Car
What we learned from the new Formula 3 car’s first two rounds of 2025
by Samarth Kanal
6min read
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The opening two rounds of the 2025 Formula 3 season gave us a chance to see the cars perform in the changeable conditions of Australia and the blistering temperatures of Bahrain. Here’s what we have learned about the brand-new F3 car.
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F3 has brought a new car to the track for the 2025 season, just as Formula 2 did in 2024, and this one has improved safety features, a new gearbox provided by 3MO - that still takes some getting used to for the teams - and different aerodynamics.
It also uses Aramco’s advanced fuel, as do all 22 F2 cars - meaning every car in the FIA F2 and F3 championships is now running on FIA-compliant 100% advanced sustainable fuels.
After two races in Melbourne - one dry and one wet - and a pair of races that took place in hot conditions in Sakhir, Bahrain this is our early impression of the new F3 car.
Drivers and teams ready their cars for the first F3 qualifying session with the new car in Melbourne
Why are the new F3 cars slower?
The new Formula 3 car is slower than last year’s machine - which could come down to a number of factors including tyres, weight and aerodynamics - but that doesn’t seem to be a big issue as the racing was still exciting across both contests in Australia and again in Bahrain.
Last year’s pole position time in Melbourne was 1m33.044s and this year’s fastest qualifying time was 1m34.999s - almost two seconds slower. The 2025 pole position time in Bahrain was 1m49.214s, which was almost three seconds slower than the 2024 pole position time.
The year-on-year comparison from Melbourne is valid given both qualifying sessions took place in similar conditions but it was far hotter during the 2025 Bahrain session than the previous year’s, which meant tyres were hotter and wore faster - contributing to the slower lap.
The new F3 car is said to be heavier than its predecessor due to added safety features, while the new 16-inch Pirelli wheels seemed tricky to get to grips with, especially on a circuit that had little residual rubber left on it by other racing cars by the time qualifying came around.
Drivers and teams will add some pace to their machines as they learn how to better set-up their cars.
Sunday’s F3 feature race was a wet one in Melbourne, but there plenty of brave moves on show
Front end is pointier
Part of that speed deficit to the 2024 car might come from the fact that the new F3 car generates more load from its front wing. It’s much more compliant on turn in, but the rear of the car doesn’t seem to be turning in at the same rate.
The consequence is an F3 car that points inwards at the twitch of a steering wheel before the rear of the car steps out and loses traction mid-corner, leaving drivers correcting with countersteer, spinning, or locking up as they try to apply more brake pressure.
This became clear during the opening practice session in Australia where there were myriad lock-ups and slides, and again during every session in Bahrain.
The tyres also lend a lot to the car’s characteristics.
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New 16-inch Pirelli tyres on the 2025 F3 car are much larger than the previous generation - with a thinner sidewall
New tyres will bite
The new F3 car has new, larger Pirelli tyres and 16-inch wheels, a step up from the 13-inch wheels used previously.
Thinner tyre sidewalls mean stiffer tyre sidewalls that deform less when the car goes over bumps and kerbs, and higher peaks of grip compared to tyres with bigger sidewalls. Those peaks of grip are met with bigger troughs of grip - which makes for a peakier car.
The new low-profile tyres enhance turn-in, which tallies with the pointier front-end that drivers seemed to be wrestling with in free practice, then relishing in the race.
The championship will come down to who masters these tyres by keeping them within a strict temperature window and limiting their wear.
Teams can help by making the rear of the car produce as much local load for a more balanced platform. But there is another defining factor towards the rear of the car.
Drivers found that the drag reduction system isn’t as powerful on this new F3 car
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DRS effect diminished
The drag reduction system (DRS) may be on its way out in Formula 1 but it will still be used in F2 and F3 for the foreseeable future.
However, it seems that the new F3 car has made the effect of DRS slightly less powerful with drivers commenting that it was difficult to overtake using the open rear wing during the Saturday F3 sprint in Australia.
Some drivers found the DRS effect to be diminished during pre-season testing in Spain too, which matches with their comments down under.
In Australia, Raceteq saw numerous DRS trains form during Saturday’s race that was won by Santiago Ramos for Van Amersfoort Racing. During Sunday’s race, rain prevented DRS from being used - and the best move of the race came from Martinius Stenshorne as he bravely dived in on Ugo Ugochukwu down the inside of Turn 4.
In Bahrain, the longer straights diminished this issue and made overtaking easier, but on tighter and lower-speed circuits such as Imola and Monaco, which follow the race in Bahrain, this could make gaining positions a more difficult proposition.
