After a turbulent few years marked by setbacks and questions over his future in single-seater racing, Brad Benavides delivered a surprising upturn in form during Friday’s FIA Formula 3 Qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring. Returning to the series for 2025 with AIX Racing, Benavides stunned the field by placing second on the timesheets in the 2025 Spielberg F3 Round—his best Qualifying result in F3 to date and a timely boost for both his confidence and campaign.
The American driver, who replaced Nikita Bedrin and Freddie Slater in the #28 AIX Racing entry from Round 3 at Imola, had failed to score points in his opening three weekends. However, with AIX Racing making visible improvements, Benavides capitalised on a chaotic session in Austria to deliver a standout performance.
An unexpected result after setbacks in Free Practice
Speaking in the Post-Qualifying press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, Benavides openly acknowledged that his front-row start had come as a surprise—particularly given the way his weekend began. The American driver had endured a frustrating Free Practice session at the Red Bull Ring, which ended prematurely after he ran wide and beached his car in the gravel. Despite the setback, Benavides emerged as a standout in qualifying, seizing the opportunity to rewrite the narrative of his weekend.
“Obviously, being frank, it was quite unexpected, out of the blue, if I may, but, you know, happy to be here, this is a first for me,” he said. “Alternatively, from Nikola [Tsolov]’s perspective, I did not get a good Free Practice, I was in the gravel, I beached it, unfortunately, but not a lot of people got a lap in Free Practice anyway, so obviously I did not miss out on much and, yeah, happy to be able to translate that adversity we had in Free Practise with this good result and quality, it is definitely a good place to start on Sunday.”
Benavides focused on driving quality rather than disappointments
Benavides’ ability to bounce back under pressure highlighted his mental fortitude and maturity—traits he has developed during a career full of ups and downs. When asked about the psychological challenge of recovering from a mistake so soon before the 2025 Spielberg F3 Round Qualifying at the Austrian GP, Benavides reflected on his approach to pressure and expectations with calm assurance.
“We always have in the back of our mind the risk management associated with our endeavour, but, you know, I never like to drive with expectations. I just focus on the job at hand. I have faith, and I just focus to do a good job at it. Obviously, coming from the last three rounds, it is a good result versus what I had put on the board so far in Qualifying terms, so, yeah, I did not really have that kind of thought crossing my mind when I was, you know, focused on doing my driving in quality.”
Working towards consistency with AIX Racing
Having joined the grid partway through the F3 2025 season, Brad Benavides continues to adjust to his surroundings at AIX Racing. The American’s integration into the team has been a gradual process, but one that is beginning to show signs of progress. Benavides’ breakthrough F3 Qualifying performance at the 2025 Austrian GP clearly reflected the strengthening relationship between him and his team, built through persistence, collaboration, and trust.
“We keep chipping away, we have been working really hard with AIX. As you may know, I did not start the season. I came in in round three at Imola. So, we have been working very hard behind the scenes, and this is, obviously, a good testament to that work that we have put in, and our work ethic. We consider ourselves to be a family as well at AIX Racing, so in terms of what I could anticipate with race pace or competence on Sunday, it is to be seen, to be honest, but good thing is we have tomorrow to gauge that car set up in and try to go for maximum points on Sunday for sure.”
Despite acknowledging that there is still much to learn and refine, Benavides views his Spielberg qualifying result as a meaningful step forward. When asked about the implications of his performance for the remainder of the season, he remained realistic, yet hopeful.
“So what kind of things can we anticipate moving forward from here? Well, this is definitely good news in terms of the capacity that the team and I can have for Quali and results moving forward, right. So, I am looking forward to just get it started and see where we go from there. That is pretty much it.”
Lessons from a challenging career path
Benavides’ racing journey has been far from conventional. After a difficult 2022 season in F3, Benavides graduated to F2. However, his campaign with PHM Racing by Charouz quickly unravelled. A series of underwhelming performances and results led to an early exit, as the team opted to part ways four rounds before season’s end. With his stock at a low point, Benavides sought out a new opportunity in Euroformula Open—a move he admitted was not part of the original plan.
“I guess the underlying truth behind me or elephant in the room, if you will, is I am quite old already for this championship for the series and, yes, two years ago at Formula 2, you know, things did not go as hoped and so I was relegated to Euro Formula.”
Redemption through Euroformula success
Many viewed the switch to Euroformula Open as a step backwards, but Benavides approached the opportunity with determination and focus. He signed with Team Motopark and dominated the 2024 season, winning the championship and regaining valuable confidence.
I did well, I won that championship for whatever it was worth. Obviously, to me, it added on a lot of experience and good technical knowledge. Euro Formula [has] a really good car, honestly, and Formula 2, Formula 3 drivers actually tend to use this car to test themselves, you know, representative for their own car, right.”
Rejoining F3 with renewed perspective
Benavides’ title win in Euroformula gave him a second chance in FIA F3, joining AIX Racing from the third round of the 2025 season. Although his comeback has not been seamless, his recent Qualifying result at the 2025 Spielberg F3 Round was a major turning point. He acknowledged that while the path to this point had not been ideal, the progress made is meaningful.
“So that was a good result last year and somehow that was able to give me this seat in a sort of redemption comeback this year and I am really happy for it because, obviously, it is not ideal but for whatever it is worth, you know, P2 today is a good thing.”
He reflected on the pattern of moving forward only to be set back again—yet framed this arc as a necessary process of growth, one that could ultimately lead to something worthwhile.
“So, you know, the way I like to see it is my racing career has always been a little bit defined by going one step forward and then two steps back but if you visualise this sort of analogy as if it were, you know, like an arc. Technically, it is there for building up to something good ultimately right at the bullseye, per se, so that is all I can hope for. So I have a little quote actually, it is, against today’s disparity or sorrow underlies an infinitely greater hope for tomorrow, so this is a sort of what I run by.”
Adapting strategy across the Spielberg weekend
With reverse-grid regulations shaking up the starting order for Saturday’s 2025 Spielberg F3 Round Sprint Race at the Austrian GP, Brad Benavides will begin further down the field compared to his front-row start for Sunday’s Feature Race. This format forces drivers to tailor their approach across the two contests—and for Benavides, the key lies in managing risk, maximising learning, and avoiding unnecessary conflict. Benavides discussed this when responding to a question from Pit Debrief.
“Well, obviously the strategy for tomorrow is completely different, yes, contingent to the nature of the question, that is very much correct. Tomorrow, the way I approach it is simply just learn and gather as much data, info, finish the race, it will obviously be within the pack, so the DRS train is going to be definitely a key theme tomorrow.”
Benavides remained realistic about his chances on Saturday at the 2025 Spielberg F3 Round, aiming to capitalise on opportunities without compromising his car—or his chances in the Feature Race. He stressed the unpredictable nature of sprint racing at the Red Bull Ring, a circuit known for its tight midfield battles and high chance of safety car interventions.
“And yes, adding on to that, expect the unexpected, you know, you never know if there is crashes or anything, but we could expect that we are going to be within that top 12 DRS train and that is pretty much it, honestly.”
Benavides to focus on pace on Sunday
In contrast, Sunday presents a cleaner slate. Starting near the front, Benavides plans to focus on managing pace position—avoiding the wheel-to-wheel chaos typical of the Sprint format.
“But then rather Sunday is obviously a completely different scenario, and as us three, we would be obviously focused more on simply our pace and not really getting involved in much battling, because that is not going to be beneficial for none of us, so complete different scenario and nature of how Sunday compares this to Saturday for us, right?”
As the 2025 Spielberg F3 weekend unfolds, Benavides will look to balance caution with competitiveness—extracting the most from both races as he continues his road to redemption in F3
