The 2025 FIA F3 campaign proved a challenging and ultimately disappointing year for the 2024 team champions PREMA Racing. Fielding two rookies, Ugo Ugochukwu and Brando Badoer, alongside a second-year driver Noel León, the team’s season began poorly in Melbourne. However, as the season continued to unfold, they struggled to match their competitors’ pace. This year, they finished the season 7th in the Teams’ Championship, marking their lowest result in the team’s history in the series.
Reflecting on their 2025 campaign, Team Principal Rene Rosin shared a brief reflection on the team’s difficult season: “The start of 2025 was absolutely tough, already starting from the pre-season test, the result was not what we were expecting, but the team was working pretty hard in trying to turn it around.”
“I think from Imola Qualifying, it has been pretty positive. Of course, we didn’t get a good result – we had a bit too much deg in the races. But then after that we continued working and improving and from Red Bull Ring onward, we were constantly fighting for podium and top rows in Qualifying.”
Pointing to the sixth round in Austria as their major turning point, Rosin explained how the team worked hard to understand what had gone wrong earlier in the season.
“That has been the big turning point for us. There were no particular factors in the turning point. We were, of course, trying to understand if we had done mistakes on our side. But mainly, I think, it was a mix of situations.”
“When you win, it’s down to everyone, together: drivers, team, everybody. So even when you lose it’s a mix of things. So, we didn’t work perfectly over the winter test, and that compromised the first part of the season.”
Pleased with the team’s turnaround
Rosin acknowledged that a weak pre-season testing set the tone for a compromised start to their season, especially in a field as competitive as Formula 3. While their season fell short of their usual championship-contending standards, Rosin highlighted the big turnaround in performance and was proud of their improvement.
“Looking at how difficult and how high the level is in Formula 3, the pre-season test is fundamental to nail for the first rounds. Having not had a strong pre-season, that compromised our first part of season. It was not the season I was expecting, having always fought for Teams’ and Drivers’ Championships since the start of F3 in 2019.”
“But, what I was happy with was the big turnaround, because to be one of the slowest teams in the first part of the season, to becoming one of the fastest and improving in races and in quali, it has been a big turnaround.”
“We were missing a win, which was possible at a few races, but lots can happen, weather, accidents and so on, but I will not use that as an excuse. But the big turnaround that we had from the middle this season onwards has been really, really important for us.”
This year, the team worked around several problems, and one of them was weight-saving. At the start of the season, McLaren juniors Badoer and Ugochukwu ran the bright papaya-coloured liveries on their PREMA cars. However, Ugochukwu soon became the first to remove the colour, switching to an all-black livery. What initially seemed like a weight-saving move ultimately proved costly for the team, and by the end of the season both he and Badoer were running matching all-black cars — a change that coincided with a noticeable step forward in pace.
A fresh start in 2026
With the 2025 season now complete, preparations for next year are already well underway. Last month, teams and their newly confirmed lineups took part in post-season testing at Jerez, Barcelona and Imola as they started building a foundation for 2026. Next year, PREMA will field an entirely new Formula 3 lineup next year with James Wharton, Louis Sharp and Enzo Deligny set to take the wheel.
Discussing the team’s post-season performance and the new trio for 2026, Rosin said: “We have three new drivers for 2026, one that we know already and have done for quite a long time. James [Wharton] grew up with us in Formula 4 and in Formula Regional, and we are really happy that he’s back with us, I’m sure that he can do a good job.”
“The others are two new drivers for us. We did a very good job during the winter tests in Jerez, Barcelona and Imola. We were not really focusing of on lap time, but trying to get all the drivers and team integrating well with each other and trying to understand and test more things in view of next season.”
“So we were really happy about all the tests, of course. Now we need to continue working in the post-season in order to get ready and fight back to the top positions, starting from Melbourne next year.”
