Last time out in Monaco, Bulgarian driver Nikola Tsolov took the fight to Championship leader, Rafael Cámara. Closing down the gap between them to just three points, all eyes were on the pair as the final part of a triple header unfolded last weekend in Barcelona. Here’s everything you need to know about it in this week’s edition of the F3 Weekend Round Up.
The Chronicle Headlines
- Rafael Cámara dominated the opening practice session of the weekend.
- Cámara and Tsolov battled it out for Pole in Qualifying, with the Brazilian beating the Bulgarian by just two tenths of a second.
- Roman Bilinski would begin Saturday’s Sprint Race from Reverse Pole.
- VAR made history in the Sprint Race with their first ever 1-2 in Formula 3.
- Rafael Cámara did it AGAIN as he won the Feature Race on Sunday.
- Cámara extends his Championship lead with Trident out in front in the Team Standings.
Free Practice – Cámara Leads the Way
The Spanish sunshine was a massive factor from the get go this F3 weekend. With the heat baring down on the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, drivers and teams wanted to make every single lap count as tyre wear came to the forefront of everyone’s minds.
Championship leader Rafael Cámara put in the fastest lap of the session on his very first attempt – a 1:29.024. The Trident driver would be able to keep everyone else at bay with this time for the remainder of practice.
Alessandro Giusti and Mari Boya chased after Cámara’s time but could only finish as high as second and third respectively. With the heat becoming more predominant as the session went on, it became more difficult for any of the drivers to improve their initial lap times.
Wurz, Stenshorne, Tramnitz, Inthraphuvasak, Voisin, Ramos and Tsolov were the drivers to round out the top ten come the end of practice.
Qualifying – Cámara on Top
Rafael Câmara continued his dominant run from practice into qualifying. The Brazilian was back on top as he claimed pole position. This was his fourth pole in his rookie 2025 season in Formula 3. Nikola Tsolov and Laurens Van Hoepen finished the session in second and third. However, Van Hoepen was noted for an unsafe release.
Qualifying ran pretty smoothly. As usual, drivers came out early doors to set some initial banker lap times and to test out the track conditions. Tyre wear did come into play once again as drivers worked them through multiple build laps to ensure getting them into the correct window necessary for them to extract the maximum out of them.
Despite several attempts by drivers such as Tsolov and Nael in the final ten minutes, nobody could hold a match to Câmara. With Tsolov and Van Hoepen in second and third, it would be Nael and Ramos that completed the top five. P12 qualifier Roman Bilinski would be the driver starting Saturday’s Reverse Grid Sprint Race from Pole.
Sprint Race – Domingues Wins!
Roman Bilinski began Saturday’s Sprint Race on Reverse Pole with Martinius Stenshorne lining up alongside him. But any dreams that the pair had of winning on Saturday would soon come crashing down around them.
As the Sprint Race got underway, the battle for the lead commenced immediately. Stenshorne made a bold move up the inside into T1 to take the lead for himself. It looked briefly like an inspired move as he somehow pulled if off. But contact with Tramnitz – three cars into one corner never goes well – pushed him across the track towards Bilinksi. Inevitably, Stenshorne made contact with Bilinski and both cars tumbled off the track together and into the barriers. Their races were done.
Tramnitz went wide into T3 as a result of the contact. The German driver went off into the gravel and subsequently out of the race. Just like that, the top three from the Sprint Race were out in just the first few corners.
Drama for Câmara!
Ahead of Cámara on the starting grid, Tuukka Taponen stalled as the red lights went out to start the race. Unable to avoid him in time as he got his own race started, Câmara drove straight into the back of the Finnish driver. The damage sustained to both cars was too severe for either one of them to continue.
With less than one lap of racing completed, one sixth of the field had already been eliminated from contention.
Action Everywhere!
Santiago Ramos proceeded to overtake Van Hoepen down into T1 with a brilliant overtake. Tsolov then went past him a few laps later to take fourth place.
Further back, Mari Boya sold the dummy in brilliant fashion to del Pino into T5. He overtook him on the inside of the corner to claim P10. Not waiting around, Boya went on to overtake Leon at the start of the following lap too.
Stromstead was closing up to Domingues as the laps were counting down and threatened to ruin his day. But suddenly, Stromstead slowed down unexpectedly! He entered the pits with an unknown issue with four laps left in the race and was forced to retire – heartbreak for the Danish driver.
Could VAR make History?
It was now a VAR 1-2 with Ivan Domingues and Santiago Ramos out in front. Up until now, VAR had never taken a 1-2 finish as a team in Formula 3 before. Would now be the time that history could be made?
On the final lap of the race, a yellow flag was suddenly brandished! This was because of a stray wheel rolling along the track by itself. It transpired that it had come from the rear right of the AIX car of Garfias. Thankfully, he was able to pull over to one side safely.
Ivan Domingues swept across the start-finish straight to win the Sprint Race in Barcelona for VAR. Santiago Ramos came home in P2 with Nikola Tsolov rounding out the podium in third.
Van Hoepen finished in fourth with Nael in fifth. Giusti finished in a brilliant sixth place with Maria Boya in seventh. Wharton finished in eighth and so claimed his first points of the year. Inthraphuvasak finished in P9 with Leon rounding out the top ten.
Feature Race – Cámara Wins Again!
Starting Sunday’s Feature Race from a record breaking fourth pole position of the season, all eyes were on Rafael Cámara. The Ferrari junior driver got off the line well and seemed immediately at ease as the rest of the pack shuffled around behind him. One of the drivers who didn’t do so well at getting away from their starting position was Nikola Tsolov. Cámara’s main Championship rival started from fifth but was quickly swallowed up by the chasing pack, putting the Bulgarian driver at an immediate disadvantage.
Roman Bilinski would continue to have a weekend to forget in Spain. Contact with Jose Garfias brought out the Safety Car on Lap 3. The pair came together at T4 and came to an abrupt halt.
Race Restart – But not for Long!
Martinius Stenshorne took fourth place from Taponen through T1 as the race began again. Giusti then made a smooth move on Stenshorne to take that place from him just a few laps later. There’s always another driver looking to claim the position that you’ve just taken.
Then, on lap eighteen, contact between Nicola Lacorte and Brando Badoer added another twist to the Feature Race. The PREMA Racing driver got stuck in the gravel trap at T1, which brought the Safety Car back out onto the track. By the end of the Feature Race, Lacorte would have accumulated at least thirty seconds worth of penalties for his various antics.
End of the Feature Race
With Nael, Van Hoepen and Giusti battling hard with one another, Cámara began to stretch his legs. With only a smattering of laps left, there was nothing that any of the other drivers could do to take the fight to him. He crossed the line 2.1 seconds ahead of P2.
Théophile Nael claimed second place over the finish line for Van Amersfoort Racing. Alessandro Giusti overtook Van Hoepen for third position on the final lap of the race. His podium for MP Motorsport was also his first podium in the Formula 3 Championship.
Van Hoepen, Tsolov, Domingues, Tramnitz, Stromstead, Stenshore and Voisin completed the top ten.
F3 Weekend Round Up
Saturday’s Sprint Race was a bit of a chaotic melee for all involved. Sunday’s Feature Race was a much tamer one in comparison and saw Cámara back on top. He continues to lead the Championship with a twenty six point gap back to Tsolov in second.
Trident lead the Team Standings with 170 points. Camos Racing are their nearest rivals with 130 points with MP Motorsport four points away from them in third.
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Formula 3 returns for the sixth round of the 2025 season in Spielberg, Austria on June 27th.
Image Credits: Red Bull Content Pool