James Wharton’s first season in the FIA Formula 3 Championship has presented unexpected challenges, but the Australian remains resolute. After a difficult start to the 2025 F3 season, ART Grand Prix’s Wharton aims to build on his recent momentum and deliver consistent results in the remaining rounds of the campaign.
A breakthrough in Barcelona
Wharton endured a point-less run across the opening four rounds of the season. However, his fortunes began to shift in Barcelona, where he secured eighth place in the Sprint Race, earning his first three points of the year. Though modest, the result has lifted his confidence.
“Overall, it has been quite a tough start to the year for me,” Wharton reflected. “We did a lot of pre-season testing, a lot of testing in the old car and it felt super comfortable. But going into the new car, it has been a little bit more challenging, but we’ve been going step-by-step each weekend. I’m still quite comfortable knowing that I will make a step sometime this year and there will be results coming.”
He added: “I am still definitely in the mindset that I will have a good end to the year and a good next few rounds, and I’m still quite optimistic we will do a good job.”
Adjusting to life at ART Grand Prix
After spending his entire single-seater career with PREMA Racing, Wharton made the switch to ART Grand Prix for 2025. It marked a major transition, not only in working environment but in engineering relationships and team culture.
“It is probably the hardest thing of 2025, changing teams,” he admitted. “I had the same engineer for three years at PREMA. I feel like I am the only driver in junior formulas to have had the same engineer over three seasons and that was something I knew was going to be a challenge. But I feel like I have done a very good job with my engineer at ART, and we have worked really well together to improve the relationship, and to get better and better every week.”
“At the same time, it is very difficult to go from a team where you have grown up since you were 13 years old until you were 17. It is something that needed to happen, because maybe I was a bit too comfortable at PREMA. When it is more like a family and you have been there for so long, you can get comfortable. Moving to a new team, I had to reset. I had to meet new people and learn how to work with new people. I think it is one of the biggest things in motorsport, adapting to different people.”
Despite the rocky start, Wharton has felt supported at ART. He praised the team for maintaining belief in him and for avoiding any blame culture. He particularly acknowledged Team Principal Sébastien Philippe for placing trust in his abilities and offering him the opportunity to race in F3.
Competing against familiar faces
Wharton has raced against many of his current F3 rivals since childhood, forming lasting friendships with the likes of Ugo Ugochukwu, Arvid Lindblad, Tuukka Taponen, and Rafael Câmara. Câmara, in particular, has emerged as a benchmark—having succeeded where Wharton has yet to deliver this year.
“Rafael Câmara is doing well, and he has been my teammate a couple of times,” said Wharton. “He beat me the first time by quite a bit, but the second year I was right behind him.”
“The last six months of last year, I did a better job and I had more points in the second half of the season. It is very frustrating for me, especially with the year I have had so far, to see them at the front. But then again, it gives me confidence that if I do my job and I have that one thing that needs to click, I am sure I will get the results and I will be at the front straight away.”
“It works in different ways, on the one hand it is frustration. But also, I know I can get there, and it will not be long until I get there and I am racing them for the wins.”
Friendship and rivalry in the junior categories
Having moved to Europe at the age of ten, Wharton has grown up alongside many of the drivers now competing against him. The camaraderie he shares with them adds a unique dynamic to the fierce competition.
“It is kind of crazy, because at the end of the day, my best mates are the people I race against,” he said. “Ugo Ugochukwu, Arvid Lindblad, Tuukka, and Rafa, I ended up living with for how many years. So, to race against people that you have lived with, that are your best friends, it is also something you have to try and control. One year one of us beat the other, and once every year, I feel like a new person beats the others.”
“It is super cool because it makes you realise how far we have come, especially when you look back at photos from when we were younger. I am just super grateful for the people I have met as well. I enjoy coming to the track, even outside of the racing, because at the end of the day, you see your best friends here.”
Racing without academy support
Unlike several of his peers, Wharton is no longer affiliated with a Formula 1 junior programme. He parted ways with the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of 2023, and has since been competing as an independent.
“There is a bit more freedom,” he remarked. “But there are pros and cons with everything, that is why there are decisions all the time. For me the weirdest thing was having no one pushing you. When you are there, someone is behind you, telling you to do things and telling you to work harder. But when you are without an academy, it is more like your own determination will get you your own results.”
Despite the challenges of going it alone, Wharton feels in a good place mentally and physically.
“I feel really good at the moment and off track, this is the best I have ever been.”
Lessons from a high-pressure 2024
Wharton’s runner-up finish in the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine was a breakthrough. Competing without Ferrari’s support, he recorded ten podiums and four wins in a season that demanded self-motivation.
“It is a different kind of pressure you have being away from them, it is up to you now,” he said. “Having an F1 team behind you can make your life a bit easier. It takes a bit of pressure from your results, because you have an academy behind you. If you have a bad weekend, you can go again the next weekend and show them you are still doing well. But when you are alone, you have to take it week by week. You do the best job possible and hope to get them to see you again. So last year was super important to get results and I did.”
Focus shifts to strong finish
Although ART Grand Prix’s Wharton currently sits 25th in the 2025 F3 Drivers’ Standings, he remains focused on maximising performance rather than chasing points. With five rounds to go, he believes there is still time to make an impact.
“For me, I have won Championships, and I have been fighting for Championships for so many years,” he said. “This is the first year it has not happened, but at the end of the day, I know results bring points and, in this sport, three results can change your career if you do a good job.”
“I am not really focused on the Championship. At the end of the day, top five is still possible, so is top three. I am still just focused on doing that special thing to get people to see who I am and what I can do. I am also focused on getting good results and showing people the little bit that I can. Hopefully over the next few weekends I can show to people what I can do.”
