The 2026 Australian Grand Prix is about to get underway! The F2 and F3 drivers will take to the track in their only free practice sessions tomorrow morning here in Melbourne. As we wait for racing to begin, let’s take a look at what happened last year!
The 2025 race weekend brought sun, rain and tumultuous gale winds, in typical Melbourne fashion. It resulted in a very interesting weekend of racing for the drivers across both championships.
Formula 3
Perfect Start for the Future Champion
Rafael Câmara started his rookie campaign with a clean sweep over Practice and Qualifying on Friday. This performance set the tone for the rest of the season. In the last 15 minutes of Qualifying, he took his TRIDENT car to P1, clearing the field by half a second. And after a shunt into the wall from Brando Badoer, the session was not resumed. Câmara held onto pole position and sealed the great weekend with his first Feature Race win on Sunday.
A New Race Winner
With the reverse-grid order on Saturday, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos led the field away at the green flag. The driver controlled the race, holding off eventual P2 podium sitter Martinius Stenshorne to claim his first race win in Formula 3. In his debut, Roman Bilinski claimed the final spot on the podium. It was a tough battle for those behind Ramos, who held position despite many attempts by the drivers behind him to overtake him.
Formula 2
Drama Before It Began
It was a constant jostle for position in F2 Qualifying with pole position flitting back and forth between Victor Martins, Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriele Minì. However, in the final minutes of the session, Minì beat Martins to pole position, with Jak Crawford following three-tenths behind in P3. However, as three teams faced penalties for breaches of regulations during pre-season testing, the order for both the Sprint and Feature races shifted.
The One and Only Race
With the reverse-grid and penalties taken into account, Fornaroli sat in P1 for the Sprint race. However, AIX’s Joshua Dürksen had a quick reaction to the start lights, smoothly getting past Fornaroli to claim P1. The Paraguayan driver held onto first place despite two Safety Car restarts. Fornaroli followed Dürksen over the line, with Luke Browning rounding out the podium in P3.
Rain, Rain, Rain!
F3: In a Feature race predominantly led by the Safety Car, Câmara kept his cool, clearing the pack early once it was safe to begin racing. However, with the tricky conditions not letting up, the Red Flag was eventually thrown up on Lap 18, and Câmara claimed the first feature race win of the season.
F2: After the earlier F3 race was cancelled, F2 red-flagged the Feature race before it began in the hopes of the rain eventually letting up. However, after following behind the Safety Car for an exploratory lap, it was decided that the race would ultimately be cancelled due to the excessive downpour. As no racing laps were completed, no points were awarded on Sunday.
Everything Trackside will be reporting live from the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, so make sure to follow along to see what will happen at this year’s season opener.
Feature Image Credit: Formula 3