Brando Badoer, an 18-year-old Italian racing driver and McLaren Development Driver since late 2024, entered the 2025 FIA F3 Championship with high expectations. After finishing fifth in the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, he made the anticipated step up to FIA F3 with PREMA Racing. However, his debut season has been far from ideal.
Across the first five rounds, Badoer has yet to score a single point, leaving him 31st in the 2025 F3 Championship standings. A series of penalties, retirements, and on-track misfortunes have plagued his campaign, undermining his potential and consistency.
Round 1 in Melbourne
Badoer’s season began on a difficult note at Albert Park. During Qualifying, he caused a red flag after spinning and stopping at Turn 2, resulting in the deletion of his fastest lap time. In the Sprint Race, he could do no better than P20, and in the Feature Race, he struggled to P26 — setting a pattern of underwhelming performances.
Round 2 in Bahrain
The Bahrain round offered little improvement. Badoer qualified P16, but contact with teammate Ugo Ugochukwu in the Sprint Race left him in P22. Sunday’s Feature Race yielded only a P21 result, marking another point-less weekend.
Round 3 in Imola
Imola offered a brief glimpse of progress. Badoer secured his best qualifying result of the season with P15. He avoided incident in a safety car-heavy Sprint Race to finish P16, but dropped to P19 in the Feature Race — again falling short of the points.
Round 4 in Monaco
Monaco’s split qualifying format proved costly for Badoer. Competing in Group B, he crashed at Sainte Devote in the final minutes, triggering a red flag and ending the session in P24 — his worst qualifying position so far.
The Sprint Race, as chaotic as expected in Monte Carlo, saw Badoer avoid major incidents to finish P21. In the Feature Race, however, his run came to a premature end. On Lap 22, he was spun into the wall at Portier by Nicola Marinangeli, recording his first DNF of the season.
Round 5 in Spain
Badoer qualified only P22 in Barcelona but showed composure in the Sprint Race. Amid first-lap chaos that eliminated the top two in the championship, he finished P18. Unfortunately, the Feature Race marked another retirement. Contact with Nicola Lacorte at the race’s midpoint forced Badoer out, continuing his streak of disappointing Sundays.
A season to forget — so far
For a PREMA driver and McLaren Development Driver, Badoer’s performance has been unexpectedly underwhelming. With no points and only a handful of finishes near the top twenty, his results do not reflect the promise he showed in previous series.
That said, Badoer has proven talent and remains capable of a turnaround. With five rounds remaining, he has time to regroup, reset, and potentially salvage his rookie campaign with a few points finishes. Although the championship is now out of reach, a late-season resurgence would go a long way in restoring confidence in his F3 prospects.
All eyes will now be on Badoer to see whether he can bounce back — and prove why McLaren placed their trust in him in the first place.
