The 2025 F3 season did not unfold as ART Grand Prix had hoped following the success of their 2024 campaign. Instead of building on the momentum of the previous year, the French outfit faced a season marked by inconsistency, setbacks and unfulfilled expectations.
Falling short of expectations
In 2024, ART Grand Prix finished third in the Teams’ Championship, securing three victories and eleven podium finishes across their three-driver line-up. Those results set high expectations heading into the 2025 season. However, the team was unable to replicate that level of success.
ART Grand Prix concluded the 2025 F3 season with just one Sprint Race win and five additional podium finishes. The team finished fourth in the Teams’ Standings on 152 points — 93 fewer than the previous season. While a top-five championship finish remains a respectable achievement, the drop in points underlined a campaign that fell short of the team’s potential.
Rough start to the season
ART Grand Prix entered the 2025 season aiming to be competitive from the outset, but the opening round in Australia proved to be a difficult weekend. The team left Melbourne without scoring a single point.
Problems emerged early, with all three drivers struggling in Qualifying. Laurens van Hoepen was the highest-placed ART driver in P17, while James Wharton and Tuukka Taponen qualified P22 and P25 respectively. The lack of qualifying performance set the tone for a challenging weekend.
Misfortune continued in the Sprint Race. Van Hoepen recorded his first and only DNF of the season after making contact with team-mate Wharton, while Wharton’s race also ended prematurely following a collision with Rafael Câmara on lap three.
Despite the difficulties, the weekend offered glimpses of promise. Starting from P24, Taponen produced an impressive recovery drive to finish P14 in the Sprint and P20 in the Feature Race. Van Hoepen climbed to P12 in the Feature, while Wharton finished P21 after starting from P26 due to a grid penalty.
Underwhelming season for Wharton
ART Grand Prix’s only victory of the 2025 season came courtesy of James Wharton in the Sprint Race at the Austrian GP. After qualifying P12, the Australian started from reverse-grid pole and made a strong getaway from the lights. Confident defensive driving and a well-timed Safety Car restart allowed Wharton to secure his maiden Formula 3 win.
That victory proved to be the highlight of Wharton’s first full F3 season. Overall, his campaign was marked by inconsistency, with qualifying pace emerging as a major weakness. Wharton qualified inside the top 20 only twice throughout the season, in Spain and Austria, which severely limited his opportunities to score points. Nevertheless, his resilience and racecraft were evident, particularly in recovery drives such as his P13 finish in the Feature Race at Imola after qualifying P20.
Wharton concluded the season 18th in the Drivers’ Championship with 18 points.
A tough season for van Hoepen
The 2025 F3 season marked Laurens van Hoepen‘s second and final year with ART Grand Prix before his move to Formula 2. It proved to be a challenging campaign, as the Dutch driver struggled to adapt to the new car specification in the early rounds.
Momentum began to build in Imola, where van Hoepen scored his first points of the season. He followed this up with a breakthrough podium in Monaco, finishing third in the Sprint Race. From that point onwards, van Hoepen delivered a series of consistent performances, finishing inside the top ten at every round until Spielberg.
He secured his second podium of the season at the Monza finale, once again in the Sprint Race. Van Hoepen ended the year 12th in the Drivers’ Standings with 60 points. While results fluctuated, the season provided valuable experience that he will carry into his next chapter with Trident in Formula 2.
Promising season for Taponen
After a subdued debut weekend in Melbourne, Tuukka Taponen‘s season quickly gained momentum in Bahrain. The Finnish rookie qualified an impressive sixth and went on to secure his maiden F3 podium with a third-place finish in the Sprint Race. He narrowly missed out on another podium in the Feature Race, finishing fourth.
Taponen continued his strong form with a second Sprint Race podium in Monaco and later claimed his first Feature Race podium in Hungary. He ended the season ninth in the Drivers’ Standings with 67 points, making him ART Grand Prix’s highest points scorer in 2025.
However, the season was not without challenges. Taponen endured a four-round spell without scoring points, highlighting the inconsistency that affected much of the team’s campaign. He will look to use the off-season to refine his skills ahead of his second F3 season, which he will contest with MP Motorsport.
Lessons for 2026
The 2025 F3 season served as a valuable learning experience for ART Grand Prix. Inconsistent qualifying performance was a common weakness across all three drivers, and improving execution in this area will be a key focus moving forward.
Despite finishing fourth in the Teams’ Standings, the team endured two point-less weekends in Australia and Belgium, reinforcing the sense of missed opportunity across the season.
ART Grand Prix will aim to return stronger in 2026 as they reset with a new driver line-up. The French outfit has confirmed rookie trio Taito Kato, Maciej Gladysz and Kanato Le for the upcoming Formula 3 season, with the objective of maximising the team’s potential and returning to consistent contention at the front.
