F3, new season set to begin in Australia next weekend
The countdown has come to an end: next weekend a new season of the FIA Formula 3 Championship begins. For the first time in its history, the championship will kick off in Australia, where the category will be stopping for the third consecutive season. The semi-permanent circuit of Albert Park in Melbourne will host the kick-off of the 2025 season, which will see teams and drivers competing in ten events with the final event scheduled at Monza?
Trident Motorsport approaches the first round of the championship with the aim to have a competitive season. After winning the Teams' title in 2022, the team from Milan with operational headquarters in Ossona won the Drivers' title the following year with Gabriel Bortoleto, a result repeated in 2024 thanks to Leonardo Fornaroli.
This year, however, they will start from scratch. The introduction of the new single-seater car poses a new challenge, as teams that will be able to understand and adapt to the new car more quickly will build a competitive advantage, at least in the early stages of the season. For the new season, Trident Motorsport is starting with a completely new line-up.
Defending the colours of the Milanese team will be Charlie Wurz, Rafael Câmara and Noah Strømsted. For Wurz, the nineteen-year-old son of the Austrian champion, this is the second year in the category. After two seasons in F4 Spain, Strømsted has been a protagonist in the Formula Regional championship in 2024, finishing in sixth place. Also in 2024, the Mercedes junior driver also took part in the final event of the FIA Formula 3 Championship in Monza. The nineteen-year-old from Recife, Câmara, will make his straight debut in the category. The South American, representing the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy, was crowned Formula Regional champion last year, taking six wins, ten podiums and seven pole positions.
The FIA Formula 3 Championship held three days of pre-season testing in Barcelona, from 19 to 21 February, during which the drivers were able to gain greater confidence with the new car and work with the technical staff in view of the long journey to the track in the State of Victoria.
Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager: “A demanding season awaits us, in which we will have to give everything with a completely new line-up and a new car that we will have to understand quickly. We have carried out careful preparation work, but we know well that the results achieved in the past do not count now, given that we will all start again on an equal footing and it will be the quality of the work done and its implementation that will make the difference. Having said that, we have what it takes to do well and we want to start off on the right foot right from the first round at Albert Park”.
The engines of the FIA Formula 3 Championship single-seaters will start on Friday at 8:50 am when the 45-minute free practice session is scheduled. Qualifying is scheduled for the same day at 2:00 pm. Saturday will be the turn of the Sprint Race, at 11:15 am. Finally, the Feature Race, which will conclude