Round 3 of the 2025 FIA F3 season is set to resume with a triple-header over the next three weekends. This weekend’s round in Imola will mark Brad Benavides‘ debut with AIX Racing, as he joins teammates Javier Sagrera and Nicola Marinangeli. He is expected to continue with the team in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. This weekend’s F3 Imola GP Practice session will be crucial for the drivers as they prepare for both the Sprint Race and the Feature Race.
The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit measures 4.909 kilometres in length and offers one DRS zone for the F3 drivers in Imola. As the first European circuit of the year, this familiar track is expected to help some drivers secure highly sought-after points in their campaigns for the season.
Will Trident be the favourites once more?
Trident’s rookie, Rafael Câmara, has already won the two previous feature races this season and currently leads the Drivers’ Championship. Trident also won the last two Feature Races held at this venue. To challenge him, MP Motorsport and Campos Racing — who sit second and third in the standings — return to a track where they enjoyed good results last year.
The lights turned green to mark the start of the F3 Imola GP Practice session
The start of the session was under virtual safety car to introduce the drivers to the conditions on the track, as there were areas that were still damp at the start of the session. Many of the drivers were familiar with this circuit as they have previously raced here in Formula 4 and other series, compared to Melbourne where it was a rainy and new circuit for most.
The most difficult challenge for the drivers this weekend is the 33-metre elevation change throughout the circuit. For the drivers that had raced here before it will only take them a few laps to get familiar with, but for the newer drivers it took a bit longer for them to grasp the conditions.
30 minutes left of the Practice Session
With 30 minutes left of the Free Practice session, only 8 cars had put together full laps, with Ivan Domingues (Van Amersfoort Racing) leading the times with a 1:35:564, Nicola Lacorte (DAMS Lucas Oil) 0.1 seconds behind him Matías Zagazeta (DAMS Lucas Oil) and 0.1 seconds to follow. Cars were quick to hit the track after this, with 29 out of 30 cars out on track.
James Wharton had a rough practice session as he was unable to put a lap in, with his team working on the car in the pit lane during the session. This wasn’t the start the ART Grand Prix driver was looking for, as he hasn’t had much success yet in the season and would have been hoping for a change of luck in Imola.
Callum Voisin headed out for a practice lap. However, he took out a bollard in his lap, affecting the rest of the session as the drivers use the bollards to see where to line up their cars into the chicane.
The championship leader Câmara set his first flying lap with a time of 1:33:433, 0.2 seconds ahead of Alessandro Giusti (MP Motorsport) in P2. He set out on another flying lap and improved his time by 0.1 of a second.
All cars returned to the pitlane before heading out for the last 10 minutes of practice
Câmara and Giusti both improved on their previous lap times, with Câmara with a 1.33.091 and Giusti with 1.33.165. Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) had his practice lap impeded by a VAR Amersfoort Racing and Campos Racing car ahead of him, blocking his path.
Red Flag to conclude the F3 Imola Practice session
Ugo Ugochukwu (PREMA Racing) crashed with only 2 minutes left of the session, going too wide into the corner and losing control into the gravel, with the car spinning and tapping the barrier. It looked as though the car has no damage, which will be good news heading into qualifying this afternoon.
The midfield of the drivers, from 9th to 17th, were only separated by less than a second, which will make for a very close qualifying session this afternoon. To finish the session, Câmara set the fastest lap, with Giusti in P2 and Tramnitz in P3.
Full results from F3 Imola Free Practice Round
- R. Câmara
- A. Giusti
- T. Tranmitz
- C. Voisin
- M. Moya
- R. Bilinski
- N. Leon
- J. Hedley
- B. Del Pino
- C. Wurz
- N. Stromsted
- N. Tsolov
- B. Badoer
- T. Nael
- T. Inthraphuvasak
- M. Stenshorne
- L. Sharp
- U. Ugochukwu
- L. Van Hoepen
- S. Ramos
- T. Taponen
- I. Domingues
- N. Larcrote
- G. Xie
- B. Benavides
- N. Marinangeli
- C. Ho
- M. Zagazeta
- J. Dufek
- J. Wharton
