F3 | British GP | Free Practice | Tsolov top as Câmara struggles with track limits - Motorsport

Spread the love

Free Practice at the 2025 British GP ahead of Round 7 of the 2025 FIA F3 Championship saw competitive running, changing conditions, and a flurry of late improvements. The session began with a mandated Virtual Safety Car test before drivers moved into qualifying simulations and longer race runs. As the field adjusted to the high-speed demands of the Silverstone Circuit, lap times steadily fell, with multiple drivers taking turns at the top of the timesheets. Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov ultimately set the fastest time of the session with a 1:45.647, narrowly ahead of Trident’s Charlie Wurz and Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne. Meanwhile, several drivers, including championship leader Rafael Câmara and MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti, struggled with track limits, resulting in multiple deleted laps.

Tsolov and Van Hoepen disqualified after Spielberg Feature Race

The 2025 F3 Feature Race at the Austrian GP delivered major twists, both on track and after the chequered flag. Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov initially dominated the race and crossed the line first, but a post-race inspection revealed that his car’s plank was below the minimum thickness, breaching Article 3.2.2 of the Technical Regulations. As a result, he was disqualified.

Further drama followed as Laurens van Hoepen, who had finished ninth, was also excluded. His ART Grand Prix car ran with tyre pressures below the 13.0 PSI minimum, in violation of Article 10.4.3. These disqualifications promoted all drivers behind them and reshuffled the points-paying positions.

Trident’s Rafael Câmara, who finished fifth on the road, benefited most. He extended his championship lead to 117 points after scoring in both races in Spielberg. MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz, originally third, moved up to second in the race and now sits second in the standings with 93 points, 24 behind Câmara. Tsolov dropped to third on 89 points, losing valuable ground in the title fight.

Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne inherited the win and climbed to fourth in the standings with 67 points. Trident’s Noah Strømsted and Campos Racing’s Mari Boya rose to fifth and sixth respectively. Prema Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu’s promotion to fourth gave him key points, while AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides scored his first of the season, now 27th overall.

With four rounds remaining, the title battle remains intense. Câmara holds the advantage, but both Tramnitz and Tsolov are well within reach. After a dramatic weekend in Spielberg, action got underway at Silverstone.

Silverstone Free Practice begins with VSC test

As the 45-minute session got underway with the Virtual Safety Car test, the drivers inched around the circuit on the hard compound tyres, with ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen leading the pack. After five minutes under the slower condition, the green flag was waved, allowing DAMS Lucas Oil’s Christian Ho and Nicola Lacorte, who returned after serving a one-round race ban due to penalty point accumulation, to put in their first laps.

Lacorte set the early benchmark of 2:15.991, as the others returned to the pit lane. Ho then improved to 2:07.876, with Lacorte improving to 2:10.897. Meanwhile, Nicola Johnson, who took over the #15 car at Hitech TGR after deputising for Lacorte in Austria, put in a 2:04.883.

Initial benchmarks and early leaders

As they completed more laps around the Silverstone Circuit, Lacorte improved the benchmark to 1:49.839, with Ho behind on a 1:50.378. Johnson took third with a 1:50.642 as the rest of the pack returned to the track with 35 minutes of running ahead. Despite a later start, the other drivers were quick to get up to speed, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos going top with a 1:47.049.

ART Grand Prix’s James Wharton improved to 1:46.759, with Campos Racing’s Mari Boya going just 0.004 seconds faster to get ahead. However, it was his teammate, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who was top after the lap, putting in a 1:46.379 to claim P1 with a 0.3-second gap over Boya.

Action on the timesheets

Times continued to fall as the minutes ticked down, with the drivers using the opportunity to get in some qualifying simulation runs ahead of the later Qualifying session. However, none could get back Inthraphuvasak. Though Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov improved significantly, he managed only a 1:46.563, settling for second place on the timesheet, 0.1 seconds behind Inthraphuvasak, with Taponen in third on a 1:46.649.

Meanwhile, championship leader Rafael Câmara went wide and, though he recovered, he managed only a 1:47.101, settling for P13 before falling to P14 as Prema Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu finally bettered Inthraphuvasak’s time, going top with a 1:46.329. Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne went P2 with a 1:46.313, ahead of Trident’s Charlie Wurz who was P3 with a 1:46.329.

MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti lost his lap time for exceeding track limits. With 20 minutes remaining, he found himself in P12, as Câmara improved his time to a 1:46.839 to claim P13.

Track limits a major concern during late runs

Having completed several Qualifying simulations, the drivers returned to the pit lane, shifting focus to race simulations ahead of Saturday’s Sprint Race and Sunday’s Feature Race. This temporarily paused on-track action, as while some drivers continued to tour the circuit, there were no significant improvements with the tyres already degrading.

With just over 10 minutes left on the clock, the drivers returned to the track, with the majority setting off on their out-laps. After an incident-free lap, Câmara set off on his flying run, going top with a 1:46.232. However, he lost his lap time due to exceeding track limits, as rival Tsolov claimed his place at the top of the timesheets with a 1:45.847, going about 0.3 seconds faster than Stenshorne, who put in a 1:46.151 to claim P2.

Meanwhile, Giusti, down in P30 after struggling with track limits throughout the session, was shown the black and white flag by Race Control after again exceeding track limits. Boya, in P10, was also shown the black and white flag for the same reason. With just under three minutes remaining, Câmara finally got a competitive lap time on the board. His 1:46.274 placed him in P4, with Tramnitz going P2 ahead of Stenshorne in P3. Giusti, already on a black and white flag, again lost a lap time due to track limit violations, as Van Hoepen was shown the black and white flag as well.

Final improvements not enough to topple Tsolov

Into the dying seconds of the Practice session, Wurz improved to go P2 with a 1:46.136. Despite the improvement, he remained 0.2 seconds behind Tsolov, who retained the lead with his 1:45.647.

As several drivers improved their times, newcomer Johnson was the most impressive, going P6 with a 1:46.225. Giusti, who had struggled throughout the session, finally put a representative lap time on the board, going P20 with a 1:46.762.