Last time out in Budapest, Inthraphuvasak and Câmara were victorious across the weekend. The latter wrapped up the 2025 Formula 3 Championship in style too. With Câmara’s future secured, everyone else was keen to make one final good impression, both on the teams in Formula 3 and those in Formula 2.
Formula 3′ Season Finale in Monza thus turned out to be another memorable round on the road to F1 – with one of the best races, in Sunday’s Feature Race, in the series’ history. Here’s everything you need to know from the 2025 F3 Italian Grand Prix.
The Chronicle Headlines
- Ugo Ugochukwu topped the time sheets in Practice at the 2025 F3 Italian Grand Prix.
- Brad Benavides claimed Pole Position for Sunday’s Feature Race.
- Laurens van Hoepen would start Saturday’s Sprint Race from Reverse Pole.
- Tim Tramnitz was DSQd from the win in a naturally chaotic Sprint Race.
- Roman Bilinski inherited the Sprint Race victory in Monza.
- Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak clinched victory in an epic Feature Race.
- Campos Racing were thus victorious, winning the 2025 Team’s Standings.
Free Practice – Ugochukwu Leads The Way
Ugo Ugochukwu led the way in the early stages of the final practice session of the 2025 season. Theophile Nael was the first to better his time before Roman Bilinski brought out the red flag. The Polish driver dipped a tyre into the gravel midway through Ascari, spinning into the outside wall as a result.
When the session resumed, Rafael Câmara, the recently crowned Formula 3 Champion, went to the top of the time sheets. Meanwhile down at Lesmo corner, Noel Leon went spinning off the track but was fortunately able to keep going. At the end of the session, newcomer to the Formula 3 grid, Fernando Barrichello would find himself copying Leon’s unfortunate manoeuvre. Luckily, he too would emerge unscathed.
Stenshorne and Tsolov would both make bids for the top spot but come the chequered flag, it was Ugo Ugochukwu who would take the honour of being the fastest driver around the temple of speed. The American driver would clock in a time of 1:38.473 to achieve this.
Qualifying – Benavides Vs Ugochukwu
Group A
Qualifying for the 2025 F3 Italian Grand Prix was split into two sessions of ten minutes. The time ticked away quickly for Group A with Rafael Câmara appearing to set the pace. But in the dying moments of the session, the Champion’s lap time was deleted!
Tramnitz, Bilinski and Giusti were now all in real contention to steal the top spot for themselves. The trio were the only drivers that were able to cross the finish line for one more attempt before the chequered flag was waived. Interestingly though, it was the leading driver from practice, Ugo Ugochukwu, that had the time to beat at the end of the session – a 1:38.613.
Group B
Noah Stromsted initially went quickest in the Group B session of qualifying. But his time wasn’t quicker than Ugochukwu’s, so the hunt was still on to topple him from pole position. Tuukka Taponen was then the first driver to quicker than Ugochukwu but Brad Benavides stole the limelight from him not long after by going even quicker! The American’s time of 1:38.120 meant that he would start on pole position for the second and final time in 2025.
Ugo Ugochukwu would line up alongside Benavides on the front row of the grid for Sunday’s Feature Race. Meanwhile, Laurens van Hoepen would be on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race with Martinius Stenshorne next to him in P2. The stage for the last two races of the season was now set.
Sprint Race – Bilinski Charges to Victory
Opening Lap Chaos
As the lights went out for the final Sprint Race of the 2025 Formula 3 Season, Martinius Stenshorne got a good launch off the starting line from P2 on the grid. Pole sitter van Hoepen moved to cover him off while Tuukka Taponen made an ambitious move up the inside of the pair of them. The Finnish driver was a bit too daring with his overtaking attempt and locked up into T1. Stenshorne would be the driver to come out of this melee in first place.
The Safety Car was soon on the scene though. Further back in the pack, Ivan Domingues had crashed out of the race. He’d been ironically taking avoiding action of those around him down into T1. Before the Safety Car was deployed, Feature Race Pole Sitter, Brad Benavides had enough time to secure himself a 10 second penalty. This was handed to him for driving into the back of Inthraphuvasak going into the Variante Ascari and sending the Thai driver across the gravel.
Racing Resume
Racing resumed on lap five of the eighteen lap race at the 2025 F3 Italian Grand Prix. The battle for the lead between Stenshorne and Tramnitz immediately began. A couple of laps later and the change for the lead was solidified as Tramnitz was finally able to get past Stenshorne. Behind them, Roman Bilinski was on a charge through the field and into third place. He now set his sights on Stenshorne.
One of the saves of the season came soon after, courtesy of Ugo Ugochukwu. Racing down to T1, the American attempted to get out of the slipstream of the car ahead, went veering off to the right hand side and almost certainly into the barriers in what would have been a monumental crash. But somehow, the PREMA driver managed to collect the car in time, keep it on track and even attempted to overtake the car in front of him as they entered the T1/2 chicane.
After some more battling out front, Bilinski looked set to get past Stenshorne. But the latter cut across T1 to stay ahead. Soon after, the Norwegian driver let the Polish driver through to avoid the possibility of getting a penalty. Up ahead, Tramnitz was starting to build a gap to protect his lead of the race.
Drama at the End
Contact between Leon sent Wurz into Badoer at Turn 1. This brought the Safety Car out again. It returned to the pits with one lap to go, providing us with a one lap shootout for the win. Boya made a move into Ascari on Giusti to take P6 after hard battling between the pair of them for much of the race.
Tim Tramnitz then held off those behind to take the win on track. Bilinski finished in second with Stenshorne holding on in third. Much further back, Tsolov made contact with Giusti exiting the final corner after trying to get past him. The Bulgarian spun around and down the order, finishing in P23 as a result. He’d been in P8 up to that point. A happier driver was Callum Voisin would went from P20 to P6 in the Sprint Race.
“There was quite a lot of carnage, as there always is in Monza, but it was really good. Some good pace, tyres worked well, considering we were on the old set, a few people were on new, but it was good to get some points on the board.” – Callum Voisin
But the dramatics weren’t over just yet. After the race, Tramnitz was alleged to have not engaged the start setup procedure ahead of the start of the race. He was handed a ten second time penalty as a result which brutally dropped him down to P18. Bilinski thus inherited the win with Stenshorne in second and van Hoepen in third – a small birthday present for the Dutch driver.
Feature Race
The 2025 F3 Italian Grand Prix Feature Race at Monza will be remembered as one of the best races in Formula 3 history – and a contender for best race anywhere in 2025. It was an all American front row thanks to Brad Benavides and Ugo Ugochukwu. But neither would reach the finish line first in just one of many dramatic twists to this Formula 3 tail.
Dramatic DNFs Aplenty in Monza
It was a race that saw over a sixth of the field eliminated from contention over the twenty-two laps. Wurz, Xie, Barrichello, Ugochukwu, Sharp, Zagazeta and Domingues would all fall before the end of the race. Barrichello and Ugochukwu both had similar incidents – carrying too much speed into Ascari, interacting with the gravel and spinning around and out of the race. The latter’s was a more dramatic affair as he was fighting Benavides hard for the lead on Lap 7 when he crashed.
Wurz had another race to forget as he crashed out early on too, while contact that Zagazeta had with Stenshorne and Taponen forced him into an early retirement.
Five-Way Duel for the Lead
Out in front, Inthraphuvasak, Tsolov, Leon, Benavides and Bilinski were are locked in an epic five way battle for the lead of the race. It ebbed and flow in varying intensities – but was never calm except for when the pack were behind the Safety Car. The Campos drivers of Inthraphuvasak and Tsolov would have to work together in order to secure their team victory in the Team’s Standings. But with some of the exhilarating and bold moves being made by the pair of them, especially on each other, you’d be forgiven for thinking that neither had received that particular memo.
The fearsome five put on a spectacular show and each one of them was deserving of the win. But in the end, in true Highlander style, there could only be one. Inthraphuvasak took the top honours with Tsolov just behind him in second. It would be fair to say that after his disastrous end to the Sprint Race, P2 would feel very much like a more fitting end for the Bulgarian’s season. Benavides narrowly missed out on the podium after being overtaken by Leon on the final lap. Bilinski would settle for seventh in an incredibly strong weekend for the Polish driver.
“Really happy to end this season off with a win, super happy for the team as well, we got the Teams’ title, so just overall really happy.” – Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak
Epic Action Everywhere
Having started from the back of the grid, the question on many people’s minds was what could 2025 Formula 3 Champion Rafael Câmara do from P30? The answer – an absolutely mind-blowing P5. Yes, you read that correctly, P5. On Lap 14, he was already up to P10 and just kept on going. He gained another five positions before the end. Had there been a few more laps, a podium finish would not have been out of the question. It was a very memorable way for Câmara to wrap up his rookie season in Formula 3 – and surely turned the heads of many an F1 team.
Elsewhere, Christian Ho would have his best result since Silverstone by finishing in P13. Stenshorne, Taponen and Nael would not be as fortunate, with P21, P15 and P18 respectively being uncharacteristically bad for the trio.
Formula 3’s Finale in Monza
Formula 3 in Monza is always a treat and in 2025, it was no exception. We got a glimpse of what to expect from newcomer Fernando Barrichello when we made up twelve positions in the Sprint Race. More from him with AIX in 2026. We saw the sheer might of Rafael Câmara too with that epic drive and Campos Racing took their first Championship in either F2 or F3 since GP2 back in 2008!
Not everyone will be back on the grid in 2026 but there are certainly some that deserve to stay. From their performances in Monza alone, Inthraphuvasak, Bilinski and Leon should all return to battle it out for the Championship. Despite his woes this weekend, expect to see more of Ugochukwu next year too. With any luck (and a bit of common sense), you could see Abbi Pulling too – all of which would be great ingredients to make another thrilling season of Formula 3. We can’t wait.
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Formula 3 returns March 6th 2026 in Melbourne, Australia.
Feature Image: Red Bull Content Pool