Charlie Wurz finally broke his podium duck in F3, claiming third place in a thrilling Sprint Race at the Belgian GP. The Austrian driver held off a charging Nikola Tsolov in the closing stages to secure his first podium finish of the 2025 campaign.
A long-awaited breakthrough for Wurz in F3
Speaking to the media, including Pit Debrief, after the F3 Belgian GP Sprint Race, Wurz was candid about his performance whilst expressing his delight at finally reaching the podium. “I mean finally to get a podium is nice, I think to be honest it wasn’t my best race,” he admitted.
“I didn’t manage the tyres great because we were expecting, it’s been quite common to have a safety car in Spa, so I pushed maybe a bit more than I would like and then struggled with quite a lot of draining,” he explained.
“But other than that to be still rewarded with a podium is good, and I think finally to get the ball rolling a bit late in the championship, but hopefully, we can keep this momentum.”
Pressure in the closing stages
The final laps proved particularly nerve-wracking for Wurz, as Tsolov mounted a fierce challenge for the final podium position. The tension was palpable as his team urged him over the radio to maintain his third-place position.
“I think when I overtook Freddie [Slater] I had the opportunity to try and get into the DRS I made a small mistake which cost me those few tenths that I just needed, so that’s a bit frustrating from my side to make a mistake like that,” Wurz reflected on a crucial moment that could have cost him dearly.
“But other than that, Nikola was coming very fast at the end, but I knew I just had to keep to the maximum I could with the tyres I had at that point and that’s what I did, and I kept the position.”
Special significance at Spa
Achieving his first podium at Spa-Francorchamps added extra significance to Wurz’s breakthrough moment. “It’s a really cool track to drive at, so the racing was fun, a bit of flip stream games is always fun and you have to be smart as well so that’s cool,” Wurz said of the experience.
“Obviously would have liked also to have it earlier in the season, but you don’t get everything in life so I’m happy with that and happy to do it in a place like this.”
Building momentum after difficult season
The podium result comes as welcome relief for Wurz, who has endured a frustrating campaign despite showing promising pace throughout the year. The Austrian has begun to find consistency in recent rounds, scoring points in three of his last four races.
“In general this year we’ve been quite unlucky. I think we’ve had really good pace pretty much every round or the potential to do well every round, but it hasn’t really gone our way,” he explained. “The last rounds we’ve managed to do a bit better but still some things to improve, and I think finally to get a podium gives us a few more points than we’ve had this year so that’s positive.”
With the main Feature Race at Spa still to come, starting from ninth position, Wurz is optimistic about capitalising on what he expects to be a chaotic affair. “Tomorrow is going to be a bit chaos so let’s hope to capitalise on that,” he said, clearly hoping to build on this breakthrough result.
