Nikola Tsolov took victory in the F3 Sprint race in Bahrain after thrilling action on circuit.
After an exciting qualifying where Rafael Câmara took his second pole in just two races, being the first rookie to do so, the Sprint Race followed on Saturday. In the Sprint Race, the top 12 in qualifying are reversed, meaning a Hitech TGR 1-2 for the Sprint Race with Austrian Joshua Dufek on pole ahead of Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne.
It was a warm race, meaning drivers would have to conserve their tyres to a degree. The drivers did have a test at the Bahrain International Circuit between the first round in Australia and the second round in Bahrain, so drivers had a good understanding of what was needed.
Before the start, Bruno del Pino suffered mechanical issues on the grid so he started from pitlane, originally he was to start eighth.
Early Laps
On the start, Dufek, Stenshorne and Freddie Slater duelled for the front three positions. Slater managed to get ahead of the Norwegian at the end of the first sector, going around the outside of Stenshorne. Câmara stalled at the start, which seemingly ruined his chances of a good finish, dropping him so far back that he was behind the medical car. It was a poor start from Alessandro Giusti, who dropped from fourth to sixth. Christian Ho passed Noel Leon for ninth. Nicola Marinangeli picked up a puncture through contact with Nicola Lacorte, with the former retiring on lap four. On the same lap, Louis Sharp and Brando Badoer had a close encounter. All sorts of chaos happened on the opening lap.
On the second lap, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak picked front wing damage and a puncture, ending his chance of scoring points. He did so trying to pass Charlie Wurz.
Three laps in, Slater got ahead of Dufek at turn one with the assistance of DRS. Tsolov also got ahead of Stenshorne into third.
Câmara and Inthraphuvasak got a lifeline, as Ugo Ugochukwu retired with damage after Badoer and Roman Bilinski collided at turn one on lap four, bringing out the first Safety Car of the race.
Badoer’s driving was very aggressive, as he also forced Lacorte out wide while battling for position at turn eight.
First Restart
At the end of lap six, the Safety Car ended. Slater accelerated on the entry of the final braking zone, giving him a good advantage to Dufek, who was passed by Tsolov for second. Giusti, Callum Voisin and Tim Tramnitz were fighting for sixth.
Tuukka Taponen in fifth battled with Stenshorne in fourth, and Taponen tried to hold it around the outside at turn four but was forced out by Stenshorne. Now, Giusti, Voisin, Tramnitz and Ho were right behind this fight, but in general, the whole field barring the bottom three of Badoer, Mari Boya and Inthraphuvasak were within a second.
At the end of lap eight, Bilinski pitted due to his damage.
Tsolov went down the inside of Slater while Stenshorne tried to pass Dufek. Neither stuck with their position, with a brilliant fight between Taponen and Stenshorne for fourth due to Dufek’s defensive driving slowing down Stenshorne. Tsolov went wide and Slater stayed ahead. Stenshorne finally got ahead in the second sector past Dufek, but they no longer had DRS on Tsolov, who was 1.6 seconds ahead at the line. By the start of lap 10, Dufek was down to sixth.
On the same lap, Tsolov and Slater went side by side for almost an entire sector, with Slater remaining ahead of the Bulgarian. Their fighting brought Stenshorne and Taponen back into the race, as they were now within a second.
Dufek continued to drop, as Tramnitz passed him at the end of lap 10. Christian Ho followed him through.
Lap 11 came Slater and Tsolov continued to duel, and Tsolov finally got through at turn one and held it through turn four. Taponen also got through on Stenshorne.
Tsolov attacks Slater once again – this time, the move sticks and he keeps the lead
— Formula 3 (@Formula3) April 12, 2025https://t.co/xAX6ElVdTD#F3 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/Tud0rB4TQr
Chaos in the pack and a Second Caution
Chaos in the pack unfolded, as Theophile Nael, Ivan Domingues, Javier Sagrera, James Wharton and Laurens van Hoepen were barely seperated. Nael suffered mechanical failure, but the scrap for 14th place continued. Sagrera got passed by three cars but got back ahead of Wharton and van Hoepen, as van Hoepen ran very wide as did Wharton. Lacorte was again forced wide. They fell back from the rest of the pack as Sagrera picked up damage from colliding with Nael. Lacorte also picked up damage.
Tsolov reported his rear tyres were ‘dead’ on lap 12.
Now there was three battles in the top ten: the battle for the lead between Tsolov, Slater and Taponen, the battle for fourth between Stenshorne, Giusti and Voisin and the battle for seventh between Tramnitz, Ho, Noah Stromsted and Charlie Wurz.
Giusti tried to pass Stenshorne, but the McLaren junior defended strongly against the Williams junior, which left Giusti vulnerable to Callum Voisin. Voisin made a brilliant move around the outside at turn 11. With five laps left (Lap 15/19), Tsolov led from Slater, Taponen, Stenshorne, Voisin, Giusti, Tramnitz, Ho, Stromsted and Wurz.
On the same lap, Dufek came to a stop at turn one with Domingues, as Domingues made a move down the inside and got sideways, hitting Dufek. Domingues then hit Sagrera. The Safety Car was out, which finally gave a breather for the viewers, commentators, writers and drivers. The order was Tsolov, Slater, Taponen, Stenshorne, Voisin, Giusti, Tramnitz, Ho, Stromsted, Wurz, Leon, Louis Sharp, Sagrera, Wharton, Câmara who made up fifteen positions, van Hoepen, Gerrard Xie, Boya, Matias Zagazeta, Inthraphuvasak, del Pino, Badoer and Bilinski.
Retirements at this stage were all three Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) cars of Domingues, Santiago Ramos and Nael, Dufek, Lacorte, Ugochukwu and Marinangeli. It was an awful day for VAR.
Final Laps
At the end of lap 17, the sprint race got back under way. Tsolov went early, going on the back straight before the final corner. Slater got a run on Tsolov and attempted to go on the outside and ran side by side with him for most of the first two sectors. Stenshorne tried passing Taponen but almost hit him, meaning Voisin had the momentum and got ahead. Tsolov’s defensive driving backed him and Slater into Taponen and Voisin, who remained tight on the front two.
The final lap started and Slater was too far back from Tsolov. Taponen attempted a move on Slater but couldn’t pull it off as he was too far back. Slater lost time from avoiding an incident with Taponen.
Slater closed in the final DRS zone and was tight with Tsolov all the way. Tsolov held on to win by less than a second from Slater, with Taponen in third. It was maiden podiums for Slater and Taponen and a record-equalling fourth win for Tsolov.
Here’s the race results:
- Nikola Tsolov
- Freddie Slater
- Tuukka Taponen
- Callum Voisin
- Martinius Stenshorne
- Tim Tramnitz
- Alessandro Giusti
- Christian Ho
- Charlie Wurz
- Noah Stromsted
- Noel Leon
- Rafael Câmara
- James Wharton
- Louis Sharp
- Mari Boya
- Laurens van Hoepen
- Matias Zagazeta
- Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak
- Bruno del Pino
- Roman Bilinski
- Gerrard Xie
- Javier Sagrera
- Brando Badoer
DNF. Ivan Domingues
DNF. Joshua Dufek
DNF. Santiago Ramos
DNF. Nicola Lacorte
DNF. Theophile Nael
DNF. Ugo Ugochukwu
DNF. Nicola Marinangeli
Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
