The Formula 3 2025 Post Season Test concludes, with Campos Racing and MP Motorsport showing their pace during the post-season test in Jerez.
The post-season test in Jerez marks the first of three post-season tests drivers will participate in as they prepare for their upcoming campaign in F3.
On Day 1, Alessandro Giusti topped the timing sheets with a 1:30.732 in the morning session. The Frenchman wound up second in the afternoon segment, just behind teammate Tuukka Taponen, who was quickest with a 1:31.980.
On Day 2, Campos Racing driver Ugo Ugochukwu completed a 1:30.012 in the morning session to set the fastest time of the test. The American driver followed that up with the second-quickest time in the afternoon, with his rookie teammate Ernesto Rivera leading the way with a 1:30.605.
With the post-season testing set to continue in Barcelona and Imola, there’s no better time to examine the importance of these tests for both teams and drivers.
What Is A Post Season Test? Hasn’t The Season Already Concluded?
The tradition of post-season testing in F3 started with the inaugural FIA F3 Championship in 2019, which replaced the GP3 Series. That year, Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit hosted the series’s first post-season test.
Since then, Spain has remained a consistent host of the event, with Jerez and Barcelona alternating their duties for post-season testing. This year’s F3 post season test took place in Jerez, giving teams a chance to begin their preparations for 2026.
Beyond this, teams often use this period for several objectives, including driver evaluation, gathering more data on various setups, or adapting to new machinery before the next season if there is an incoming regulation change.
Who Took Part In This Year’s F3 Post Season Test?
This first of three post-season test for F3 this year took place in Jerez from October 7th to 8th, with 17 drivers participating in the post-season Jerez test, having raced in the Championship, and 13 rookies getting their first run in F3 machinery.
Noah Stromsted, who finished sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, was the highest returning driver from the 2025 Standings to join the test. What’s more, this year’s post-season Jerez test represented 18 different countries, with AIX Racing’s Yevan David set to be the first Sri Lankan driver to race in F3 next season.
FIA Formula 3 Post-Season Testing Jerez Entry List
| Team | Driver | License |
| PREMA Racing | 1. James Wharton 2. Louis Sharp 3. Enzo Deligny | AUS NZL FRA |
| TRIDENT | 4. Noah Stromsted 5. Freddie Slater 6. Matteo De Palo | DEN GBR ITA |
| ART Grand Prix | 7. Maciej Gladysz 8. Taito Kato 9. Kanato Le | POL FRA JPN |
| Campos Racing | 10. Ugo Ugochukwu 11. Ernesto Rivera 12. Theophile Nael | USA MEX FRA |
| Hitech TGR | 14. Fionn Mclaughlin 15. Michael Shin 16. Jin Nakamura | IRL KOR JPN |
| MP Motorsport | 17. Mattia Colnaghi 18. Tuukka Taponen 19. Alessandro Giusti | ITA FIN FRA |
| Van Amersfoort Racing | 20. Hiyu Yamakoshi 21. Jesse Carrasquedo 22. Bruno Del Pino | JPN MEX ESP |
| Rodin Motorsport | 23. Pedro Clerot 24. Christian Ho 25. Brando Badoer | BRA SGP ITA |
| AIX Racing | 26. Fernando Barrichello 27. Yevan David 28. Brad Benavides | BRA SRI USA |
| DAMS Lucas Oil | 29. Nicola Lacorte 30. Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi 31. Gerrard Xie | ITA THA CHN |
What Happened In This Year’s F3 Post Season Test?
Day 1: Alessandro Giusti Ends Day 1 of Jerez Post-Season Test On Top
Back with MP Motorsport for a second season, Alessandro Giusti topped the timing sheets as the first day of post-season testing in Jerez came to a close, with the French driver setting the pace with a 1:30.732 in the morning session.
Here, Tuukka Taponen set the pace on the first set of push laps with a 1:31.556 — only a tenth and a half ahead of his teammate Mattia Colnaghi. The second hour of running, however, would come to a halt as James Wharton stopped at the Turn 11 chicane, bringing out the red flags.
As the morning session ended, it was the MP Motorsports drivers who dominated the field, with Giusti topping the timing sheets — 0.305 seconds quicker than teammate Colnaghi, thanks to a 1:30:732, and TRIDENT driver Freddie Slater jumping to second place.
There were no further changes to the top of the leaderboard for the rest of the session, with Giusti leading the way ahead of Slater and Colnaghi. Jesse Carrasquedo was fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing as Taponen rounded out the top five.
In the afternoon, two red flags interrupted the drivers’ focus on long runs — the first was waved with Ernesto Riviera stopping on track at Turn 8, while the second was deployed for Noah Stromsted stopping on track at Turn 2.
As the clock wound down below 10 minutes, Taponen went to P1 with a 1:31.980, with Giusti in second, 0.121s behind, while Gerrard Xie was third for DAMS Lucas Oil. Coming in fourth and fifth for the afternoon session were Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu and Rodin Motorsports’ Christian Ho, with the Singaporean setting his best lap time of 1:32.229.
Day 2: Ugo Ugochukwu fastest in Jerez as Campos sweep final day of post-season
testing
It was a fast start to the day as teams focused their attention on qualifying simulations, with Freddie Slater setting the early benchmark of a 1:31:782.
Soon, the times dropped quickly as the late runners came out to set faster lap times, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Bruno del Pino clocking a 1:31.053 to go quickest, before improving to a 1:30.765 on his next lap. TRIDENT’s Noah Stromsted was his closest challenger in P2, just over a tenth off the pace.
When teams bought their drivers in for another set of Hard tyres, it was Rodin Motorsport’s Christian Ho who went fastest on a 1:30.437, with Slater in second, 0.070s behind. Ugo Ugochukwu would eventually return to the top of the leadership with a 1:30.012, and while Slater improved on his next attempt, he was still over three-tenths behind the leading time in second.
As the morning session came to an end, the focus on long-run performance during the final hour of the session, along with several Red Flag stoppages, meant that there were no changes to the leaderboard, with Ugochukwu remaining the fastest of all.
Afternoon Session
Come afternoon, Ugochukwu picked up where he left off in the morning as he clocked a 1:30.890 on his first lap of the session, before his teammate Rivera demoted him to second with a 1:30.605. The Mexican driver’s time remained unbeaten for the rest of the session as teams focused their attentions on race pace.
While the top two stayed put, the Hitech TGR trio of Nakamura, Michael Shin and Fionn McLaughlin followed in behind to round out the top five. With just over 30 minutes left in the test, the Red Flags were waved after the ART Grand Prix rookie Kanato Le stooped on track at Turn 9.
Once the action resumed, several drivers were able to improve, but no one could eclipse the top five on the leaderboard. That brought an end to the post-season test in Jerez, where Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi clocked the most mileage with 157 laps across the two days.
€1 Million Prize Fund For F3: What This Means For The Series?
F3 recently announced that the five highest placed drivers in the F3 Drivers’ Championship standings will be awarded a €1 million prize fund from the 2025 season onwards.
The distribution of the prize will be as follows:
- Champion: €300,000
- 2nd Place: €250,000
- 3rd Place: €200,000
- 4th Place: €150,000
- 5th Place: €100,000
However, there’s a small catch: the prize requires drivers to race for F2 the following year, or the fund will go to the next highest-placed driver(s). Plus, this €1 million prize fund adds on to the existing Pirelli 300,000-euro prize awarded to the F3 Champion.
“I am pleased to announce this million-euro fund, which will benefit the five highest-placed Formula 3 drivers, alongside the substantial prize offered by our partner, Pirelli, which goes to the Champion. It is vital to support emerging talent on their road to Formula 1. Formula 3 is a fantastic training ground for these young racers to hone their skills to move up the pyramid, and this additional financial reward will help them to go even further in their efforts towards the pinnacle of motorsport.” — Bruno Michel, FIA F3 CEO
Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of F1, echoes similar sentiments, mentioning that such an incentive would hopefully help motivate drivers in the championship and provide them with a “very valuable and well-deserved reward” for their success.
Incentives like these are not uncommon in other series. They can provide much-needed support to younger talent in the feeder series as they progress through the ranks in their quest to reach F1, which often imposes a significant financial burden on drivers. All in all, this marks an exciting future for the series as we continue with post-season testing.
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The second Formula 3 2025 Post Season Test will take place in Barcelona from the 15th to 16th of October.
Featured Image Credit: Prema Racing