Noah Strømsted has had a strong start to his maiden F3 season and will surely hope to continue this for the Imola GP. Currently third in the championship, the Danish driver shared his thoughts at a press conference attended by Pit Debrief on the upcoming rounds.
A strong start to his first F3 season
Although this is only Strømsted’s first full season racing in F3, he has had an impressive start. Currently P3 in this early stage in the championship, he shared his thoughts.
He impressed from the very start of the season. He showed his strong pace at the season’s opening round in Australia where he and his teammate completed a front-row lockout.
Although pleased with the result at the season’s first round in Australia, he felt let down by his qualifying performance more recently in Bahrain.
“I think we started out very strong in Australia with the P2. It was very good. In Bahrain, I struggled a bit more especially in the quali.
Doing a few mistakes in the last push lap, which cost me quite a lot. But then in the races, the pace was quite good. It was because of my mistake in the qualifying that I struggled in Bahrain.”
If similarly qualifying does not go as planned for the Imola GP round, Strømsted was asked by Pit Debrief what his plan for the race would be.
“Australia and Bahrain are places where it’s quite easy to overtake with long DRS zones. Imola can be a bit more difficult, but you still have the opportunity to overtake and move forward if you have good pace. But I’ll try to focus on having a good quali.”
When asked about his chances of winning the championship at the end of the year, Strømsted answered conservatively due to his Trident teammate Rafael Câmara’s current lead.
The gap from Câmara to Tim Tramnitz in P2 is already 26 points after the first two rounds. Despite this, Strømsted is looking to be consistent to catch up to the championship leader.
“I think Rafa has quite a bit of a gap now to P2 and the rest, but it’s still very early. We’ve only done two rounds and with the triple header coming up, a lot of things can change. It’s important to keep scoring points and keep having good weekends, and the championship is still very long.”
A new team and new sponsor
Formula 3 is about to embark on its European leg of the season, starting this weekend with the Imola GP. Ahead of the triple header, Strømsted shared his excitement for this part of the season.
“I think it’s a very important part of the season now with the triple header coming up. Important to keep scoring points and still improving. I think that preparation we’ve done has been quite good. We’ve done a lot of simulator and we’ve just been trying to improve.”
Although his 2024 F3 debut was with Campos Racing, Strømsted is now racing for Trident. He shared his feelings about working with his new team.
“It’s been great working with Trident. It’s a very good team. Very good people. The engineers have been amazing to work with over the winter, to give us the car that we’ve had for the start of the season. The mechanics, everyone in the team is working very well. It’s a very nice place to be.”
Earlier this year, the Danish driver was announced as a member of the Mercedes Junior Programme. Now backed by such a prestigious team, Strømsted revealed the timeline of how the deal came to be.
“I think I started the talks with Mercedes half a year before we signed the deal and I have a manager who’s doing everything for me. That’s how it happened.”
Adapting to Formula 3
Another challenge for Strømsted and the other drivers has been the new F3 car. For the 2025 season, Formula 3 introduced a new spec of car aiming to be a step closer to F1 and F2 cars.
Although this is Strømsted’s first full season in F3, he has had experience driving the previous spec. He completed some F3 testing in the old spec and in 2024, he competed in the F3 Monza GP Round for Campos Racing.
He shared his thoughts on the differences between the 2025 car and its previous version.
“I think compared to the test we also did in the old car, this one feels a bit heavier and I think that’s also the main reason as to why we’re slower this year compared to the old car, especially going out of the corners, the weight, the acceleration, you feel quite a lot.
The downforce this year feels quite nice. It’s a bit more than last year. In general, it’s just the weight that makes this car slower, I think.”
A new spec of car is not the only thing that F3 drivers have to adapt to. As F3 joins some rounds of the Formula 1 calendar, this can affect the feeder series races.
Ahead of the Imola GP Round, Strømsted and his fellow drivers were asked whether they think driving on the same surface, particularly on the rubber, from the softer F1 tyres will affect their own races.
Strømsted shared his view that the other series would not affect the tyre management for the F3 drivers.
“I don’t think it will be a big change. Normally, I don’t think it is, but if anything, it should be a bit more grip, but nothing that changes a lot for us in tyre degradation or anything.”
