James Wharton has returned to the top ten of the Qualifying charts in the F3 Hungarian GP Qualifying session. Setting the 10th fastest time, the Australian will be off from P3 in the Sprint Race. This is due to the reverse grid format.
Speaking post-session, Wharton praised a strong session, emphasising the strength of his team, ART Grand Prix. Despite the on track congestion, and few incidents of slow cars, Wharton found the clean air. This allowed him to pull together a quicker lap, on his final attempt. He claims: “For me overall, the session wasn’t too chaotic,”
“I was always in a good spot thanks to the team, so credit to them for putting me out into the right spot every time. Maybe we went a little bit early on the last set, but I feel like it was the right decision.
“Always had clean air, always in the right spot so overall happy to be where we are in Qualifying. FP was definitely a bit of struggle this morning, and I wasn’t quite in the window with the driving. So I wasn’t super confident going into Qualifying.
“In the first run I made a really good step, second run was a little bit more difficult but then we put it all together for the last run. It feels good going from one compound to a softer one for Qualifying. In FP, you feel like the car isn’t that good but then you put a new Medium on, and it feels completely different and more like a race car.”
The 2025 Austrian round of the F3 saw Australia’s James Wharton taking his first win in the Sprint Race. His confidence didn’t diminish in Spa-Francorchamps, despite finishing P20 in the only Formula 3 race of the weekend.
Since Belgium, Whartons credits the team for taking a “huge step” forward. The 19-year-old believes it is becoming clear that they are simply quicker at some tracks, in comparison to others. Unlike many others, Wharton is hoping for a wet race on Sunday. With a wet race on Sunday, there is more chance for error from the drivers ahead, giving him a chance to climb the field.
“I think we’ve made a huge step from Spa, so credit to the team. I think it shows that we’re super fast on some tracks and still struggling a little bit around others. It’s always good to make that step and go faster when you don’t make mistakes, which is the hard part.
“It’s about maximising the weekends where we have the pace to be up front, so hopefully we can do a good job tomorrow inside the top two rows for the Sprint. And then hopefully it’s wet on Sunday.”
Despite the hopes for a wet Feature Race, the need for a dry Sprint Race, where he will start P3 remains. Starting from the front of the grid isn’t an opportunity he has had many times this year, but he proved he is capable. After securing reverse grid pole at the Red Bull Ring, Wharton led the whole race, to come home with his maiden win.
With rival Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak starting from reverse grid pole, storming for the win on Saturday will not be simple. Wharton plans to fight hard on the start, in an attempt to get him there.
“Hopefully it’s dry tomorrow. For me, it’s just about maximising being at the front. It’s not happened too many times this year, but the first time we were I didn’t do too bad of a job. Hopefully it can be like that tomorrow, we just have to maximise the chances we have this year.
“We’ve still got some tough opposition in front. I think Tas will want his second win as well, but hopefully I can get him on the start.”
