 Credit: James Sutton In a day of track action that was heavily dictated by wet weather, Rodin Motorsport's Brit Callum Voisin ended the final day of pre-season testing fastest on Friday. Voisin would finish top of the afternoon session, in a day of pre-season testing that was largely overshadowed by wet weather around the circuit and also many red flags due to drivers going off the track. It would be the afternoon session where Voisin would end top of the session overall following Brazilian Trident driver Rafael Camara setting the fastest time of the morning three hours. At the overall classification, it would be Voisin's time in the afternoon, of a 1:39.031. Voisin would be fastest ahead of MP Motorsport's Tim Tramnitz who was second. Completing the top three would be rookie Camara of Trident, who was the highest placed rookie, with his afternoon time. Voisin would end the day top in what had been a disrupted to end to pre-season testing for the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship. How Day 3 of Formula 3 pre-season testing unfolded in BarcelonaAfter two busy days of on track action in Barcelona, to kick start a brand new era of FIA Formula 3, it was time for the third and final day of pre-season testing of the 2025 season. The previous two days at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya had seen 12 hours of track action in the brand new Formula 3 machinery and many lap times being completed by all 30 drivers and the 10 teams too. Prema Racing's Noel Leon topped the opening day of pre-season testing whereas on Day 2 it was the Campos of Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov, who topped both the morning and afternoon sessions in a dominant day for the Bulgarian.
Friday morning rolled around and if learning the new FIA Formula 3 cars was not already difficult, the addition of wet weather might have just made their task that little bit more difficult at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya. After a busy two days, where many laps had been completed as the teams and drivers were keen to learn this new FIA Formula 3 car ahead of the upcoming 2025 season, which will begin in March at Albert Park in Melbourne, Austrralia. The final day of pre-season testing would get underway with the third and final morning session. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the session would be underway for three hours of track running. No time would be wasted from many drivers across the field, as many wanted to use the challenging conditions as a learning curve, and to try and learn the limits to push to, when driving the new cars in anger in wet weather conditions. Mexican driver, of Prema Racing, Noel Leon would head to the top of the time sheets in the first five minutes of play with Brando Badoer in second place, at what as looking like it was going to angle out at a Prema 1-2. However, there were many drivers finding improvements to those times that were initially put together. The leaderboard would have a bit of a change by the end of the first 10 minutes the Trident of Noah Stromsted would be top with a 1:48.045. Stromsted's time would be seven tenths clear of Campos' Mari Boya in second with MP Motorsport's Tim Tramnitz having elevated himself into the top three. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak were also finding themselves in the top five. There would continue to be a lot of on-track action in the first half an hour of the session and this would see changes to the time sheets too. Campos' Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov was top of the time sheets with a 1:44.761. Badoer improved to go second once again as Trident's Rafael Camara would elevate himself to the top three. Track action would be halted for the time being though with the first red flag, of four across the morning session, being distributed by Race Control. This would be due to the Trident of Charlie Wurz, and the Austrian would lose a lot of on-track action for himself. However, he would return later on in the morning session, but it would be a lot of time lost for the Austrian driver. Tsolov's time of a 1:44.761 would be improved to a 1:43.631 as he continued to be at the top of the time sheets, with seven tenths of a second being put between himself and Rodin Motorsport's Louis Sharp, who had moved up into second place. Bruno Del Pino was the next driver to get caught out by the conditions on circuit and he too would bring out a red flag, causing more disruption to the circuit, that would have been dreaded by the teams and drivers. Sharp would be the third red flag as he remained second after the first hour of running, still being behind Tsolov. Martinius Stenshorne had moved himself up into third place, but both would continue to be behind Tsolov who was still fastest. Rafael Camara would be the next driver to put himself into the top three of the session and just moments after the first hour had ticked over. The 2024 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) champion Camara would be go second but Tsolov would be remaining strong at the top of the times. Tsolov would still be the driver with the fastest time at the halfway point but it would be Noah Stromsted instead of Camara, that would be the Trident driver in second place. Camara would be in fourth, after Finnish rookie Tuukka Taponen put his ART third. It was turning into a fantastic morning for Tsolov as he was still at the top of the times with his 1:43.631 and despite the latest challenge from Laurens Van Hoepen, he would still be over a tenth of a second clear at the top of the times. However, in the first part of the final hour, of the morning session, ART's Van Hoepen would beat Tsolov's time and that would be the first time in over an our, since hislap time had been beaten. Van Hoepen laid down a lap of 1:43.623 and the Dutch driver had shown reat speed in tricky conditions. There would be time to be found around the lap, as Van Hoepen himself did not stay top for all too long either. French Van Amersfoort Racing driver Theophile Nael would be the next driver to flex his driving talent and would go fastest overall. Nael would put over three tenths between himself and Van Hoepen with a 1:43.298 after the best second and final sector times of the session so far, and it would be a lap time that would see him in a great position. Into the final 20 minutes and the top five would be Nael, Van Hoepen, Tsolov, Stromsted and Taponen. Many drivers had been having stints in the pit lane but many drivers were looking at the prospect of returning the circuit and going for some strong lap times if they could put them together. The final 10 minutes and Camara would jump straight up to the top of the times, jumping above Theophile Nael, with a 1:43.158. The Brazilian driver would be clear by a tenth and he was showing his strongest pace of pre-season testing, it what was a wet Barcelona. By the end of the session, Camara would not be beaten and the 2024 FRECA Champion would end the final morning session of 2025 pre-season testing, with the provisional fastest time. It would be a Trident 1-2 with Noah Stromsted in second place. Callum Voisin would end third for Rodin Motorsport. The 30 drivers and 10 teams involved would break for lunch with them set to return for the final three hours of pre-season testing, in the afternoon session.
After a break for lunch, in what was a disrupted testing morning session with four red flags in total, the teams and drivers would have been hoping to end the 2025 Formula 3 pre-season testing on a high. The final three hours of pre-season testing for the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship would be underway, with the green light on at the end of the pit lane. This would be the final on-track action for Formula 3 until free practice in Melbourne, on March 14. Drivers would have been looking to get as many lap times in as they could with them still learning their new machines. The track was still classed as wet and therefore it would throw in an additional challenge for these young drivers to have had to try and navigate, After having a strong end to the morning session, Trident would have been hoping for a strong afternoon. The Italian team had seen both of the last 2 FIA Formula 3 drivers' titles be won at their team, with Gabriel Bortoleto in 2023 and most recently Leonardo Fornaroli in 2024. Fonraroli was in car number 4 when he won the title in September 2024, and Noah Stromsted in car 4 would find his way to the top of the time sheets in the first hour of the session, after his teammate Rafael Camara topped the morning session. Stromsted would be the driver at the top of the times, with Rodin Motorsport's Callum Voisin was second and the Campos of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak would complete the top three. Just two hours of pre-season testing remained out of the 18 hours pre-season testing across the three days, There would be keenness from all teams to get lap times done, although the laps to begin with were nowhere near the pace of the fastest times of the morning session. DAMS Lucas Oil's Peruvian driver Matias Zagazeta would be the only driver to have set a lap time in the afternoon session. At the halfway point, Stromsted at the top and Voisin in second would remain the top two but there would be a change for third, making it two Rodin Motorsport drivers inside the top three. Polish-British driver Roman Bilinski would go third quickest, above Inthraphuvasak, and Rodin were once again showing good pace in Barcelona. There would be less disruptions across the final session of pre-season testing with Theophile Nael being one of a very few stoppages in the green flag running on circuit, at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya. Lap times would eventually start to improve from many drivers, with a late dash for improving lap times, in the final hour of the pre-season testing for the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship.The likes of Camara, Mari Boya and Tim Tramnitz would all compete for spaces high up the timing pages. However, when the dust settled, and the chequered flag was waved from the Race Control tower, it would be Britain's Callum Voisin who would finish fastest of the afternoon session, and overall, for Rodin Motorsport. A fantastic effort from Voisin saw him really pick up the pace, like most as there were so many improvements in the final hour despite the tricky wet weather conditions that the drivers were faced with, in the first wet weather driving in the new era of Formula 3 car. Voisin was fastest of the session with a 1:39.031, a time which was a second faster than that of Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport. Tramnitz had another strong afternoon session to finish second overall, with the highest place rookie overall, Rafael Camara, finishing third in the afternoon session and overall. 24 out of the 30 drivers on the 2025 Formula 3 grid did not set their best times in the afternoon session, as in the afternoon session, Campos duo Mari Boya and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak were fourth and fifth respectively. The two other Rodin Motorsport cars were sixth and seventh, with Roman Bilinski in sixth ahead of his teammate Louis Sharp in seventh. Despite being a direct cause of a red flag, Theophile Nael still finished in a respectable eighth place. Danish driver Noah Stromsted and Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne completed the top 10. Formula 3 next returns to track action for the start of a brand new racing era in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, as the regular season of the 2025 campaign begins at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. Free Practice begins in Melbourne on March 14, which will be Thursday night UK time on March 13. 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Pre-season testing - Barcelona Day 3 overall classification
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal
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