Formula 3 has crowned its first race winner at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix. Ramos won the race in style, cementing his place as a challenger for 2025.
Our front two are Santiago Ramos and Matías Zagazeta. Can Ramos provide VAR with a win in their 50th season? Or will Zagazeta get DAMS Lucas Oil with a win in their very first race in Formula 3?
Lights out!
Zagazeta has a better start, but Ramos manages to keep the lead for the first lap. He pulls out a major gap as the chaos unfolds behind him. A lap that saw drivers hustling for positions saw us have the exact same top 3 from our start.
However, not all drivers were lucky enough to keep their positions; Charlie Wurz had an unwelcome collision with Tim Tramnitz. Ultimately forcing the Trident to retire from the race. Bringing out the first virtual safety car of the day.
Elsewhere during Lap 1, Louis Sharp and Josh Dufek have a collision. The Kiwi driver was spun around by the Dufek. Both managed to continue for the rest of the race. However, Dufek required a front-wing change and was noted by the stewards.
More Chaos
The track goes green three laps into the race, however, in true F3 fashion it doesn’t stay green for very long.
A collision between ART drivers Van Hoepen and Wharton and our pole sitter tomorrow, Câmara, brought out the safety car on lap 5.
Van Hoepen and Câmara were out of the race in the gravel trap near turn 11. With Wharton making it back to the pits without a front wing. Unfortunately for the hometown hero, he will take no part in the rest of this race.
Wharton ultimately missed his braking point and sent himself into Câmara, who then, in turn, went into the ART teammate of Van Hoepen. Ending all three drivers races quite early.
Whilst behind the safety car, Joshua Dufek is awarded a 10-second time penalty for causing an earlier collision with Louis Sharp. The driver is currently sitting 26th, and last.
The safety Car has not stopped the chaos of Formula 3, with Tim Tramnitz having a spin behind the safety car. The Red Bull driver had to drive through the pit lane to rejoin the pack. However, there were reliability issues with his car, ultimately forcing the Red Bull Academy driver to retire.
The safety car comes in after lap 8. Giving drivers 12 laps of racing in the series opener.
Green Flag racing
Ramos manages to keep his lead ahead of Stenshore and Bilinski. Zagazeta lost places, dropping down to P4.
Bruno Del Pino and Nicola Lacorte have made their way up top P17 and P18 from starting dead last on the grid. It has been a successful weekend of damage control for the pair
Ramos, who had an over 1-second lead, was under pressure from Stenshore. Dropping his lead down to 0.251s. With the McLaren junior now in DRS, it is a matter of which driver keeps their composure for the longest.
Inthraphuvasak’s engineer tells him, “Be clever, keep it cool. Something is going to happen out front.” The Thai driver is currently sitting in 5th place, and with a tight battle out front, all he has to do is keep his composure.
Stenshore is managing to put greater pressure on the VAR driver out front. However, with these two consistently battling, it has brought rookie Roman Bilinski into contention for a podium.
James Wharton, although out of the session, is awarded a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. This will have to be served tomorrow.
Inthraphuvasak has managed to make a move on Zagazeta, ultimately moving up to P4. However, the battle between the pair let the front three create an over three-second gap.
Final laps
Noah Strømsted, unfortunately, picks up front wing damage on lap 16. However, they can continue racing after a rear-wing change. The Mercedes driver has had an unfortunate run today, however, starting the feature race from second on the grid tomorrow.
Safety Car is brought out once more for a collision between Del Pinto and Javier Sagrera on lap 16 of the race. The drivers had a collision on the straight before turn 6. Unfortunately, both drivers are out of the race with major damage to both cars.
The race will end behind the safety car, making F3’s first podium in 2025, Santiago Ramos, Martinius Stenshorne and Roman Bilinski.
Formula 3 continues tomorrow during the Feature Race for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
Feature Image credit Van Amersfoort Racing via X