F3 | Jerez | Post-season testing: Tsolov tops the times with Campos Racing

Over the last couple of days, post-season testing for the FIA Formula 3 Championship has taken place at Jerez Circuit in Spain. We were able to see the thirty drivers practice without any competitive element, all while adjusting with the weather conditions.

October 8th – Morning 

The track, which was damp due to rain the previous night saw majority of the drivers on track to have their initial laps. This session being the first, saw many drivers top the timetable as it passed by with drivers such as Martinus Stenshorne, Joshua Dufek, Ugo Ugochukwu, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak leading the way. 

The teams, in the last few minutes of the session, decided to try a different strategy by changing to slick tyres and we were able to see Freddie Slater, Alessandro Giusti and Mari Boya with the fastest lap times one by one.

The session ended with Boya, the Spanish driver who is set to race for Campos Racing in the 2025 season, topping the morning session’s timetable with 1:31.281, however we would see better times from the Spaniard and everyone in the next few sessions. 

Tim Tramnitz and Noel León had put no lap times down as they did not go out on the track and complete any laps.

October 8th – Afternoon 

The circuit coming back to ideal conditions, saw everyone fitted with hard tyres for the afternoon session. The race began with P1 changing constantly and even saw Christian Ho, Singaporean driver who will drive for Jenzer Motorsport in 2025, have the fastest lap in the first hour of the session. 

As we progressed, the lap times fell but it ended with Martinius Stenshorne, the Norwegian driver, who has re-signed with Hitech Pulse Eight after placing 18th with them in the 2024 championship, topping the timetables with a 1:30.761, getting the best lap time for the day and afternoon session. 

Jose Garfias, who signed with AIX racing, understood that it was not all easy as he had a lap time below the 2 minute mark for the afternoon session, after completing only one lap.

October 9th – Morning 

As the lights turned green, the track was immediately filled with the drivers as they wanted to make the most of the conditions set in the morning. The pace was initially started by Freddie Slater who entered the 1:30s mark. Roman Bilinski, John Bennett and Nikola Tsolov had put good times down on the track. 

The Bulgarian held a 0.051s on his post-season testing teammate, Mari Boya, who was driving for Campos as well, making it a ‘1-2 podium’ of sorts as they both placed top 2 in the overall standings.

We also saw the first red flag of the test, as McLaren junior driver who recently signed with Prema Racing, Brando Badoer, lost grip at turn 10 and was trapped in the gravel. 

The Prema car got back on track with just two hours left in the morning session.

Niels Koolen, who drove for AIX Racing in this post-season test, logged a lap time of a 1:31.982, doing much better compared to his performances in F2. However, he was still P30.

October 9th – Afternoon

As the session began, we were greeted with rain causing a second red flag, as Jesse Carrasquedo lost grip at Turn 1 and brought the session to a temporary halt. His damaged car was repaired and ran for the rest of the session. 

However as for the weather conditions we saw constant rain causing the track to be more than just slippery. It was going to be a tough one for the drivers but it enabled them to practice their driving in wet conditions. 

The afternoon ended with Nicola Lacorte topping the timetable with a 1:31.584 seconds with Jenzer Motorsport. 

Rafael Camara, the Brazilian Ferrari junior driver who spent most of his career with PREMA racing, recently switched to Trident and had a tough time in the weather conditions as he drove for the team, causing him to place 30th with a lap time of 1:45.381 seconds.

This session was no doubt the best out of the two days for many drivers other than Tsolov, like; Boya, Stenshorne, Stromsted, Ugochukwu and so on. This session also saw the top ten lap times over the two days. 

The post season testing definitely served its purpose, enabling the drivers to practice and go through their own ups and downs. The new entrants of F3 were also able to get the feel of the cars they would be driving and understand the workings of their new teams. 

OVERALL TOP TEN FOR THE POST SEASON TEST IN JEREZ CIRCUIT