 Credit: James Sutton Brazilian racer Rafael Camara took his maiden pole positions in Melbourne, on Friday, in his debut qualifying session of FIA Formula 3. Camara, the reigning Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine champion (FRECA), is in his first ever weekend competing in the championship has taken pole position, after topping practice earlier on Friday. The Ferrari Academy driver took pole in a Trident 1-2 ahead of new Mercedes junior driver Noah Stromsted, who missed out on pole by just over a tenth. On debut Theophile Nael qualified third for Van Amersfoort Racing, but will be under investigation after the session for his cooling box being attached as he left the pit lane during the session. Qualifying in Melbourne signalled the first qualifying session in this new era of regulations for FIA Formula 3. In doing so, it is a historic day for the championship. However, the session itself was overshadowed by two red flags in the latter stages of proceedings. One was for Brando Badoer, while a second was for Christian Ho. The session was confirmed to not be restarted with only two minutes and 36 seconds remaining. Race Control deemed there to be not enough time for any further flying laps to be recorded. Following qualifying 12th, Van Amersfoort's Mexican driver, Santiago Ramos, will start Saturday's sprint race from pole position. How Formula 3 qualifying unfolded in MelbourneA brand new era of Formula 3 had entered 2025 with a brand new car, a brand new type of fuel, as well as brand new 16-inch tyres. FIA Formula 3 had gone through a massive transition and an entirely new era was awaiting to embark itself on the Albert Park Circuit. Albert Park in Melbourne was the place where Formula 3 would embark on its first race weekend of the new era, with track action beginning on the Friday, which could only mean one thing on a Formula 3 weekend - qualifying day. Earlier, on Friday morning in Melbourne, it was Trident rookie Rafael Camara who was fastest in his first ever Formula 3 session in a race weekend. It did not matter though for the reigning FRECA champion, who was fastest ahead of MP Motorsport's Tim Tramnitz. Would he take pole position? He would certainly be hoping to, with it being his debut round and there would be no better way to conclude his first day on a Formula 3 race weekend. The Formula 3 qualifying has not changed from 2024 to 2025 and the session would last 30 minutes, with all 30 drivers competing at once for the first championship points of the season, with two on the line. At the end of the session, the top 12 would have the most significance. For Saturday's sprint race, the 12 are reversed, with the driver who qualified from 12 starting from reverse grid pole position. The green light would be on at the end of the Albert Park pit lane and that would signify the start of the first ever qualifying session in the new era of FIA Formula 3. Soon enough, the first lap times would start to be set and Roman Bilinski would set an early benchmark lap time for Rodin Motorsport. The Polish driver's time to beat was 1:36.125. The time would very much soon be beaten and that would be by the Mercedes junior driver - Noah Stromsted. Stromsted would go to provisional pole, although it might have been his Trident teammate Camara had it not been for traffic in his way. The Brazilian would have to settle for third for the time being - behind Bilinski. A third of the qualifying session was complete and it would be Stromsted still with the provisional pole lap time. Roman Bilinski, Martinius Stenshorne, Rafael Camara and Louis Sharp would be the provisional top five, This would be until Nikita Bedrin would beat all of them and take provisional pole position for AIX Racing. A 1:35.873 for Bedrin and he would be now the driver to beat. However, the track was ramping up and there were a vast amount of improvements coming in. Van Amersfoort's Theophile Nael would go to provisional pole position, as he beat Bedrin's lap by two tenths of a second. Then it would be the turn of the rapid Brazilian Camara, who would go to provisional pole position, with a lap half a second faster than Nael's lap time that was fastest previously. With just under 10 minutes to go, it would be a Trident 1-2 as Stromsted improved to second place. Just over five minutes remaining in the session and the red flag would be brought out for the first time due to Brando Badoer hitting the wall at turn 2 and spinning. This would bring a halt to proceedings, but this would be worse for Badoer. Badoer seemed to make the red flag off his own accord, and under the Formula 3 rules, if you cause a red flag during qualifying, your personal best lap time is removed. Badoer would be investigated for the supposed offence after the session. The clock would be paused so when the session restarted, there would be time for drivers to head out and get one more flying lap under their belts to try and improve their previous positions. Nael was in a rush to leave the pits but maybe in too much of a rush as there was a cool box still remaining attached to his Formula 3 Van Amersfoort machine, where he would be instructed to try and get it back safely from his team. This would be investigated after the session However, the session would be halted anyway as DAMS Lucas Oil's Christian Ho had come to a stop with an apparent technical issue on the approach to turn 3. However, just to be sure Stewards would investigate him for potentially being the cause of a red flag - after the session. Following the second red flag, Race Control would confirm that the session would not be resumed and therefore that signified the end to the first qualifying session of the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship. Therefore, it would be a first and maiden pole position for Rafael Camara of Trident. The reigning FRECA champion would take his maiden pole positon on his debut in the championship. A fantastic achievement for Camara, who finished ahead of his Mercedes junior Trident teammate Noah Stromsted, who was second in a 1-2 for the team. It will be a front row lockout for Trident for Sunday's feature race. Theophile Nael is provisionally third but he and Van Amersfoort are under investigation after the session. Nikita Bedrin of AIX and Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport complete the top five in the provisional classification. Charlie Wurz was the third Trident, making it all three of their cars in the top six, with his sixth place in qualifying. Campos' Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak was seventh ahead of the highest placed Prema, Ugo Ugochukwu, who was eighth. Martinius Stenshorne of Hitech and Roman Bilinski of Rodin Motorsport completed the top 10, after the pair finished ninth and 10th respectively. DAMS Lucas Oil's first qualifying was marked by Matias Zagazeta finishing 11th, which provisionally is a front row start for Saturday's sprint race. Santiago Ramos of Van Amersfoort is to start from reverse grid pole after qualifying 12th. The sprint race is next in FIA Formula 3, which will take place on Saturday at Albert Park. 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 1 - Melbourne qualifying provisional classification
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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