27.442
16	Callum Voisin	Rodin	21	+ 28.639
17	Brando Badoer	PREMA	21	+ 30.846
18	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	21	+ 31.426
19	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	21	+ 32.524
20	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	21	+ 36.714
21	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	21	+ 38.784
22	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	21	+ 40.559
23	Jesse Carrasquedo	Hitech GP	21	+ 41.576
24	Jose Garfias	AIX Racing	19	Wheel
RET	Noah Strømsted	Trident	16	Mechanical
RET	Rafael Camara	Trident	1	Collision
RET	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	0	Collision
RET	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	0	Collision
RET	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	0	Collision
RET	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	0	Stalled

 

Feature Race

Continuing his strong feature race form, Camara made a clean start but Tsolov got bogged down to eighth with a poor getaway, as Van Hoepen and Nael moved up to second and third respectively.

Taponen and Stenshorne took advantage of Tsolov’s slow start to surge up to fourth and fifth whilst Ramos ran wide on the kerb at Turn 1 which forced him to retire with suspension damage.

The safety car was deployed on Lap 3 after Garfias punted Bilinski onto the grass on the run to Turn 4, during which he drifted to the outside line only to be hit in the rear by Bilinski who had re-joined the circuit on the inside and eliminated both drivers.

Racing resumed on Lap 8 with the top three holding position whilst Stenshorne passed Taponen on the outside of Turn 1, although Taponen a lap later suffered a loss of power which plunged him down the order and out of points contention.

Stenshorne however couldn’t bridge a gap to Giusti and Tsolov who caught and passed him on Laps 11 and 17 respectively.

The safety car was however deployed once more on Lap 18 after Lacorte punted the rear of Badoer at Turn 1, which eliminated the PREMA driver with a spin into the gravel.

Racing recommenced on Lap 21 and Nael pulled an outside move on Van Hoepen into Turn 1 to take second, but he was unable to deny Camara a third win of the season.

Giusti on the final lap snatched his first podium with a DRS move on Van Hoepen to take third, whilst Tsolov, Domingues, Tramnitz, Strømsted, Stenshorne and Wharton, although Wharton was penalised post-race for track limit violations which promoted Voisin to tenth.

At the half-way mark of the season, Camara holds a 26-point lead over Tsolov who is nine points clear in second of third-placed Tramnitz, with the season taking a four-week break until Austria on weekend of 27-29 June.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Trident	25	43m 36.807
2	Theophile Nael	VAR	25	+ 2.130
3	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	25	+ 4.054
4	Laurens van Hoepen	ART GP	25	+ 4.878
5	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	25	+ 5.288
6	Ivan Domingues	VAR	25	+ 7.628
7	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	25	+ 8.374
8	Noah Strømsted	Trident	25	+ 10.270
9	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP	25	+ 11.185
10	Callum Voisin	Rodin	25	+ 13.728
11	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos	25	+ 14.182
12	Louis Sharp	Rodin	25	+ 14.413
13	Charlie Wurz	Trident	25	+ 14.890
14	Christian Ho	DAMS	25	+ 16.411
15	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS	25	+ 17.116
16	James Wharton	ART GP	25	+ 18.360
17	Bruno Del Pino	MP Motorsport	25	+ 19.707
18	Noel Leon	PREMA	25	+ 20.315
19	Tuukka Taponen	ART GP	25	+ 20.534
20	Ugo Ugochukwu	PREMA	25	+ 21.156
21	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP	25	+ 21.768
22	Jesse Carrasquedo	Hitech GP	25	+ 21.999
23	Mari Boya	Campos	25	+ 22.337
24	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	25	+ 24.236
25	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	25	+ 42.092
26	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	24	+ 1 Lap
RET	Brando Badoer	PREMA	17	Collision
RET	Jose Garfias	AIX Racing	2	Collision
RET	Roman Bilinski	Rodin	2	Collision
RET	Santiago Ramos	VAR	1	Suspension