Noah Strømsted will start third on the grid for Trident in the Sprint race of the 2025 Imola F3 Round. This marks a strong start for the Italian team. With a bold strategy and a last-minute flyer, Strømsted delivered under pressure to put himself in prime position for Saturday’s Sprint Race.
While frustrated by traffic compromising his flying lap, the Trident driver remained content with the result. The Dane was confident there was untapped potential in the car.
“I think there was some more left in it. I had a car spin in front of me in turn nine, so I had to be a bit careful there. Lucky not to have the yellow flag or a red flag because quite a few cars went off.
“So there was for sure a bit left out there, but P3 is very good.”
Trident’s Strømsted had been near the bottom of the timesheets of the Imola F3 Round qualifying before a red flag reset the session. With only one real opportunity left, he knew he had to deliver.
“I try not to think about it too much,” he explained, referring to the added pressure of having just a single shot.
“I mean, I knew I needed to have a pretty good lap because I was P20-something. So I knew I needed to close that lap.“
“And yeah, it was quite good, especially in my last sector. I think it was two times quicker than anyone. So that’s where I found most of the time.”
Strategic gamble pays off
The turning point came when Trident opted to wait in the pits following the red flag, avoiding the traffic chaos as other cars rushed out. The strategy proved effective.
“Yeah, I think it was quite risky, but we didn’t want to have any traffic from all the other cars going out at one time, so we took a risk for staying in a bit longer and then hopefully not having a lot of traffic in the warm-up and during the push lap.”
Track challenges and adaptation
Imola’s demanding layout – with its 19 corners and punishing track limits – proved tricky for many drivers. As multiple spins occured during qualifying, Noah Strømsted acknowledged the difficulty, though he felt composed behind the wheel.
“Yeah, I think this track, if you do a track limit and you go in the gravel or in the grass, I think that’s why we saw a lot of spins and people going off, because this track is a bit more hard in that way.
“But for me, I felt it was quite straightforward.”
Looking ahead to the Sprint
Strømsted emphasized the importance of Saturday’s Sprint at the Imola F3 Round. This is especially crucial as he’s struggled to score consistently in Sprint formats so far this season.
“Tomorrow is quite important,” stated the Danish driver.
“This year we haven’t been scoring a lot of points in the spin race for different reasons.
“But tomorrow will be important to score points, but also to understand how the car is and how it’s going to be in the race for Sunday.” he continued
Preparation and Sim work key to early form
Strømsted credits his strong 2025 start to intensive pre-season preparation and simulator work alongside teammate Rafa.
“Yeah, I mean, we try to prepare very well over the winter. Rafa[el Câmara] did quite a few tests together. Also in the simulator before the race weekends helps a lot.
“And yeah, when we arrive, normally our pace is quite good, so we can start to focus a bit more on details and it’s easier to work a bit on the car when the driving is already in place.”
With new machinery introduced for the 2025 season, adapting early was critical.
“Yeah, of course, for this year it’s a new car so we’ve also been testing it, but it’s very accurate and it’s a very good preparation before the race weekend and I think this is why we always start in quite a high level and yeah, it’s very good.”
Championship mindset: consistency is key
Noah Strømsted now sits in a competitive third position in the drivers’ standings for the 2025 F3 championship. He stressed the importance of consistently scoring throughout weekends.
“Yeah, it’s very important to score points but I mean if you get the pole position, fastest lap and the race win on Sunday, that’s also quite a lot of points but the aim is always to try and score points on Saturday and for sure also on Sunday where the most points are.”
Tyre degradation and sunday focus
Imola’s notoriously high tyre degradation will be a major factor in both races. Trident’s Strømsted underlined the importance of using the Sprint race as a learning tool ahead of the all-important Sunday F3 Feature race at the Imola F3 Round.
“Yeah, I mean, tomorrow is very important, like the other said, to learn about the tyre, how it degradates, because the main race when we can score the most points is on Sunday.”
