Category: Formula Three

Practice-

Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov set the fastest time of Friday morning’s Free Practice session, leading the way ahead of Trident’s Rafael Camara and Noah Stromsted.

The Bulgarian’s 1:22.018 proved to be the lap to beat, leading his Championship rival by 0.158s, as Stromsted rounded out the top three, over four-tenths behind.

The session started with most of the grid biding their time in the pitlane, although DAMS Lucas Oil debutant Nikita Johnson was getting up to speed, setting an early time of 1:25.165.

However, with just over 10 minutes gone in the session, Stromsted made his way onto the track and completed a 1:24.311.

As the Danish rookie finished his first flying attempt, the majority of the grid made their way on to the circuit.
PREMA’s Noel Leon then went to P2 on 1:24.001. However, there was bad news for his teammate Brando Badoer, who wound up in the gravel at Turn 8, bringing out the Red Flags.

Action resumed with just over 18 minutes left in the session, but a Red Flag was soon signalled with Hitech TGR’s Gerrard Xie having stopped on track at Turn 3.

10 minutes remained on the clock when the green flags were waved, and there were plenty of changes on the timing screens as Tsolov’s 1:22.018 put him on top.

The Campos driver was 1.098s clear of Taponen in second when the Red Flags were back out, with AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides having found the gravel at Turn 4.

Three minutes were left on the clock when green flag running resumed and the drivers were able to improve as Camara went to P2, with Stromsted 0.483s off Tsolov, in P3.

Qualifying-

Nikola Tsolov was in supreme form on Friday afternoon in Speilberg as the Campos Racing driver took the Aramco Pole Position Award with a dominant qualifying effort.

The Bulgarian led after each lap and took P1 with a 1:20.743 ahead of AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides and Trident’s Noah Stromsted, as Championship leader Rafael Camara finished seventh.

Tsolov got off to a fine start by putting in a 1:21.598 on his first flying lap, with his Campos teammate Mari Boya in second, but over half a second behind after the first set of times.

The Bulgarian improved on his next attempt to a 1:21.282 as MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz went up to second, 0.064s behind, while Camara rounded out the top three.

Several drivers chose to push on for a third flying lap, and Alessandro Giusti was one of a few able to eke out more performance. The MP driver went up to third, just behind teammate Tramnitz, and 0.097s off top spot.

After returning to the pit lane for a second set of soft tyres, the drivers were back out on track with just over 10 minutes to go.

Camara led the pack away and went fastest on a 1:21.011, but the Brazilian was quickly beaten by Tsolov, who went top by 0.084s with a 1:20.927.

The Red Bull Junior continued on to improve and on his next attempt, completed a 1:20.743 to seal his second pole position of the season.

Benavides then went to second place on his final lap for AIX, finishing 0.176s off Tsolov’s time, with Noah Stromsted going to third for Trident.

Sprint Race-

It was a strong getaway from pole for Wharton, but it was the same for his fellow front row starter Giusti, although the ART rookie kept his rival at bay on the opening lap.

Behind them, Charlie Wurz was struggling to keep hold of P3 from Ugochukwu. But the PREMA rookie ended up losing a place at Turn 7 to his teammate Brando Badoer, dropping him to fifth.

As Lap 2 ended there was a multi-car collision in the midfield between Christian Ho, Louis Sharp and Tuukka Taponen at Turn 4, ending all three drivers’ race.
Ho brought his DAMS Lucas Oil machinery back to the pitlane, but Sharp and Taponen’s cars needed to be cleared from the track bringing out the Safety Car.

Action resumed at the start of Lap 5 of 21, and Nikola Tsolov was on the move, diving to the inside of Callum Voisin at Turn 1 to take P7, as Wharton kept the lead ahead of Giusti.

At the start of Lap 6, Badoer ran wide at Turn 1, allowing Ugochukwu to take P4.
Rafael Camara looked to have overtaken the PREMA rookie, but the Italian fought back at Turn 3 to keep fifth.

In the battle for ninth, Bruno del Pino and Brad Benavides collided at Turn 3, with both drivers forced to pit with damage, before coming back out, although the latter later retired.

Lap 9 and Camara looked to go round the outside of Badoer at Turn 4. However, a bad run on corner exit allowed Championship rival Tsolov to get past for P6 at the exit of Turn 6.

The two drivers continued to battle on the next lap, but as they went side-by-side through Turn 4 once again, Camara dipped a wheel in the gravel, dropping him down to P9.

Lap 12 of 21 kicked off with Giusti half a second behind Wharton, and the MP driver looked to make a move to the inside at the popular Turn 4 but again found no way through.

The battle for the podium places continued on the next lap as Badoer looked to dive to the inside of Ugochukwu at Turn 3. However, the PREMA driver braked too late and went into the rear of Wurz in P3, sending both into a spin.

The Safety Car was deployed moments later with Wurz’s Trident on the side of the road, while Badoer came into the pitlane to change his front wing before coming back out.

Racing resumed on Lap 18 of 21, and Wharton had another good restart, as did Giusti.
But Ugochukwu, now in third, was coming under pressure from Tsolov and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

However, the Campos pair started to battled, allowing Ugochukwu to keep the position.

As Wharton crossed the line to start Lap 20, the Australian rookie had built a lead of 1.1s to Giusti, while Ugochukwu was 2.2s behind the race leader, while fighting to keep Tsolov behind.

Onto the final lap and Giusti has closed to within DRS range of Wharton, but could not get ahead of the ART driver, who crossed the line to take his first win in FIA Formula 3,

Giusti achieved his second consecutive podium finish in second, while it was a maiden trip to the rostrum for Ugochukwu, who held off the challenge from Tsolov to finish P3.

Feature Race-

It was a great start for pole-sitter Tsolov, who kept the lead ahead of fellow front row starter Brad Benavides, with Noah Stromsted staying in third.

However, on Lap 2, Benavides locked up into Turn 3, putting Stromsted right on the back of the AIX Racing car.
The American held on, but this battle meant that Tsolov was 1.9s clear out in front.

The Trident driver eventually took second place with a move to the outside at Turn 3, and fellow rookie Ugo Ugochukwu followed him through to go to P3.

Benavides’ day got worse on Lap 4, with Rafael Camara, Callum Voisin and Brando Badoer all passing him, dropping him to P7.

Onto Lap 6, and Ugochukwu was slowly closing the gap to Tsolov out in front, although the PREMA driver was coming under pressure from Camara, who had passed teammate Stromsted into Turn 4 for P3.

The Championship’s leader fightback continued on the next lap, as he battled past Ugochukwu to get to second, with his targets set on chasing down title rival Tsolov.

Stromsted was then next to make a move on lap 9, getting past Ugochukwu into Turn 4 to take P3.
Martinius Stenshorne was making his way through the field after starting in P15 and with an overtake on Voisin, was up to fifth by the end of Lap 11.

The Rodin Motorsport driver was soon down to P10 on Lap 13 however, losing four places to Tim Tramnitz, Mari Boya, Theophile Nael and Charlie Wurz.

Back in the battle for the podium places, Stromsted was struggling to keep Ugochukwu behind, but in trying to make a move at Turn 3, the PREMA Racing rookie lost out to Stenshorne.

Tramnitz’s fight back also continued the following lap, braving it around the outside of Ugochukwu at turn 7 to take fifth place on Lap 16.

Out in front, Tsolov was 4.6s clear of Camara at the start of Lap 18, but the Brazilian was not in comfortable second place, as Stenshorne closed to within DRS range of the Trident.

The McLaren backed driver took second place on the next lap at Turn 1, while Tramnitz took advantage of Stromsted running wide at the final corner to take P4 down the main straight.

Boya kicked off Lap 21 of 26 having just set the fastest lap of the race and dived to the inside of Ugochukwu at Turn 3 to take fifth place.

Wurz was the next to get past Stromsted, going around the outside of his TRIDENT teammate at Turn 7 to take P7 on Lap 22.

The fight for the final spot on the podium then heated up on Lap 24, as Tramnitz closed to within DRS range of Camara for third. The MP driver dived to the inside of the Brazilian to take P3.

Camara’s stuggles continued a few corners later as Boya made an audacious move at Turn 9, relegating him to fifth. Ugochukwu was next to get past the Trident driver, this time at Turn 5.

But out in front, Tsolov had built a lead of over six second to Stenshorne and crossed the line to take his sixth F3 victory of the 2025 season, closing to within one point of Championship leader, Camara.

However, the FIA have found that Nikola Tsolov has been in breach of the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Technical Regulations, resulting in disqualification from the results.

So the new full top 10 are- P1: Stenshorne, P2: Tramnitz, P3: Boya, P4: Ugochukwu, P5: Camara, P6: Wurz, P7: Stromsted, P8: Voisin, P9: Benadvides and P10: Nael.

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