The F3 Belgian GP was filled with chaos from start to finish. Friday’s running was heavily disrupted by low visibility, which forced delays to both Free Practice and Qualifying. Saturday’s Sprint Race proved to be an anomaly, running without a single safety car, which is rare for the series. But the weekend’s final twist came on Sunday, when persistent wet weather led to the cancellation of the Feature Race. Amid the disruption, the F3 Belgian GP still delivered its share of standout performances and disappointments, with clear winners and losers emerging from the chaos.
Winners of the F3 2025 Belgian GP
Team Trident
Trident bounced back in Belgium after a tough outing at Silverstone, where they collected just five points. Noah Strømsted delivered the team’s highlight of the weekend, claiming his first Formula 3 victory in the Sprint Race after starting from P2. The win marked a turnaround for Strømsted, who had struggled in recent rounds, and his 11-point haul solidified his position in P6 in the Drivers’ Championship. He crossed the line six seconds ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu, with teammate Charlie Wurz securing P3 to complete a double podium. The combined result vaulted Trident back ahead of Campos Racing in the Teams’ Standings.
Rafael Câmara also impressed, qualifying P2 behind AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides in Friday’s session. He followed up with a solid P5 finish in the Sprint Race. Although Sunday’s Feature Race was cancelled due to torrential rain, Câmara retained his lead in the championship. He now holds a 28-point advantage over Nikola Tsolov heading into the next round.
Ugo Ugochukwu – Prema Racing
After losing his first podium due to a 10-second post-race penalty in the F3 Austrian GP Sprint Race, Ugo Ugochukwu bounced back in style by securing P2 in the F3 Belgian GP Sprint Race. Recent changes to his car, including a stripped-back livery to reduce weight, a key factor given his height, have contributed to a noticeable upswing in performance. With a string of points finishes and a standout result in Belgium, Ugochukwu firmly established himself as one of the weekend’s big winners.
Brad Benavides – AIX Racing
Benavides delivered a milestone moment for both himself and AIX Racing by securing their first-ever F3 pole position in Friday’s Qualifying session. His recent form has been impressive, having also qualified on the front row in Round 6 in Austria. Since joining AIX Racing in Imola, Benavides has shown flashes of potential, but his qualifying pace over the last three rounds has marked a significant step forward. Riding this momentum, AIX Racing will now aim to convert their impressive one-lap pace into consistent race results across the final two rounds of the season.
Losers of the F3 2025 Belgian GP
Freddie Slater – Hitech TGR
After Slater’s only other GP appearance being back in Round 2 in Bahrain, he returned to the F3 grid and started his Belgian GP weekend on a high note. He qualified in P12, earning him pole position for the Sprint Race due to the reverse grid. However, his early advantage quickly faded. Strømsted’s superior pace and the slipstream allowed him to snatch P1, and Slater gradually slipped down the order, eventually crossing the line in P10. His race unravelled further due to repeated track limits violations, seven in total, which resulted in 20 seconds of penalties and dropped him to P26 in the final classification.
Mari Boya – Campos Racing
Mari Boya looked poised for a strong weekend after setting the pace in Practice and finishing the session in P1. In the last few minutes of Qualifying, where there was traffic on their final push laps, Boya didn’t manage to get a competitive time in, only crossing the line in P16. This had a roll on effect in the Sprint Race, where Boya started further back up the grid then he would have liked. He violated track limits 4 times in the Sprint, which translated to a 5 second penalty, earning him only P14 and out of the points.
Théophile Naël – Van Amersfoort Racing
Naël showed early promise in Friday’s Practice session, demonstrating strong pace in his Van Amersfoort Racing car. However, his weekend quickly unraveled. In the chaos of the final laps of Qualifying, he could only manage a time 1.489 seconds off pole-sitter Benavides, leaving him down in P23. In the Sprint Race, he worked his way up to P17, but was handed a 5-second post-race penalty for exceeding track limits, dropping him back to P22. Leaving the Belgian GP without points has hurt his championship campaign, where he now sits in P7 with 58 points, trailing Sprint winner Strømsted in P6 with 73. MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti is just three points behind in P8, highlighting how fiercely competitive the F3 field remains.
What’s next?
The F3 grid heads to the Hungaroring this weekend, from August 1st to 3rd, for Round 9 of the 2025 FIA F3 Championship. As the penultimate round before the season finale in Monza, teams and drivers will be pushing to maximise every point opportunity in Hungary to strengthen their championship bids ahead of the final showdown.
