Less than a month before the first race of the season, and yet, the Formula 3 grid is not complete. However, testing took place in Barcelona. Who was in good shape during these three days?
The Formula 3 pre-season test took place in Barcelona last week. Despite the grid not officially being complete, with only one seat remaining at Aix Racing, 30 drivers took part in the brand-new car. With two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, for each day, plenty of things could have been tested to prepare for the season ahead.
Discovering these new cars
It was a blue, white, and red morning on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit last Wednesday. Tuukka Taponen was the first driver to hit the 1:28 mark. He was quickly followed by his teammates James Wharton and Laurens van Hoepen. The Dutch driver moved up to P1 after an hour. This top 3 stayed the same until the last fifteen minutes, when the three Rodin drivers moved into the top three positions. In the afternoon, the Rodin drivers were hungry for more, but the freshly promoted Prema driver, Noel León, didn’t want to let them. After a bit of back and forth between multiple drivers, the Mexican driver took first place. A total of 2,054 laps were completed on the first day of running with the new 2025 car.
Tsolov on top
It was a strong and dominating second day for Campos and Nikola Tsolov. The Bulgarian, who is competing for a third season, was first in both sessions. The teams placed their early focus on performance runs in the morning, resulting in Tuukka Taponen being first once more. With less than 40 minutes remaining, a red flag appeared as Nicola Lacorte stopped on track at the exit of Turn 8. The time of 1:26.618 set by Tsolov was not topped, so he kept the lead. Once again in the afternoon, the new Red Bull junior driver was the fastest. The other positions changed until Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Tim Tramnitz completed the podium with 30 minutes remaining. The timesheets didn’t change for the rest of the session.
A Red Flag Festival
It was in the rain that the last day of testing started. With wet Pirelli tyres fitted for everyone, Martinius Stenshorne was the quickest in the very early stages, setting a time of 1:45.844. Only fifteen minutes into the session, the first red flag was waved. Ivan Domingues spun into the gravel at Turn 5 and couldn’t get out. Shortly after the session resumed, boom, the second red flag. This time, it was Bruno del Pino in the gravel at the same corner, while further around the lap, Charlie Wurz had stopped at Turn 9. After a short break and a couple of laps, with Nikola Tsolov continuing to show his great form, Louis Sharp, who had just set the second-best time, stopped at Turn 4. It was green and red again after that, when Matías Zagazeta spun into the wall out of Turn 9. Finally, the fifth and last red flag of the session appeared when Domingues stopped at Turn 10 and required help to escape the gravel trap. All of these events didn’t prevent Rafael Câmara from topping the chart with a 1:42.570 time.
The afternoon session was just as hectic, with four red flags. Théophile Nael was the first one to cause a red flag, coming to a halt on the main straight by the pit exit. The second one was caused mid-session by DAMS driver Christian Ho and Rodin’s Louis Sharp in the gravel at Turn 5, both having run off the road separately. Nicola Lacorte put himself in the gravel at Turn 5, and finally, Noel León ran off the road at Turn 5. Despite this on-and-off session, Callum Voisin still managed to set a good time of 1:39.031 and took the top spot. Tim Tramnitz and Rafael Câmara completed the final podium of this pre-season test.
The first round of the 2025 Formula 3 season will take place at the Albert Park Circuit in Australia, from March 14-16.