After a less-than-ideal Qualifying session on Friday at the Australian GP, F3 sophomore Santiago Ramos started the first Sprint Race of the 2025 season at the front of the grid. This was a golden opportunity for the Mexican driver. Despite coming under pressure from Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne, Ramos, perhaps helped by the Safety Cars, claimed his maiden win.
The starting grid
As the seconds ticked down to the starting time, the thirty drivers assembled on the grid, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos at the head of the pack. The Mexican driver qualified 12th, gaining himself a start from pole under the reverse-grid conditions. He was joined on the front row by DAMS Lucas Oil Matías Zagazeta, with Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinksi and Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne just behind in third and fourth.
PREMA Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu and Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Intraphuvasak started from the third row with Trident’s Charlie Wurz and MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz on the fourth. AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin started ninth with Théophile Naël, who finished third in Friday’s Qualifying session, in tenth. Trident teammates Noah Strømsted and Rafael Câmara started from Row 6 with a start at the front awaiting them in the Feature Race. 18 other drivers lined up behind them, with MP Motorsport’s Bruno del Pino and DAMS Lucas Oil’s Nicola Lacorte bringing up the rear after a dismal Qualifying session on Friday.
With the grid set, the drivers embarked on their formation lap, before returning to starting grid to await the green flag.
A chaotic start to the Sprint Race
As the lights went out, Zagazeta got a strong launch off the line. Despite his best efforts, however, he was unable to get past Ramos, who, after a good start, claimed the lead and charged away. Behind him, a fierce battle for second emerged between Inthraphuvasak, Stenshorne, Zagazeta and Bilinski all fighting for position. Stenshorne ultimately emerged victorious, claiming P2 ahead of Bilinski in P3, as collisions between Wurz and Tramnitz and Dufek and Sharp brought out the yellow flags and then a Virtual Safety Car.
While Tramnitz emerged relatively unscathed, claiming P5 behind Zagazeta, Wurz stopped at Turn 4 and retired from the race before the end of the first lap. Sharp and Dufek, on the other hand, returned to the pit lane, and after some repairs, rejoined the race at the back of the back. The stewards later handed Dufek a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision with Sharp.
Though the track returned to green flag conditions on Lap 3, this did not last, as a collision between van Hoepen, Câmara and Wharton saw the former two stuck in the gravel trap at Turn 11. Wharton retired in the pit lane.
As the drivers entered the sixth lap of the Sprint Race, Tramnitz, who had been running in sixth briefly stopped on track. Though he continued through the pit lane, he dropped to the back of the field. This, it turned out, was a valiant effort from the driver to continue his race. He retired from the race just one lap later.
A fierce battle among the top five
After several laps under the Safety Car, Ramos led the pack across the line, beginning Lap 9 under normal race conditions. As he had at the start, Ramos enjoyed a strong re-start, keeping the lead of the race, ahead of Stenshorne in second, and Bilinski in third. Zagazeta and Inthraphuvasak rounded out the top five, ahead of Bedrin, who held on to P6, despite a fierce battle with Naël and Strømsted.
By Lap 10 of the race, Ramos had built up a lead of over one second over Stenshorne. However, after losing a second in the final sector, Ramos found himself under pressure from Stenshorne who put himself within 0.3 seconds of the race leader. Behind them, a fierce battle emerged between Zagazeta and Inthraphuvasak, though the latter could not manage a successful overtake on the former.
In Lap 13, Stenshorne launched a fierce battle for the lead, getting within 0.2 seconds of Ramos. Though the race leader struggled, losing some time to his rival, he held on to the lead, as the stewards handed Wharton a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision with van Hoepen and Câmara.
Into Lap 15, Inthraphuvasak claimed P4 from Zagazeta, getting past the latter despite having appeared to have reduced pressure. Behind them, Strømsted found himself under pressure from Tsolov, who in Lap 16, claimed P8. The Danish driver then fell past Voisin and León, ending up P11, as an incident involving Sagrera and del Pino at Turn 3 brought out a second Safety Car. Strømsted, with a damaged front wing, returned to the pit lane and retired.
A finish under Safety Car conditions
With far too much work to return the track to proper racing conditions, the Safety Car led the remaining drivers across the line. Having kept the lead throughout the race, Santiago Ramos was the first driver across the line. He claimed the first win of the Australian GP weekend, becoming the first Mexican driver to win in the FIA Formula 3 Championship. This was also Ramos’ maiden win, with him having failed to achieve the feat during his rookie F3 season.
Despite his best efforts, Stenshorne settled for P2, having failed to make it past the Mexican driver despite fierce battles between them. F3 debutant rounded out the top 3, becoming the first Polish driver on the F3 podium.
Full F3 Sprint Race results:
- Santiago Ramos
- Martinius Stenshorne
- Roman Bilinski
- Tasanpol Inthraphuvasak
- Matías Zagazeta
- Nikita Bedrin
- Théophile Naël
- Nikola Tsolov
- Callum Voisin
- Noel León
- Alessandro Giusti
- Ugo Ugochukwu
- Mari Boya
- Tuukka Taponen
- Christian Ho
- Gerrard Xie
- Nicola Lacorte
- Joshua Dufek
- Louis Sharp
- Brando Badoer
- Nicola Marinangeli
- Ivan Domingues
- Noah Strømsted (retired)
- Bruno del Pino (retired)
- Javier Sagrera (retired)
- Tim Tramnitz (retired)
- Laurens van Hoepen (retired)
- Rafael Câmara (retired)
- James Wharton (retired)
- Charlie Wurz (retired)
With several ongoing investigations, however, it remains to be seen whether this order will stand.
