James Wharton took his maiden F3 win at the 2025 Austrian GP, during the Sprint Race. In the post Sprint Race Press Conference attended by Pit Debrief, Wharton reflected on his performance leading him to this moment.
Maiden win in F3
Like every driver on the road to Formula 1, winning at any level, especially F3 is a dream they hope to see come true. James Wharton is not excluded from this. The Australian had hoped and believed that he would see a win in his debut F3 season, and Austria proved that possible.
Wharton held the confidence ahead of his debut season, that potentially he would see a win early on. Thanks to his team, ART Grand Prix, and the hard work they have put in since the triple header, it happened.
“It feels incredible, something that I’ve been dreaming of for quite a while. Went into the season thinking this could happen a bit earlier to be honest, maybe a bit too confident, but I got a good couple of races last couple of weekends and to finally top off what I really wanted coming into the season, showing the pace I have as well as showing the race craft I have, which I think I showed in the Sprint Race.
“I can’t thank the team enough for the work we’ve been doing over the last couple of months. The triple header really put us on the right foot and it was actually good to have a break after triple header to be able to come back stronger and I think we’re making the right steps and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year now.”
Pressure in the Sprint Race
Having raced Alessandro Giusti in FRECA last year, Wharton has come to understand his strengths and weaknesses, enough to keep the Frenchman behind him. The performance of his car has slowly improved across the first half of this season, assisting him to hang on to P1.
On multiple occasion throughout the Sprint Race, it seemed as though Giusti was certain to get past Wharton. Keeping his car positioned correctly, and mastering Safety Car restarts, Wharton stopped this from happening.
“Yeah, Alessandro is very good on this track as we discovered last year in FRECA. I had one too last year, so I’ve known P2 and P3 for a very long time, so it’s good to be able to race people you know and understand where their strengths are, but I’m just super happy that the car was fast enough to keep him behind.
“A couple laps there, it looked like I was going to get overtaken, but with the car in the right position and at the end of the day, I think I was saving tyres quite well at the start to be able to push after the last [Safety Car], so it’s quite easy.”
Finding his feet in F3
After scoring his first points of the season at the last round in Barcelona, Wharton has begun to find his feet in F3. His Sprint Race win in Austria further boosted his confidence.
ART Grand Prix and himself began to hold hopes of a win in the second half of the season, not expecting it so soon. This marks both Wharton and the team’s first win for the season. They look ahead to the Feature Race, in hopes of taking home some big points again.
“I feel like the win is always a huge jumpstart as well. If you’ve had a tough start to the year, one win can change everything.
“Points in Barcelona were something that we were really happy with and something that gave us a kickstart for the second half of the season, but as we know, a win is something that you don’t get very often, so getting that, the team now have a win for the season as well, so the team is going to be super happy.
“We get to celebrate a little bit tonight, but again, we have a Feature Race tomorrow, but the main thing is we’re in the right spot now. We’re making good steps and can’t wait.”
Past FRECA experience with Giusti
After his FRECA season alongside Giusti last year, Wharton has learnt Giusti’s driving style, but also that he is a clean racer. This made keeping Giusti behind him comfortable and tactical. The respect the Australian and French drivers hold for each other is high, which makes racing each other more enjoyable.
The F3 Sprint Race in Austria was host to vastly different conditions than the 2024 FRECA round in Austria. Despite this, Wharton was able to bring his tyre degradation knowledge into today’s race, successfully saving his tyres.
“Yeah, as you said, it’s probably 12 months to the day nearly that we were doing it in Freca. So yeah, I feel like it helps knowing, as I said, the guy beside you and the driver that you have behind you. It makes you feel a lot more comfortable if you’ve raced some clean, especially Alessandro is one of the cleanest drivers out there, and you have to respect someone like that.
“We have a good amount of respect for each other. So yeah, at the end of the day, when you know the person, it’s much easier. And yeah, I bring in a lot of, let’s say, of the tire deg that we had on the wets here last year. So I tried to implement that into today’s race.”
A new Australian added to the list of F3 Race Winners
The list of Australians who have one F3 races is quite exclusive with only a couple to do so until Wharton. This has helped Wharton to feel as though he’s proving his place in the F3 Championship, and given his a confidence boost for the season.
In response to a question asked by Pit Debrief, Wharton mentioned his idolisation of current Formula 1 Championship leader, and fellow Australian, Oscar Piastri. Each race brings him more confidence, and he is simply proud to carry the Australian flag.
Hearing the Australian anthem while standing on the top step of the podium gave Wharton a strong sense of pride.
“Yeah, as you said, there’s a lot of Australians now, especially the one in F1 who’s leading the championship at the moment. So quite a good idol to have for me. Definitely one of my idols since we came from the same city in Australia.
So having that support, knowing what we’re doing is working is quite confident. It gives me a lot of confidence going into every race, but at the same time, I’m just proud of myself to put the Australian flag back on top step in a Formula 1 weekend. I think that’s the main thing as an Australian is hearing that national anthem, but at the same time, this race is just confidence boost for me.
Once again, just proving to myself that I’m meant to be here and that I have the talent to be here. So for me, it’s just a massive confidence boost going into the rest of the season.”
Struggles faced and overcome
The new generation of F3 car brought in this season has shaken up the season for sure. This eliminated and disrupted all expectations that Wharton held for this season. Even with this change, Wharton believes that some teams have had it easier than others, being fast instantly.
ART Grand Prix has had to work quite had to achieve the few results they have so far. Each weekend the pace and performance improves, without steps back. Regardless of how difficult it’s been, it has also been rewarding.
“I think going for a new type of car this season, a new generation of car, has definitely, let’s say, mixed up the good a little bit. For sure, it’s different to what I was expecting going into the season, but I feel some teams have got it quite easy. They put the car down in Barcelona pre-season test and were fast.
“But we’ve had to work quite hard and I’m just super happy with the work we’re doing. Every weekend we’re getting better and we haven’t taken a step back yet. It’s mainly just down to the new generation of car, but at the same time, it’s the same for everyone and everyone has to do their job with that car.
“At the end of the day, it’s been a bit more difficult than we were expecting, but as you can see, it’s getting better.”
Confidence boost from a maiden win
Large amounts of hard work and dedication has paid off for Wharton, spending days on end in the simulator. His teammate Tuukka Taponen has had a great start to the season, sitting in sixth in the standings. This has developed stellar data for the Australian to work with.
The main goal for Wharton in F3 is to show confidence, and winning not only does that, but proves his talent. He holds the belief that hard work always pays off, and this is proof that his hard work is paying off.
“Yeah, I don’t think it comes up to just mystery. We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes, and if you do the work, nine times out of ten it’s going to pay off, and I feel like that’s the biggest thing. I had the confidence going into the weekend because I know the work we’re doing behind the scenes.
He continued on to explain, “I spent, let’s say, nearly six days in a row on the sim in ART trying to prepare for these next couple of races. I spent a lot of time with the team just focussing on what we can do better, what I can do better on driving as well. Tuk has been super quick this season, so it’s been super good data for me to be able to move forward in my talent as well.
“At the end of the day, a win always proves to yourself that you can do it. That’s the biggest thing in this sport, just having confidence. For me, I knew the work I’ve been doing was going to pay off at some point, and finally it has.”
Improvements made and to be made
Unfortunately for Wharton, the most important part of racing is coincidentally the component he is struggling with most – qualifying. Single lap pace is something Wharton and ART Grand Prix have been, and continue to work on.
Once his qualifying pace is mastered, Wharton is confident his wins will become regular. When starting from the front, he is able to hold position and perform well, although starting mid-field, the win becomes unachievable.
He believes that this aspect as well as others, are all being worked on vigorously, and are sure to improve step by step.
“Yeah, I think the biggest thing, as we all say in racing is qualifying, that’s been the weakest point of the year so far, and that’s something that I’ve had to focus on as well. Made little mistakes, let’s say in Barcelona, where we had the pace to be at the front, so it’s just a mix of a lot of things, but it’s mainly just qualifying, getting the car in the window for that one-lap speed, which is, at the end of the day, most important in our sport. Starting P10, P11 is impossible to win a race.
“As you saw today, when I’m off the front, I feel I can show everyone here what I can do from the front and how I can lead races, so the biggest thing from the team and me is just improving the car on the one-lap pace, and I feel we’re doing a really good job on this, but at the same time, we’re improving the race pace step by step.”
The Red Bull Ring works well with Wharton
The F3 weekend in Austria has proved that Wharton works best with high speed circuits, just like the Red Bull Ring. This is something Wharton has identified early on in other series’. Despite this, he puts down his success at the Red Bull Ring to a combination of things, including his ability to manage tyre degradation.
At the middle point in every year or season, Wharton notices his performance start to shape up and improve. This F3 season was no different. Scoring points in Barcelona, the final race of the first half of the season, as well as taking a win in Austria has proved this.
“Yeah, good question, because to be honest I forgot about F4. I was here like four or five years ago in Formula 4, so I forgot about that race, but again that was in the wet. I was in tyre deg, so I feel this track is quite a lot of high speed, and let’s say it’s my strongest point normally is high speed corners, and I feel this track is allowing me to show that with more than half the track being fast corners, so I feel it’s a bit of a combination of everything.
“It seems to be the middle part of every year and the middle of every season, so I feel like it’s a bit of everything, but at the same time the high speed corners I feel is the biggest thing for me.”
