Finlay McSporran
Published: 16:15, 5th September 2025

It was a chaotic session, as the drivers fought to get a tow down the circuits long straights.

Group A

Qualifying would be split into two ten minute sessions instead of the usual 30 minutes. This was done to combat the chaos that can come with having 30 cars on track at once, with drivers stacking up behind one another in order to get a tow, as has been the case a few times already this season.

Despite these measures however, drivers were still playing games trying to get a tow, which left most of those in group A just one lap to put a time on the board. Those who decided not to wait managed to get an extra lap in, but it was no use without a slipstream from another car ahead.

McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu would end up topping group A after reigning champion Rafael Camara had his lap time deleted, denying him what would have been a record breaking sixth pole position. It means that the Brazilian will start both races from the back row of the grid which will hurt Trident in their battle with Campos for the teams title.

Group B

Speaking of Campos, there was drama for their driver Mari Boya as group B went out. As the Spaniard began his flying lap, part of the bodywork covering the sidepod began flapping around which hampered his progress.

Group B also saw Ferando Barrichello (son of F1 driver Rubens) make his F3 debut driving for AIX Racing. Unfortunately for him he could only manage p15, slowest of group B, meaning he will join Camara on the back row of the grid for both races.

His teammate on the other hand, Brad Benavides was flying, and as the cars in the slipstream crossed the finish line the times began to tumble, with Benavides going straight to the top with a 1:38.120 which was good enough for pole position.

Laurens Van Hoepen, who qualified sixth in group A (the slowest group), will start from reverse grid pole for the sprint race tomorrow.

Looking Ahead

Benavides’ second F3 pole will hopefully be more memorable than his last at Spa, where the race didn’t even start due to the wet conditions.

He did start on the front row for the feature race in Austria, but it was a race to forget as he dropped down from second to ninth by the checkered flag. It will be interesting to see what he can do this time around.

Another story to look out for this weekend is the battle for the teams championship. Former winners Trident currently lead the standings by 19 points over Campos who have never won the title.

The Italian team have their work cut out for them however, as none of their three drivers manage to qualify in the top twelve. Their rivals on the other hand managed to get two drivers in, with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Nikola Tsolov fourth and fifth respectively.

Full Results:

Pos	Driver	Team	Group A	Group B
1	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing		1m38.120s
2	Ugo Ugochukwu	Prema	1m38.613s
3	Noel Leon	Prema		1m38.382s
4	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Campos Racing	1m38.626s
5	Nikola Tsolov	Campos Racing		1m38.467s
6	Roman Bilinski	Rodin Motorsport	1m38.667s
7	Matias Zagazeta	DAMS		1m38.482s
8	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	1m38.670s
9	Tuukka Taponen	ART Grand Prix		1m38.502s
10	Tim Tramnitz	MP Motorsport	1m38.825s
11	Martinius Stenshorne	Hitech GP		1m38.560s
12	Laurens van Hoepen	ART Grand Prix	1m38.988s
13	Ivan Domingues	Van Amersfoort Racing		1m38.600s
14	Brando Badoer	Prema	1m39.028s
15	Charlie Wurz	Trident		1m38.604s
16	Nikita Johnson	Hitech GP	1m39.232s
17	Mari Boya	Campos Racing		1m38.638s
18	Christian Ho	DAMS	1m39.355s
19	Noah Stromsted	Trident		1m38.647s
20	Callum Voisin	Rodin Motorsport	1m39.447s
21	Theophile Nael	Van Amersfoort Racing		1m38.699s
22	James Wharton	ART Grand Prix	1m39.473s
23	Louis Sharp	Rodin Motorsport		1m39.014s
24	James Hedley	Van Amersfoort Racing	1m39.629s
25	Gerrard Xie	Hitech GP		1m39.084s
26	Niko Lacorte	DAMS	1m39.710s
27	Bruno del Pino	MP Motorsport		1m39.159s
28	Nicola Marinangeli	AIX Racing	1m40.033s
29	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing		1m39.319s
30	Rafael Camara	Trident	1m54.677s

Tags:

Formula 3

Road to F1