Formula 3 is about to kick off its 2025 Season this weekend in Melbourne, Australia. It’ll be the first time since 2019 that an F1 season has begun here . It will also be the first time that a Formula 3 season has started here. But as we gear up for what is set to be another incredibly exciting season, let’s remind ourselves of what happened last time out in Australia.
Australia Sprint Race
Opening Gambits
Campos Driver Mari Boya began the Sprint Race on Reverse Pole with ART’s Laurens Van Hoepen alongside him. As the lights went out, all of the cars struggled initially to get the tyres up to temperature. But this didn’t stop the trademark chaotic action of Formula 3 from immediately manifesting.
On Lap 3, Stenshorne, Mansell and Van Hoepen were all battling one another in very close quarters, particularly around T5 and T6. Stenshorne would take the lead around the outside of turn 9 not long after in what would become a signature move by a plethora of Formula 3 drivers over the course of the weekend. This battle between the three of them wasn’t always clean though. There was brief contact at T11 between each of them. But luckily, all were able to keep their cars pointing in the right direction.
Close Quarter Battles
For the next stage of the race, there was a lot of back and fourth between Stenshorne and Van Hoepen for the lead. This made for some truly excellent racing. Mansell was not involved however. Unfortunately, he’d sustained a slow puncture early on which sent him down the order as the race went on. This did open the door however for Lindblad who got involved in the action on lap 6.
The Safety Car came out on lap fourteen thanks to a collision between Inthraphuvasak and Smith. Both went into the gravel at turn 1, the latter able to get free. The former was not so fortunate. Once the racing recommenced, Dino Benganovic caught everyone’s attention with two rather ballsy overtakes around the outside at turn 9, both of which were successful and propelled him up the order.
By the end of the race, things had settled down a little at the sharp end of the field. Stenshorne took the win, his first in Formula 3, with Lindblad in second place and Van Hopen in third. With so much action taking place, you wouldn’t have believed the race was only twenty laps long!
2025 Australian Grand Prix: The F3 Hometown Hero
Australia Feature Race
Chaos at the Start!
Fornaroli began the Feature Race in pole position with Mini alongside him in second following a close qualifying session. While the opening lap of the sprint race had been clean, the same could not be said for the feature race. Inthraphuvasak crashed at turn 1 while Loake and Smith crashed out at turn eleven after both had to learn the hard way that some parts of the track are not suited for last minute lunges.
As the race went on, we were treated to some mouth watering battles. A perfect example of this came on lap 7. Mansell, Wurz, Montoya went three wide around turns 9 and eleven. Somehow, all three of them made it through unscathed – a testament to the skill of these younger drivers coming up through the ranks.
Overtakes Aplenty
There were a cacophony of swoops around the outside of turn 9 throughout the race. These were no doubt inspired by Dino Beganovic from the previous day. Impressively, car placement by each driver was just right and no massive shunts occurred as a result of this balls to the wall overtaking tactic.
Talking of Benganovic, the Swede snatched the lead from Fornaroli on lap fourteen with apparent ease. He wouldn’t relinquish it for the remainder of the race. A little further back, Mini overtook Browning for third on the penultimate lap, repaying him for getting past him in the opening stages of the race.
Beganovic went on to win the race with Fornaroli in second and Mini in third.
The 2025 Formula 3 Championship: Ones to Watch in Melbourne
With so much action from the word go across both races, we shouldn’t be surprised if Australia presents us with another blockbuster instalment of the Formula 3 Championship in 2025.
*
Formula 3 commences its 2025 Season this weekend in Melbourne, Australia.
Feature Image: Joe Portlock
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.