The F3 Spanish GP sprint race delivered chaos from lights out to the chequered flag. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Ivan Domingues emerged as a winner in a race that shook up the championship standings.
Early Drama
The sprint race grid was set by reversing the top twelve from Friday’s qualifying session. With Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski on pole position, and championship leader Rafael Câmara starting from twelfth. Bilinski’s pole lap had initially been deleted for track limits before being reinstated upon the stewards’ review post-session.
Alongside Bilinski on the front row was Martinius Stenshorne, with Tim Tramnitz and Tukka Taponen occupying the second row.
The race began with immediate drama. Stenshorne launched well, seizing the lead into Turn 1, while Tramnitz made his way into second. Taponen had a slow start off the grid, with several drivers having to take avoiding action to miss the ART driver. However, his fellow Ferrari academy driver Câmara clipped him and, in turn, lost his front wing.
More chaos unfolded in turn 3 as Tramnitz nudged the back of Stenshorne, causing the Hitech driver to spin off into the gravel, collecting Bilinski in the process. Tramnitz also suffered suspension damage. Within the opening corners, the top four on the grid and the championship leader were all out of the race. Ultimately forcing the safety car to be deployed.
Reshuffled grid
With the top four drivers all retiring from the race, Ivan Domingues inherited the race lead, followed by Noah Strømsted and Laurens Van Hoepen. Domingues who had not scored a single point this season was suddenly in the prime seat to win this race.
However, with Câmara’s early retirement, it opened up the championship, for Nikola Tsolov to make a dent into his lead.
Racing resumed on lap 5 with Ivan Domingues leading the pack away. Behind him, the field reshuffled rapidly. Santiago Ramos made a decisive move on Van Hoepen to claim third. Further back, James Wharton largely benefitted from the early chaos, making his way from P13 and reaching sixth by Lap 10.
Campos brilliance
Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov continued his strong weekend by overtaking Van Hoepen for P4 and then closing in on Ramos for the final podium spot. To the delight of the Red Bull junior, Strømsted’s TRIDENT slowed down, and he was forced to retire. Thus, moving Ramos up to P2, and Tsolov into yet another podium in 2025.
Elsewhere in the field, Tsolov’s hometown hero teammate Mari Boya also put on a show for the crowd, rising to P7 by the chequered flag after making moves on Noel León and Bruno Del Pino.
Ivan Domingues crossed the line to take his first Formula 3 victory, with his teammate Ramos behind. Giving VAR a well-deserved 1-2 finish in Formula 3.
Nikola Tsolov finished the session in third, picking up enough points to close the gap in the championship. he now trails Rafael Câmara by right points. The pair will start alongside each other for tomorrow’s feature race.
Top 10 classification for the F3 Spanish GP Sprint Race.
- Ivan Domingues
- Santiago Ramos
- Nikola Tsolov
- Laurens Vam Hoepen
- Théophile Naël
- Alessandro Giusti
- Mari Boya
- James Wharton
- Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak
- Noél Leon
