After a strong finish to the 2024 FIA Formula 3 season, Trident has had a strong start to the 2025 F3 season with Rafael Câmara and Noah Strømsted securing a front-row lockout for the Melbourne Round Feature Race after finishing 1-2 in Qualifying. This is a positive sign for the Italian team, who recently finished second in the 2024 F3 Teams’ Championship, with Leonardo Fornaroli claiming the Driver’s Championship.
An impressive first outing
Strømsted, the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA) title winner, enjoyed a strong start to his F3 career. He finished second on the Melbourne timesheets, despite a disrupted Qualifying session. During the FIA Formula 3 post-qualifying press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, the Danish driver highlighted the importance of such positive qualifying results in his first weekend as a full-time F3 driver.
“Yeah, it’s been good, especially for the team, 1-2. The work they’ve done over the winter has been amazing. Car today was really good, also in pre-practise. So, it’s a great result for me, but especially also for the team.”
“It was a very good qualifying session. In the second run we did our fastest time. There was no traffic, so the team handled it very well to get a clean lap. “He added, recalling how he was able to get the right track time slot to sign his fast lap.
“It’s great to start out like this, to confirm all the work we did over the winter has paid off, but it’s a long season and for sure everyone is improving, so we need to keep working.”
Tyres a “bit of [an] unknown” going into the races
While pleased about his strong qualifying performances, Strømsted acknowledged that the actual races could pose more of a challenge. He highlighted two concerns: the possibility of rain and the F3 drivers’ lack of experience with the medium tyres they will be using.
“Well, for sure, it’s a bit of unknown as we are on mediums here. We never tested these tyres in a long run. And on Sunday it could look like a bit of rain, but we’ll just have to adapt and do our best.
“It’s great to start out like this, to confirm all the work we did over the winter has paid off, but it’s a long season and for sure everyone is improving, so we need to keep working.”
Red flags not a contributor to Trident’s 1-2
When asked if he would have preferred longer delays in the final moments of the F3 Qualifying session, Strømsted stated that did not believe that the red flags had had a significant effect on either his or his teammate Câmara’s performance. Instead, he thinks that Trident had had things well in hand.
“Yes, it would have been nice, but I felt like we had some more, or at least I had. I wasn’t too worried if it was going to go green again. For sure, it was a bit tough to go from the free practise, qualifying, change of grip, the weather.”
“It’s a lot warmer now. And then, with the red flags, it was a bit tough, but in the end, it worked well.
With Friday being Strømsted’s first experience driving a street circuit, he admitted that he had been uncertain going into Australian GP weekend. However, despite this, Friday was ultimately a successful day for the Danish driver, who enjoyed good pace throughout the sessions.
“The first time for me driving here, actually in any street circuit, so it was a bit of an unknown when we arrived. But it’s worked out pretty well. The pace has been good.”
Strømsted focused more “on the driving side” during F3 Qualifying
Strømsted finally discussed the importance of track evolution in a question asked by Pit Debrief, and how the changing conditions had impacted his approach to Qualifying.
“Yeah, especially here, where it’s a lot of dust in the morning when we’re driving, compared to now, it changed quite a lot how the brakes work, how the car behaves and the tyres, but the team managed to do a really good job to try to replicate the balance from practice into qualifying, which was really good, so we could focus more on the driving side.”
