The halfway point of the 2025 F3 season has been reached, and the British GP at Silverstone is upon us. Friday’s F3 Qualifying session saw Nikola Tsolov snatching pole position, while Ugo Ugochukwu took P2, just 0.023s behind. Rafael Câmara and Mari Boya took the second row spots.
Despite crossing the chequered flag in P14, a post-race penalty for impeding saw Alessandro Giusti dropped to a P17. This is where he started both the Sprint and Feature Races. Rounding out the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rows of the grid are Tim Tramnitz, Charlie Wurz, Martinius Stenshorne, Laurens Van Hoepen, Theophile Nael, and Noel Leon.
The Championship standings have tightened following last weekend’s F3 Austrian GP, Câmara still out in the lead with 120 points. Just 27 points behind Câmara sits Tramnitz with 93 points, after Tsolov lost his P2 in the standings, and now sits in P3 with 91 points.
The F3 British GP Sprint Race saw Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak taking home his maiden Formula 3 win, after a single podium last season. After a stellar result he looks to capitalise on his P12 start.
The formation lap
Before the race had even commenced, Tramnitz was noted for an unsafe release in the pit lane, on his way out to the grid. This would be investigated post-race. As the cars lined up on the grid, prior to the formation lap, drops of rain began to fall from the sky. With rain predicted for the Feature Race, it turned into a waiting game to see how heavy the rain would get. Due to the rain steadily increasing, wet tyres were brought to the grid, and the formation lap was delayed.
Surprisingly, minimal drivers opted to switch to wet tyres. Just a few of those drivers included Van Hoepen, Giusti, and Nael. The three title contenders continued on the slicks for the start. The grid set off on the formation lap, making it all the way back around to the starting grid without incident. Zagazeta headed into the pit lane at the end of the formation lap, changing from wets to slicks.
Lights out for the F3 Feature Race in Silverstone
As the green flag waved, and all five lights went out, the Feature Race went underway at the F2 British GP. Into the first corner Boya led the pack, with Tsolov close behind. A Dams Lucas Oil spun off into the last turns. Câmara tumbled down the order through the first lap.
Tsolov dropped down to P15 by lap 2, while drivers on wets surged forward. Sharp moved up on Taponen, drivers on the slicks barely holding on. Wharton climbed from P20 to P8. The highest sitting slicks runner was Tsolov, who sat in P16 on lap 3.
At the conclusion of lap 4, the top ten runners were Boya, Nael, Leon, Inthraphuvasak, Van Hoepen, Bilinski, Ho, Wharton, Del Pino, and Ramos. Sharp then snatched P10 from Ramos through the final turns of lap 5.
Leon continued to hunt down Nael, looking for the best place to make his move. Bilinski then moving up on Inthraphuvasak. A yellow flag waved through sector 3, as Benavides stopped on the exit of the turn 18, after spinning due to contact with Strømsted. This saw Benavides retiring from the race.
By lap 6, Boya had opened up a 2.9s gap on Nael. Bilinski dived down the inside of Van Hoepen to take P4. He took the fastest lap on the same lap. Wurz was told to pit for wet tyres, with reports of rain five minutes away.
The pit stops begin
The Hitech TGR engineers called Stenshorne into the pit lane for wet tyres. Despite a pole position start, Tsolov dropped down to P17, over a minute behind race leader Boya. Leon remained right on the rear of Nael, looking for the perfect moment to make his move.
Câmara made a dive on Ugochukwu to take P18, before moving up on Tsolov who was called into the pits. Tsolov announced over his radio that he wanted to stay out one more lap. Tramnitz boxed for wet tyres also, teams all predicting rain. Câmara, Tsolov, and Ugochukwu all entered the pit lane, taking wet tyres as the rain increased.
A Safety Car at the mid point of the F3 British GP Feature Race
The spray increased and the visibility lowered as lap 11 went underway. A yellow flag was brought out as his teammate Sharp spun into the gravel at turn 18, his rear in the wall. The Safety Car was then brought out at the conclusion of lap 11.
Race control noted Van Hoepen for a false start, which was then converted into a 5s penalty, while sat P5. Stenshorne, Tsolov, and Câmara are just a few of the bigger names who continued to slip around under Safety Car.
Race Control noted Maringangeli and Hedley’s incident, with Hedley being awarded a 10s stop/go penalty. A red flag was brought out on lap 14, and the drivers retreated to the pit lane behind the Safety Car. Race Control handed Zagazeta a 5s penalty for speeding in the pit lane, at the beginning of the race when he first stopped.
Eventually, the track was ruled unsafe to run on again. This meant Boya took the Feature Race win, with Noel and Leon joining him on the podium.
F3 British GP Feature Race Results
1 | M. Boya
2 | T. Nael
3 | N. Leon
4 | R. Bilinski
5 | L. Van Hoepen
6 | C. Ho
7 | J. Wharton
8 | S. Ramos
9 | B. Del Pino
10 | T. Inthraphuvasak
11 | N. Lacorte
12 | T. Taponen
13 | I. Domingues
14 | B. Badoer
15 | A. Giusti
16 | C. Wurz
17 | T. Tramnitz
18 | C. Voisin
19 | M. Stenshorne
20 | U. Ugochukwu
21 | N. Tsolov
22 | R. Câmara
23 | N. Marinangeli
24 | J. Hedley
25 | G. Xie
26 | N. Johnson
27 | M. Zagazeta
28 | N. Strømsted
29 | DNF L. Sharp
30 | DNF B. Benavides
