The 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship reaches its climax at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, where the Temple of Speed once again prepares to crown the final winners of the season. Rafael Câmara has already secured the 2025 F3 Drivers’ Championship, but the Monza weekend carries far more than a sense of celebration. The battle for the Teams’ Championship remains alive, with Trident and Campos Racing separated by only nineteen points. At the same time, records stand ready to be broken. Against the backdrop of Monza’s high speeds and passionate crowds, the championship bows out in fittingly dramatic fashion.
The championship landscape
Câmara arrives in Monza as a dominant Champion. While his consistency and raw speed has allowed him to wrap up the 2025 F3 Drivers’ Championship title with time to spare, the Brazilian refuses to ease off in Monza. One more win would give him five for the season, a new benchmark in F3 history. That record remains firmly within his grasp, and his form suggests he has every intention of seizing it.
The Teams’ Championship, however, injects genuine tension into the weekend. Trident carry the advantage, but Campos Racing still have the chance to snatch the crown if results swing their way. Every lap, every pit wall decision, and every slipstream will matter in this final contest. Meanwhile, Martinius Stenshorne enters the weekend with his own milestone in sight. He stands one fastest lap away from surpassing Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins to become the sole record-holder for the greatest number of fastest laps in the series’ history.
Memories of 2024
The memory of the 2024 Monza finale remains vivid for both fans and competitors. Staged between 30 August and 1 September, the round contained all the ingredients of high drama. Leonardo Fornaroli took pole for Trident with a 1:38.287, but his weekend became complicated when officials penalised him four grid places for driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying. The sanction dropped him to sixteenth for the Sprint Race, forcing him into recovery mode.
From reverse pole, Tim Tramnitz maximised his opportunity for MP Motorsport, securing victory in the Sprint. Fornaroli charged through the field to eighth, salvaging crucial points and setting the fastest lap with a 1:38.802 on lap nine, which demonstrated his pace under pressure.
The Feature Race raised the tension further. Starting fourth, Sami Meguetounif produced a composed and aggressive performance to claim victory for Trident. Fornaroli, back on pole, had to accept second after a duel that lasted to the chequered flag. Martinius Stenshorne showed his speed by setting a 1:39.435 fastest lap on lap eleven, though he finished fifth. The drama reached its climax at the very last corner of the final lap, when Fornaroli executed a decisive move on Christian Mansell. That manoeuvre delivered second place and, more importantly, sealed the Drivers’ Championship.
Fornaroli’s achievement carried historic weight. He became the first Italian to win the FIA Formula 3 Championship and the first to do so without a single race victory. His relentless consistency allowed him to prevail over Gabriele Minì, Luke Browning, Arvid Lindblad, Dino Beganovic and Christian Mansell, all of whom had entered Monza with mathematical title chances. Prema Racing had already secured the Teams’ Championship a round earlier in Belgium, yet Monza’s spectacle ensured the 2024 finale would be remembered as one of the most dramatic in the series’ history.
The challenge of Monza
Monza’s reputation as the Temple of Speed owes everything to its layout. Stretching 5.793 kilometres through the Royal Park, it demands a unique balance between minimal drag and maximum braking performance. With more than eighty per cent of the lap spent at full throttle, drivers must trust their cars to deliver pure straight-line speed. That reality forces engineers to strip away downforce, which in turn makes the corners unforgiving and the braking zones brutal.
Pierre-Alain Michot, F3 Technical Director, summarised the technical challenge clearly.
“Monza is all about straight-line speed with over 80% of the lap spent at full throttle, so downforce requirements are much lower here than at any other circuit on the calendar. In addition to that, given the high speeds, fuel consumption will be quite high. The heaviest braking zone the drivers will face this week is at the Turn 1, although with three tight chicanes across the lap all at the end of long straights, brake wear is quite high. Looking at Qualifying, each driver will want a tow to aid their speeds down the straights, but the aim is to be close enough to get a little help but not too close as it could disturb them in the medium speed corners.”
The combination of straights and chicanes places enormous pressure on drivers to find precision. One missed braking point or one poor exit can undo an entire lap. As a result, Monza continues to produce thrilling slipstream battles and unpredictable outcomes.
Drivers’ perspective: Brando Badoer
For those behind the wheel, Monza provides both exhilaration and pressure. Brando Badoer of Prema Racing describes the experience from the cockpit.
“Monza is a very high-speed track, it’s called the Temple of Speed for a reason. But it’s also very technical and because there are not a lot of corners, you have to get those corners right. There are a lot of very slow speed corners, so it’s important to maximise the braking and also to get a good exit. Then you also have the medium speed corners, like the Lesmos, Ascari and Parabolica. I think the best place to pull an overtake is T1. It’s a very strong braking zone after a long straight, where you can get a tow from the car ahead, so I think it’s the best place. This weekend is special as it’s my home race, so I can’t wait to drive there.”
Badoer’s comments underline the dual nature of Monza. The circuit offers some of the highest speeds of the season, yet its few corners demand absolute precision. For Italian drivers, the atmosphere amplifies that intensity, adding a layer of national pride to an already daunting challenge.
Tyres and race strategy
The tyre allocation for Monza brings its own complexity. Pirelli provide the soft compound for both races, while the medium compound appears only in Free Practice. Because the circuit surface was resurfaced one year ago, grip levels remain high, but degradation emerges as a decisive factor during longer stints. Drivers who push too hard in the opening laps risk surrendering pace in the crucial final stages, particularly in the Feature Race. Managing the balance between aggression and preservation becomes essential, and strategy plays as vital a role as raw speed.
Anticipation for the finale
The 2025 F3 finale at Monza encapsulates everything that defines the championship: speed, tension, history and unpredictability. The Temple of Speed demands courage from drivers, precision from engineers and strategy from teams. Whether it is Câmara’s pursuit of records for the history books, Trident’s defence of their home advantage, or the symbolic farewell to a generation of machinery, Monza will provide a fitting end to the 2025 season. As the final laps unfold beneath the late summer sky, F3 will once again remind the world why its finales at Monza so often become the stuff of legend.
