Photo: BMW Motorsport

Tim Tramnitz has been announced as a BMW works driver for 2026, but he will be in a single-seater car this week.

The 21-year-old German will drive for Hitech GP in this week’s FIA Formula 3 pre-season test at Barcelona, sitting in for Michael Shin who has signed to race for the team this year.

Shin, who is moving across from Euroformula, has been ruled out of action at present due to a shoulder injury.

For the last two years, Tramnitz has raced for MP Motorsport in the FIA F3 Championship. He came ninth in 2024 with a sprint race win and three other podiums, and was fourth in 2025.

Following a run of seven successive top-five finishes, including a sprint race win and a feature race podium, Tramnitz’s form went downhill and after his first runner-up finish in a feature race he only scored one point in the last seven races.

“I am super happy to now be part of the BMW M Motorsport family and look forward to the challenge,” he said of his next career move.

“For me, this is a big step, as I have dreamed of becoming a works driver for a major manufacturer since my time in karting. I would like to thank everyone involved for their trust and can’t wait to contest my first races at the wheel of the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.”

It has not been announced which championship Tramnitz will race the BMW M4 GT3 Evo in through this year, and his new contract with the German automobile manufacturer comes despite no prior GT sportscar racing experience.

Another junior single-seater star to be signed by a sportscar brand for 2026 is 20-year-old Joseph Loake, who has become a factory driver for McLaren in GT racing.

Back in 2023, Loake took four wins in GB3 to come third in the standings and put himself in contention for the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award. After impressing in the on-track tests as one of the four finalists, the Briton earned himself a prize Formula 1 test with Aston Martin which he completed at Silverstone a year later.

His main focus in 2024 was FIA F3, in which he came 26th in the standings with eight points. They were scored in the two Monaco races.

Last year he made a USF Pro 2000 cameo and finished fifth on debut, as well as racing in sportscars for McLaren customer team Garage 59 in GT World Challenge Europe. He and his team-mates came seventh in the Endurance Cup with one podium.

The post Tim Tramnitz becomes BMW works driver, gets F3 test call-up appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

The Mercedes-AMG and Red Bull Racing Formula 1 teams have released several of the young talents in their driver development programmes.

At Mercedes there are four departees: Yuanpu Cui, Julia Montlaur, Alex Powell and Noah Stromsted.

Powell joined in 2019, Cui had been a member since 2021 (with both signed while in karting), while Montlaur and Stromsted only spent one year with Mercedes’ backing.

Switching from the dominant Prema team to R-ace GP in Formula 4 last year sapped Powell’s career momentum. Although he started his third year in the category by being F4 Middle East runner-up, winning five races, he had a harder time in Europe. The Jamaican was fifth in E4 with one victory, and ninth in Italian F4 with two wins.

Cui spent one year in F4 before stepping up to Formula Regional, but had a chopped up 2025. He was points-free as a part-timer in FRegional Middle East, also failed to score from two rounds in the European championship and raced for two teams in GB3 where he did five of the eight rounds and two sixth places were his best results en route to 18th in the standings.

Stromsted’s run to sixth in the 2024 FREC season earned him a spot in the Mercedes-AMG F1 Junior Team, and with its backing he came sixth in the FIA Formula 3 Championship as a rookie with Trident. He took a sprint race win and two feature race podiums, and will remain with Trident for 2026.

The 12-year-old Montlaur hails from France, where she had raced in mini karting with little success before being signed by Mercedes. Last year she came 13th in the Champions of the Future Academy Program on OK-N Junior karts, and 21st in the French championship’s junior class.

At the Red Bull Junior Team, there is an exodus of six drivers including Formula E-bound Pepe Marti. Still in junior single-seaters, but no longer with Red Bull, are Jules Caranta, Christopher Feghali, Oliver Goethe, Niklas Schaufler and Tim Tramnitz.

Goethe and Tramnitz both spent two years as RBJT members, and came seventh and ninth respectively in the 2024 FIA F3 season. Tramnitz remained in the championship for 2025, improving to fourth in the points with one win, while Goethe stepped up to Formula 2 and came 15th. He had four top-five finishes but no podiums.

Caranta, Feghali and Schaufler were all 2025 signings. After coming third in French F4 as a single-seater rookie the preceding year, Caranta stepped up to Eurocup-3 with Red Bull’s backing and was seventh in the winter series then sixth in the main championship. Across the two, he netted five podium finishes.

Feghali and Schaufler went up against each other in Spanish F4 last year. It was Feghali who made the podium in both the main and winter championships, but Schaufler who scored more in both, coming seventh in the shorter campaign and 10th in the main one.

The post Mercedes-AMG and Red Bull reduce their junior team ranks appeared first on Formula Scout.

30. Sebastian Wheldon

New entry • F4 returnee went global with wins in Europe and UAE

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

After winning a Formula 4 title in 2023 in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series and starring in USF Juniors cars in 2024, Wheldon returned to F4 machinery for his third year in single-seaters but relocated his career from the United States to Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

He joined the Prema team to race in three championships this year, starting off with F4 Middle East (after a winning debut in the Formula Trophy at the end of 2024). Wheldon began his campaign with a podium, then two further top-five finishes put him seventh in the standings, behind three of his team-mates.

In Italian F4 he had a far more successful time, and again started on a high with victory and fastest lap in the season opener. A second place followed in his next race, then in rounds two and three he took a win and another podium each time.

There was a dry run of three podium-free rounds that followed, but in the season-closing quintuple-header at Misano three of the wins and two of the poles went to Wheldon. Those results put him third in the standings, not far from second, while in the sister E4 championship he came fourth with one win and two other podiums.

Wheldon’s year ended with the FIA F4 World Cup in Macau, where he set the pace in practice and qualifying. He crashed out at the first braking zone of the qualification race, but impressively recovered to fourth in the main race.

29. Victor Martins

Down 9 • Results didn’t reflect rapid pace in F2

Photo: Williams Racing

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

The Williams junior was the fastest driver in Formula 2 this year, yet came 11th in the standings. He failed to see the chequered flag six times, and only had a podium view three times.

Martins was on pole for the feature races in Melbourne and Silverstone, his average starting position was fifth and his median starting position was 2.5 due to being so consistently near the top in qualifying.

He finished higher than where he started in nine races, usually slipping back since he only had the 13th best race pace in the field. But at the ART Grand Prix team, that still translated into being able to score over three times as many points as his team-mate.

Lots of things did not go Martins’ way during the year, most notably having his two poles do nothing for his race chances. In Melbourne the race was cancelled, and wet weather at Silverstone led to him dropping down the order and coming 19th. He was also on the receiving end of contact from some of his less mature rivals, but that was an accepted risk in opting to remain at this level for a third year – a commitment that ultimately didn’t pay off.

28. Alex Ninovic

New entry • GB3 champion with victories in five countries

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Although he was taking a step up Britain’s single-seater ladder, 2024 British F4 runner-up Ninovic faced many new circuits as he graduated to GB3. However it was at those venues where he outshone his usual rivals, ultimately leading to title success.

Only half of this season’s rounds were in Britain, and the championship’s new, more powerful car presented further challenges. In the opening round, Ninovic had a fourth, a fifth and a non-finish and left the event seventh in the standings.

It only took four more races for Ninovic to move up into the points lead, and from there he continued to score big and was crowned with a 148-point gap to second place.

The Australian won from pole at Zandvoort, Spa-Francorchamps, the Hungaroring, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park and Monza, with double victories at the two British tracks. He was GB3’s only driver to star at ‘home’ and abroad.

27. Martinius Stenshorne

Re-entry • F3’s top sprint race scorer

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Stenshorne was ninth in Formula Scout’s end-of-year list in 2023, when he was Formula Regional European Championship runner-up, and last year he stepped up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Hitech GP. Although he won a sprint race, he scored no feature race points until the season-ending race where he finished fifth and took fastest lap.

For 2025 he decided to stay with Hitech, and a new F3 car made it difficult to build on any end-of-2024 momentum.

But Stenshorne delivered from the off, starting his sophomore campaign on the podium, winning the Monaco sprint race, taking victory in the Red Bull Ring feature race from 15th on the grid and claiming two other podiums in the season’s second half to make him the year’s top scorer in sprint races.

He more than doubled his 2024 points tally, improved to fifth in the standings after being 18th as a rookie, was in the top seven on single-lap and race pace and delivered all but one of Hitech’s points. Now no longer a McLaren junior but still guided by Nicolas Todt’s All Road Management, he also ran highly on his F2 debut in Baku.

26. Evan Giltaire

Up 14 • FRME champion also starred in FREC

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Giltaire first started racing for ART GP in FREC back in 2023, and his first full season last year may have only featured two podiums but his haul of 97 points from eight races that he finished in the top 10 put him seventh in the standings.

This year he more than doubled his number of points-scoring races, came close to doubling his 2024 points tally, more than doubled his podium count and claimed his first two poles. For the second season in a row the highlight was in the opening round, this year at Misano, where Giltaire broke his pole duck and converted it into his sole victory of 2025.

Before FREC was FRegional Middle East, and that campaign led to the second title of Giltaire’s single-seater career. In a series new to him and the team, he won three times and had five other podiums from the five-round season, allowing him to beat Freddie Slater to the crown.

A similar title challenge in FREC ultimately didn’t follow after he went seven rounds without a podium, but Giltaire was back on form at the end of the year and starred too at the Macau Grand Prix. In qualifying he was third fastest, he finished fourth in the qualification race then was sixth in the main race.

25. Pedro Clerot

New entry • Uber-consistent FREC campaign earned plaudits

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Aside from a points-free weekend at Spa and a single 10th place finish in Hungary, Clerot’s lowest result in FREC this year was seventh as he utilised a superb level of consistency to come fourth in the standings and only miss out on third on victory countback.

Clerot’s highest-scoring weekend was at Zandvoort, where he claimed a double pole and converted first place on the grid into a victory and a second place. He was also on pole at the Red Bull Ring, where he won again and was fourth in the event’s other race, and he collected four other podiums in rounds at the Hungaroring, Barcelona and Monza.

The Brazilian became the first Van Amersfoort Racing driver in FREC to surpass 200 points in a campaign since 2020, and his seven podiums was a haul nobody driving for the team has ever bettered.

There was a run of four rounds where Clerot was in the top five in every race, which not even the champion achieved this year.

24. Gabriel Gomez

New entry • Marked himself out by threatening Prema’s Italian F4 supremacy

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Having only been 18th in Spanish F4 last year, driving for the inexperienced TC Racing team, it wasn’t expected that Gomez’s switch to US Racing for his second full year in single-seaters would lead to him being one of the best F4 drivers on the globe.

His title-winning potential was shown from the off, as he started the Formula Winter Series with two wins and two poles. He remained on the podium through the next seven races, including another win and three more poles, and he was crowned champion by a huge margin.

Prema was not present in that paddock, whereas Gomez had to take on the drivers of the dominant Italian outfit when he then headed to Italian F4 and E4. In the former he won four times, took seven other podiums and five poles, inflicting defeat on Prema more times than anyone else. In the latter championship, lasting nine races, he had two wins and three second places.

Although he was far from Prema’s champion in both, Gomez was runner-up in the standings twice and has a lot of career momentum behind him now.

23. Tim Tramnitz

Up 12 • Solid second F3 season was built on strong early form

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Quietly impressive is the best way to describe Tramnitz’s sophomore FIA F3 campaign, as he scored strongly enough while his MP Motorsport team was on the pace early in the season that, even with a six-race points-free run following that, he finished fourth in the standings.

He was the fourth-highest scorer on the grid in feature races, making the podium at Bahrain and the Red Bull Ring and finishing fifth in Melbourne and Monaco. Tramnitz’s two team-mates’ combined points tally from the season was less than his, and he outperformed his season-long data metrics thanks to maximising the package he had early in the campaign.

While he only qualified in the top five twice, and there were no standout results, Tramnitz was getting the job done on track each race in a way few others were able to when F3’s new car was introduced.

22. Theophile Nael

Re-entry • Macau GP win followed starring F3 drives

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

Nael was 16th in this list in 2023, when he romped to the Spanish F4 title. He continued to impress last year, but with less headline results as he continued with Sainteloc Racing for the step up to FREC and FRME.

He won once in each championship, and decided to stick with the French team again into 2025. This time he only did three FRME rounds, with a return of three podiums that was still enough to put him seventh in the standings.

Focus moved on from that point to FIA F3, which meant having to leave his long-time team. Nael joined VAR, and enjoyed a stellar start to life at his new home. He qualified third on his F3 debut, rising from 10th to seventh in Melbourne’s sprint race and making the podium in the feature race.

His next points came in round five at Barcelona, and it was a similar story. He qualified fourth, rose to fifth in the sprint race and second in the feature race. There was only one point next time out at the Red Bull Ring, as VAR lacked qualifying pace, but Nael starred again in the feature race Silverstone with a charge from ninth to second. Further points finishes put him eighth in the standings – the third-highest rookie – with more points than his two team-mates combined.

Nael capped off 2025 at the Macau GP. Driving for Pinnacle Motorsport, he set the qualifying pace and stayed cannily in contention through the two races to wind up as winner of the grand prix.

21. Lochie Hughes

Up 9 • Continued stellar rise up road to Indy

Photo: James Black

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Hughes has sped up the Road to Indy, coming third in USF2000 in 2023, winning the 2024 USF Pro 2000 title and placing third in his rookie Indy Nxt season this year.

The Andretti Global driver was on the podium in seven out of the first eight races, with the exception being a fifth place (with the fastest lap) around the tricky Detroit street circuit.

In just his third weekend in the championship, Hughes claimed a double pole on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course and converted those into a victory and a second place.

His next win was at Gateway, his first ever oval race at this level, and a performance that left the Australian in shock as he found a level of extreme confidence on the high line. He also made the podium on an oval at the Milwaukee Mile.

Hughes was third fastest on single-lap pace across the season and fourth on race pace, and for drivers who were stepping up to single-seaters’ second tier he was way clear of the next best driver who was 13th in the standings.

Written by Ida Wood

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2025: 30-21 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Roman Bilinski has been awarded his maiden FIA Formula 3 win after Tim Tramnitz was penalised.

Tramnitz won the race on the road but was summoned to see the stewards over an alleged failure to engage the start set-up procedure at the start of the formation lap.

As outlined by the stewards’ report, “a defined set-up procedure activation is mandatory for the start of the formation lap and start of the race.

“As usual, Race Control checked all cars regarding the engagement of the start set-up procedure at the start of the formation lap and found that only car 17 [Tramnitz] had not engaged it.”

This was a breach of Article 1.6.1 of the technical regulations and Article 11.15 of the F3 user manual, and Tramnitz was given a 10-second time penalty.

This demoted him to 18th in the results and dents his hopes of improving upon his fourth place in the drivers’ standings ahead of Sunday’s season-ending sprint race.

Noel Leon and Rafael Camara were also penalised after the race. Leon was given a five-second penalty for the contact with Charlie Wurz that also impacted Brando Badoer as they tried to go three-wide into the first corner late in the race.

The stewards explained that they considered “the highly dynamic and confusion situation to be a mitigating circumstance, with Leon surprised to hear that they were three-wide into the corner” and thus penalised him only 5s rather than the usual 10s. Leon drops from eighth to 19th in the results.

Camara was given a 10s penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while defending against fellow Ferrari junior Tuukka Taponen. This demoted the champion from 12th to 25th after he had worked his way up from 30th and last on the grid.

The post Bilinski handed first F3 win after Tramnitz penalty appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

Tim Tramnitz won the last sprint race of the FIA Formula 3 season at Monza to boost his hopes of finishing second in the championship.

The Red Bull junior started from third and didn’t make as good a launch as fellow front-row starter Tuukka Taponen, who was able to get down the inside of front-row starters Laurens van Hoepen and Martinius Stenshorne, only to run straight on. Van Hoepen and Stenshorne also cut across the apex of Turn 2; van Hoepen was first to Turn 4, only for Stenshorne to get the cutback and claim the lead.

The safety car was deployed at the end of the first lap after Ivan Domingues had crashed into the wall at Turn 1, while Brad Benavides had to pit for a new front wing after running into the back of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at Ascari, punting him through the gravel.

Stenshorne got a good gap at the restart while van Hoepen was able to hold off Tramnitz into Turn 1 but not at Turn 4, where the MP Motorsport driver was able to claim second.

Four laps later, Tramnitz moved into the lead past Stenshorne, while Roman Bilinski was up into third having been seventh at the restart. Just behind, Ugo Ugochukwu somehow kept his car out of the wall when he lost control ducking out from behind Matias Zagazeta

Bilinski got up the inside of Stenshorne for second place three laps later, only for Stenshorne to cut Turn 2 and fight back down the inside of Turn 4. The McLaren junior would give the place up on the following lap after instruction from his Hitech team.

Tramnitz had broken over a second clear of this battle but his efforts would be undone by a late safety car after Noel Leon, Charlie Wurz and Brando Badoer collided trying to go three-wide into the first corner.

The race resumed with just one lap remaining and Tramnitz made an excellent restart to secure his third F3 sprint race win, repeating his Monza victory from one year ago.

Bilinski held off Stenshorne for second while van Hoepen finished fourth. Alessandro Giusti tried to take fifth from Zagazeta but ended up cutting Turn 2, and then losing fifth to Mari Boya into Ascari.

Nikola Tsolov – fighting with Boya and Tramnitz for second in the championship – tried to follow his rival past Boya into Parabolica. Giusti ran wide and then cut-back, leading Tsolov to run into the back of him and then spin, falling to 23rd.

Champion Rafael Camara worked his way from 30th and last on the grid to finish 12th.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Tramnitz wins Monza F3 sprint race to boost runner-up hopes appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

Attacking early and playing “the long game” were the two strategies in FIA Formula 3’s sprint race at Imola, and the former proved more effective.

The overtake that decided who won came on lap three of 18, as Tim Tramnitz powered past MP Motorsport’s team-mate Bruno del Pino when the DRS became available for the first time.

Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov watched the pair closely in the race’s second half, and had hoped their early attacking would work against them late on.

“I would have gone a bit more aggressive in the beginning,” Tsolov told media when asked what he could have done differently. “I took the long game approach, and that compromised me from being able to make up in the beginning. But other than that, I think later on, management etc., I managed to adapt quite quickly and the pace was there towards the end.”

The problem was the top two were also on management mode by then and had good pace, so could keep Tsolov at bay. For Tramnitz, getting his overtake done early felt critical.

“The situation or the opportunity [to take the lead] might only be there very early on in the race, so I just pushed from the start,” he said.

“Didn’t really think about tyre saving at that point, just tried to push on and push Bruno a little bit. And then it paid off very well. As soon as the DRS was enabled, I was quite close to him. I would say that was my plan.

“But in reality, it’s always a bit different and you’re not sure if it can play out like this. Going on the main straight before the move, I honestly didn’t really think that it’s already possible to overtake him, but the DRS was very powerful, and then I just thought ‘okay, the chance might not be there later, so just go for it’.”

While del Pino could have dwelled on losing the win, it was his first F3 podium and he conceded that the DRS effect was too strong for him to stay ahead when he was leading early on. He felt grateful for the laps behind the safety car mid-race as he “managed to cool down a bit the tyres”, enabling him to minimise degradation and match Tramnitz’s and Tsolov’s pace after.

However, Tramnitz said “on this track you actually have to work for the tyres to keep them alive, and keep the heat and the temperature in” them during safety car periods. He also wished to have done his “overtake at the start” so he could have “tried a shot for the fastest lap” and then switched to tyre-saving earlier. 

“The safety cars didn’t help me as much. I had the strategy to play the long game and try to make up places in the end, looking at last year’s races,” rued Tsolov. “I started pushing a bit late on in the race, [when] it wasn’t possible to overtake.”

The post Attacking early more effective than “the long game” in F3’s Imola sprint appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz won a safety car-disrupted FIA Formula 3 sprint race at Imola after overtaking his team-mate Bruno del Pino early on.

The Red Bull junior had attempted to pass the Spaniard at the beginning of the race, but rookie del Pino held on to first place having started from reversed-grid pole. However, the DRS effect made it impossible for him to continue to keep Tramnitz behind and he had to settle for second place.

Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov inherited third from his team-mate Mari Boya, who lost power at the restart after the first safety car period, but never really had a chance to threaten the top two.

Del Pino defended the inside line under braking both at the Tamburello and the Villeneuve chicane, holding off an aggressive Tramnitz. Further down the order, Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp overtook his team-mate Roman Bilinski for seventh place.

The DRS helped Tramnitz to drive past del Pino on lap three as they headed down to turn one. Ugo Ugochukwu overtook Prema team-mate Noel Leon, and Sharp passed both to move up to fifth.

The safety car was deployed on lap five of 18 as AIX Racing’s Nicola Marinangelli had to park up his car. The rim of his rear-right tyre had started to delaminate, and the Italian lost the tyre at the exit of the Tosa hairpin.

Racing resumed on lap nine, and Tsolov moved up to third as Boya suffered from mechanical gremlins, dropped down the order and retired at the end of the lap.

Green flag conditions did not last long though, as DAMS’ Matias Zagazeta had ended up in the gravel trap at Tamburello in an incident with Rodin’s Callum Voisin that earned the latter a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

Tramnitz tried to break away after the two-lap safety car period. He did not manage to put del Pino out of his DRS range, but the gap was enough for not being under pressure in the next laps.

On lap 14, Bilinski made a pass for sixth and went on to attack Ugochukwu, who made a mistake and ran wide at Acque Minerali that allowed his rival by.

A brave move into the Tosa hairpin from ART Grand Prix’s Tukka Taponen on the same lap caught Leon by surprise. The Mexican ran off the track at the exit of the corner and dropped to ninth.

Trident’s Noah Stromsted went on a late charge, climbing from ninth to sixth and setting the fastest lap as MP’s Alessandro Giusti claimed the last point in 10th place. That meant Trident’s championship leader Rafael Camara did not score, but he starts on pole for the feature race.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Tramnitz keeps it cool at Imola to win safety car-filled FIA F3 sprint race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

The FIA Formula 3 Championship will be racing on each of the next three weekends, which will bring the season to its halfway point and leave little time for rest.

Following the first rounds in Melbourne and at Bahrain, held a month apart, Trident’s Rafael Camara holds a sizeable points lead over MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz and Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin.

It has been a month since FIA F3 was last on track, and before setting off to Imola (which is followed by rounds in Monaco and at Barcelona) the top three spoke to media including Formula Scout about racing on back-to-back-to-back weeks.

“I think we can say that we’re restarting the championship because it was so long the break,” mused Camara.

“I [am] just taking race-by-race, focus in the moment, and make sure I’m doing everything in the right way. Prepare well with the team. And then especially at Monaco, there will be a new track for me. I’ve never been to a street circuit, so it will be quite challenging. But I think we’re going to be okay.”

Tramnitz said “for sure the triple-header [of events] is one of the most important parts of the championship to have a good rhythm and be very confident in” before another break of almost a month.

“After the next three weeks, half of the season is already done, so everything happens very quickly. In the end, you really need to see it race-by-race. Always maximise what is in your control and what you can do as a driver. And, I’m sure if we manage to do this, we’ll come out with a good amount of points from the triple-header [of events]. That’s the main goal.”

Voisin echoed his rivals, pointing out “it’s the time where people build momentum” and confidence, and with 30% of the season’s total points available in such a narrow window “it’s a crucial time of the year”.

“It’s really where you get to see where everybody stands in the pecking order,” he said. “But from my side, I think it’s pretty much business as usual. Every race weekend’s pretty different. You always reset. Just because you had a good race weekend, the weekend before doesn’t mean you can relax. You’ve always got to be on your A game.

“From my side, doing a triple-header [of events] last year, I already know what it’s like. It’s very mentally challenging by the end of it. I think you’re more tired than you kind of expect. So for sure staying well rested, sleeping well, eating well, will be important for me.”

The post “You always reset”: How F3 stars will tackle racing three weeks in a row appeared first on Formula Scout.

40. Evan Giltaire

Down 14 • Was a winner early in first full FREC campaign 

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

After looking promising in a couple of outings at the end of 2023, Giltaire stayed with ART Grand Prix for a full rookie campaign in Formula Regional Europe. The reigning French F4 champion looked like a potential title challenger as he calmly took his maiden win on the opening weekend at Hockenheim. However, thereafter his season lost rhythm as he struggled to get on top of tyre degradation, while team-mate Alessandro Giusti gained the upper hand as the team recovered from a dismal 2023 season.

After that initial high, Giltaire could only manage one more podium, in the first race at the Red Bull Ring.

He acknowledged that his inability to nail routinely a top five slot in split qualifying hampered his chances of progress in races. Overall, an average position of 6.7 in qualifying in his group meant he was only the season’s 13th fastest qualifier, leaving him stuck in the pack and exposed to the risk of midfield contact accordingly.

He did take second place in the rookie standings behind Noah Stromsted but will be looking to challenge for the main title in his sophomore year in 2025.

Giltaire had looked well-placed for a strong finish on his Macau debut, but starting the feature race from ninth he was a victim of team-mate James Wharton’s crash at Lisboa putting an end to his race.

39. Noel Leon

Up 11 • Progressed to score podiums in F3 and Macau

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

After dominating a weak Euroformula field in 2023, Leon’s first season in FIA Formula 3 was characterised by continued progress.

The in-season testing at Barcelona marked a turning point after a slow start for the Mexican and his Van Amersfoort Racing team. At Imola, he achieved his first podium in a chaotic conclusion to the sprint race, where he lost the lead on the last lap to cross the line in second place, then stood on the top step after a penalty for Oliver Goethe, only to then be penalised himself for a restart infraction and demoted to third.

After that Leon became a regular points scorer while his team-mates struggled. He became a frontrunner in the final rounds of the season, snatching three more podiums – including second in the Hungaroring feature race – to allow him to squeeze into the top 10 in the final standings.

He went on to finish on the podium at the Macau Grand Prix in a one-off return to FRegional machinery, and joins Prema for his second season in F3 in 2025.

38. Hiyu Yamakoshi

New entry • Took the fight to Slater after Italian F4 switch

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Yamakoshi was a revelation as he moved across to the Italian F4 championship with Van Amersfoort Racing, after combining the French and Spanish championships in 2023. The Japanese driver endeared himself to his team with his willingness to listen and learn, his conduct off-track and his speed on-track.

In a season where the rest of the filed was left somewhat in Freddie Slater’s shadow, Yamakoshi was the Englishman’s main challenger in the opening rounds. When he took three poles at Imola, he seemed to have rattled Slater slightly for the first and only time in the year. His two wins in Emilia-Romagna were fully deserved, while he was his own harshest critic for the mistake which cost him a hat-trick.

He took three more podiums at Vallelunga but lost direction mid-season before bouncing back in Barcelona, although a disastrous weekend at Monza cost him second in the final standings.

He did take two more victories in the Euro 4 series but lacked the consistency to challenge for overall honours, with Monza again proving his downfall.

Self-effacing, approachable and modest, if he can add a bit more aggression to his racing, Yamakoshi could shine in FRegional next year as he steps up with VAR.

37. Christian Ho

Up 4 • Singaporean was standout star of Eurocup-3

Photo: Eurocup-3

Photo: Eurocup-3

Ho looks like the next big talent from southeast Asia, and like many drivers with sighs set on Formula 1 he relocated to Europe for his karting career.

As a single-seater rookie in 2022 he was fairly anonymous, but since teaming up with Campos Racing last year he has become a rapid driver capable of winning streaks and title attacks. Spanish F4 was the first place he showed it, keeping the title fight going to the final round and winning the last four races, and in 2024 he stepped up to the FRegional-based Eurocup-3 and came two points short of being champion.

Failing to meet the chequered flag in the first two races meant he already had a 30-point margin to close, and while he took pole for the next race a slow start and a penalty meant he finished fourth and the gap to the top grew.

Ho’s response was two wins and two poles at Algarve, although retiring his car from second place in race three meant he was still 13 points behind in the title race, then a win and a second place from his double pole at Paul Ricard earned him the points lead.

The perfect weekend for main rival Javier Sagrera at Zandvoort while he only picked up one podium meant Ho trailed by 23 points ahead of the Spanish leg of the season, where his team was likely to have the advantage over the MP Motorsport outfit from the Netherlands than ran Sagrera.

A 10-second penalty for Ho denied him a double podium at Motorland Aragon and grew Sagrera’s advantage, and at Jerez only two points were snipped off as Ho claimed a lights-to-flag race one win and was fifth in race two after a prolonged battle with a team-mate that Ho couldn’t win due to their similar pace.

Ho finished second in race one of the Barcelona finale then comfortably took pole for the title decider. That was converted into a fifth win with ease, but the presence of guest drivers meant Sagrera earned two more points than usual in fifth and therefore pipped Ho to the crown – although that remains under appeal.

The 18-year-old Singaporean has not yet announced his 2025 plans, but there’s scant places left on the FIA F3 grid so there’s a risk that the off-season rather than results could slow his career momentum.

36. Sami Meguetounif

New entry • Fast but inconsistent rookie won two F3 feature races

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Meguetounif was immediately up to speed upon his FIA F3 debut, fighting for the podium in the season opener at Bahrain as he made the most of Trident’s highly competitive package.

A costly mistake in qualifying impacted his results in the second round of the championship at Melbourne, but he bounced back at Imola with a superb race management to win the feature race.

However, the Frenchman was not always able to accompany his speed with consistency, and only scored five points in the next five rounds.

He was aware he just needed to put it together, and so he did in the last two rounds to be fifth in the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps and then comfortably win the final race of the year at Monza, which he executed perfectly as he left the title contenders to squabble behind him.

Meguetounif did what his title-winning team-mate Leonardo Fornaroli could not by winning a race – twice – but never otherwise finished on the podium and therefore only scored just over half as many points and finished eighth in the standings. Rather than stay to put that right in 2025, another step up to Formula 2 beckons.

35. Tim Tramnitz

Down 6 • Red Bull junior was strongest in F3 sprints

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

Tramnitz quickly emerged as the leading driver of MP Motorsport’s all-rookie line-up in FIA F3.

The experience gathered during pre-season testing allowed him to finish fifth and third in the opening round of the season at Bahrain. The expectations were high after that, but the MP car was not always able to fight at the front.

Still, the Red Bull junior continued to make the podium in reversed-grid sprint races, twice finishing in second place at Imola and Monaco while the season was still in its early stages.

Results were hard to come by in the middle of the year but the German continued to progress as the season went on and kept maximising the opportunities he had. He capped off the season by scoring points in the last four races, and finally stood on the top step in the sprint race at Monza.

Ninth in the final standings, he scored more points than anybody – and 64% of his own total – in sprint races, so will be trying to lead MP forward into the top half of the top 12 in qualifying to score bigger in 2025.

34. Callum Voisin

New entry • Drove Rodin to the top step in F3

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Without a doubt, Voisin was one of the standout drivers of the second half of the 2024 FIA F3 season.

The Rodin Motorsport package lacked competitiveness and his lack of experience in the series didn’t help either, which led to him going points-free for the first six rounds.

However, the Silverstone round was an important turnaround. Helped by the mixed weather conditions and his and his British-based team’s local knowledge, Voisin extracted the maximum from the car and showcased his talent by qualifying ninth and finishing the sprint race in fourth place, before charging to first in a highly strategic feature race only to then be classified third because of a penalty.

The points streak continued at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps, where he starred again claiming pole position and then winning the feature race in slippery conditions.

33. Ollie Bearman

Down 27 • Managed three more F2 wins amid F1 call-ups and Prema struggles

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Bearman’s 2024 season was far off the expectations for a sophomore of his pedigree. Prema’s struggled with the set-up of the new F2 car was evident in its all-star line-up’s lack of results, with the car proving difficult to handle especially in the race.

However, Ferrari junior Bearman still put it on pole in Jeddah – a remarkable turnaround from Bahrain one week earlier – before he had to withdraw to make his surprise F1 debut.

More F1 commitments and the unpredictability of his car impacted the Briton’s performances from thereon. Qualifying became a struggle, and it was difficult to reach the front starting from the back. Nevertheless, Bearman still delivered when he found himself in a position to do so, winning the sprint races at Spielberg, Monza and Lusail.

The highlight of his season though was the Monaco feature race, where he charged from 12th place on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag, including a blistering opening lap, strong race pace and a brilliant move on his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

32. Nikita Johnson

Up 16 • Teen won frequently in Indy Pro 2000 and twice in GB3

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Velocity Racing Development’s protege is still only 16, but has already proven himself on three rungs of the Road to Indy and now on the British racing scene too.

After taking two wins and two other podiums from five races in 2023, Johnson raced in the third-tier USF Pro 2000 full-time this year and won eight races but lost the title due to non-finishes and a disqualification. He not only won three more races than the champion, but became only the fourth driver in the last 27 years to surpass seven victories in a season.

Johnson was victorious in four of the first six races this season. That run was ended when he was disqualified from victory in race two on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course due to having a modified component on his car, and he not just lost the 30 points for winning but was also docked a further 30 points as a penalty.

His lead went from 55 to 15 points, but then he finished second from pole in race three and his closest title rival ran out of budget and dropped off the grid. The following race however also contributed to Johnson losing the title, as the Freedom 90 awarded additional points due to running on an oval. Johnson crashed out halfway through and had a penalty, and now he had just a one-point lead over Lochie Hughes.

A perfect weekend at the Road America triple-header put Hughes ahead, and Johnson rebounded by going unbeaten at Mid-Ohio but that was a two-race weekend so a big points gap still existed.

Then came Toronto. Johnson ploughed into the back of another car one corner into race one, then his attempt to pressure Hughes for the lead in race two turned into a spin and a race-ending crash. Now he was third in the points, and another unbeaten weekend in the Portland finale only moved him back up one spot.

VRD isn’t active in Indy Nxt, the next rung of the Road to Indy, so the team prepared Johnson for 2025 by also having him race in GB3 this year. He joined the grid after turning 16 and won twice en route to 11th in the standings. For 2025 he will stay there but join Hitech GP.

31. Noah Stromsted

New entry • Summary

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Against a dominant Prema and drivers with more FRegional experience, Stromsted probably did the maximum he could this year by coming sixth in FREC.

He was over 50 points shy of fifth place, but was classified as top rookie and in addition to four second places (one of which came from a pole position claimed in heavy rain at the Red Bull Ring), he had three other top-five finishes and three fastest laps.

Wet-weather form propelled him to strong results at multiple circuits, but Stromsted admitted to Formula Scout there was a pace struggle in the dry during the season’s first half. The building of experience helped him following that, and 62% of his points came after season’s halfway point.

Stromsted also scored 99.1% of Race Performance Motorsport’s points, individually matching the team’s combined podium tally from the previous two seasons and single-handedly earning it sixth place in the teams’ standings for 2024. Had he been with a more established outfit, there’s no doubt Stromsted’s struggles would have either been resolved quicker, been less costly in terms of points, or both.

There were also cameos in FRegional Middle East and FIA F3 either side of turning 17, and Stromsted will step up to the latter full-time for his fifth year of single-seater racing.

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2024: 40-31 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

Tim Tramnitz will remain at MP Motorsport for his second FIA Formula 3 Championship season in 2025.

The 19-year-old German, who joined the Red Bull Junior Team a year ago, came ninth in the standings as a rookie and made podium in his first feature race before taking a win and two second places in sprint races later in the year.

He is MP’s first confirmed driver for 2025, and is the highest placed driver from this season confirmed to be continuing in F3.

“I am very happy to be staying with MP Motorsport for my second year in F3,” said Tramnitz. “My debut season included many highlights, including my first F3 victory. Now our goal must be to perform even more consistently and add more victories to the list.

“The team and I have managed to build a strong relationship in 2024. I look forward to using that understanding as a basis for further success in 2025, while aiming to get the most out of the new car.”

Tramnitz was runner-up in the ADAC and Italian Formula 4 championships in 2021, then spent two years in the Formula Regional European Championship. He came 15th in his rookie season, and improved to third in his sophomore campaign with three victories, seven other podiums and four poles.

“It’s great that Tim has decided to stay with us for another year,” commented MP’s team principal Sander Dorsman.

“I’m happy that he really feels at home at MP. We will continue to offer him that family environment in which our drivers thrive. Tim had a fantastic rookie season in F3 this year and we want to build on that in 2025. Our plan is to be among the frontrunners at every race.”

The post Tim Tramnitz remains at MP Motorsport for second F3 season appeared first on Formula Scout.