Round Two – Bahrain – Sport Grill

Roundup of the second round of the 2025 F3 season as the grid touched down in Bahrain.

Rafael Camara arrived in Bahrain as the championship leader as several drivers looked to ignite a title challenge, but the Brazilian continued to prove that he is a serious title contender despite only being a rookie driver.

Practice

Rodin’s Callum Voisin, Louis Sharp and Roman Bilinski were first out on track in a very quiet start as many drivers opted to stay in the pits, having conducted much of their practice programme during the in-season test at the same circuit just a fortnight earlier.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Ivan Domingues however was the first to set the benchmark time of 2m 29.905 in the seventh minute, although he eventually lowered his benchmark to 1m 52.776 six minutes later,

With 15 minutes left on the clock, the remainder of the field began to join the on-track action and it was Campos’ Nikola Tsolov who soon set the pace with seven minutes left, as he posted 1m 51.111 to go fastest.

Championship leader, Camara however wasn’t to be outdone with three minutes left as he posted 1m 50.984 to top the session from Tsolov and ART GP’s Tuukka Taponen.

Qualifying

Like in Practice, Voisin, Sharp and Bilinski were first out on track but it was Hitech GP’s Gerrard Xie who set the initial benchmark of 2m 14.568, until Voisin laid a representative benchmark of 1m 51.302 which was soon beaten as Tsolov set the pace on 1m 50.506 after the opening runs.

Voisin however responded in his second stint with 1m 49.882 to go onto provisional pole from Giusti and Camara ahead of the final runs.

Camara however proved unbeatable as he produced a 1m 49.214 to snatch pole from Voisin by 0.156 seconds, whilst Wurz, Ho, Del Pino, Taponen, Strømsted, Tsolov, Giusti, Slater, Stenshorne and Dufek rounded out the top 12, – of which Dufek claimed reverse pole for the sprint.

Sprint Race

At lights out, Dufek led Stenshorne and Slater who quickly demoted Stenshorne round the outside of Turn 4, whilst Tsolov and Taponen cleared Giusti for fourth and fifth but Camara stalled from 12th on the grid to ruin any hopes of a top-ten finish for the Brazilian.

Up front, Slater caught Dufek and passed the Austrian driver for the lead into Turn 1 on Lap 3, but the safety car was deployed a lap later following a collision between PREMA’s Brando Badoer and Ugo Ugochukwu which saw the latter spin out.

Racing resumed on Lap 7 and Tsolov – having earlier cleared Stenshorne for third – quickly passed Dufek for second as the Hitech driver began to tumble down the order, which left the Bulgarian to chase down Slater but he got his braking wrong as he attempted to take the lead on Lap 9 at Turn 1.

Slater mounted a resilient defensive drive until Tsolov eventually passed him on Lap 11 at the same corner, whilst Taponen cleared Stenshorne for third on that same lap.

The safety car was redeployed on Lap 15 after Domingues spun out himself and Dufek at the first corner.

Racing recommenced on Lap 18 but Tsolov clung on to snatch a nervy record-equalling fourth victory of his F3 career ahead of debutant, Slater by 0.580s, whilst Taponen rounded out the podium ahead of Voisin and Stenshorne.

Tim Tramnitz recovered seven positions from 13th on the grid to finish sixth ahead of Giusti, Ho, Wurz and Strømsted.

Camara managed to finish 12th on the road which saw his title lead cut slightly to eight points as Stenshorne moved into second ahead of Strømsted, Nael and Bedrin – who had been replaced by Slater for this round as the Brit claimed the fastest lap point which put him tenth in the standings.

Feature Race

Camara lost the lead off the line to Voisin who managed to get the inside line into the opening corner as Wurz and Ho held positions in third and fourth, whilst Del Pino lost fifth to Taponen who then dispatched Ho a lap later for fourth.

Up front, Voisin briefly lost the lead to Camara at the first corner of Lap 3 but regained the lead with a cutback out of Turn 4, yet couldn’t stop the Brazilian from repassing him two laps later into Turn 1 as the rookie soon afterwards sped away to a two-second plus gap.

Taponen meanwhile passed Wurz for third on Lap 7 into Turn 1 as the Finnish driver continued his strong weekend for ART GP.

Strømsted, Tramnitz and Tsolov dispatched Ho in quick succession but Strømsted lost fifth to Tramnitz on Lap 12 as the German got the cutback out of Turn 4, whilst Tsolov followed through a lap later.

Taponen eventually headed a DRS train come Lap 15 with Wurz, Tramnitz, Tsolov and Strømsted at the front of the chasing pack behind the ART GP driver, until Tramnitz passed Wurz for fourth around the outside of Turn 4 on Lap 17  then he repeated the move two laps later to take third from Taponen.

Camara eventually cruised to a comfortable victory over Voisin whilst Tramnitz rounded off the podium from 13th on the grid ahead of; Taponen, Tsolov, Strømsted, Giusti, Boya, Del Pino and Ho.

Camara extended his title lead to 24 points as Tramnitz and Voisin climbed to second and third respectively.

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