FIA Formula 3 held its second post-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this week, so which rookies stood out ahead of the 2025 season?
Leonardo Fornaroli clinched the 2024 title in dramatic circumstances and will move up to Formula 2 and further down the field, there were multiple impressive rookies.
Arvid Lindblad finished fourth in the championship in his first season, taking four wins and will move on to F2.
The 2023 GB3 Champion Callum Voisin also improved over the 2024 FIA F3 season, taking a podium at Silverstone as well as a win in the Belgium Feature Race.
Ahead of 2025, new rookies will be looking to make an impression, and they continued their preparation with a two-day test in Spain. The test was also the final time the Dallara F3 2019 car would be run before the Dallara F3 2025 chassis makes its debut next season.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at the impressive rookies from post-season testing in Barcelona and the drivers who may perform well in their first FIA F3 season.
Rafael Camara – Best F3 Barcelona post-season test time: 1:28.116
Rafael Camara was impressive over the two-day test in Barcelona, setting the fourth-quickest time in the morning on both days.
The Brazilian driver adjusted to the FIA F3 car very well after stepping up from FRECA despite having one round of the championship left.
Camara has already wrapped up the FRECA title, as he holds a 60-point advantage over his nearest rival, James Wharton. He also raced well at Barcelona last time out, finishing in third and fourth places.
Over the test, he hit the ground running in the opening session, finishing fourth in the timesheets with a 1:28.116 despite setting just 18 laps.
The Brazilian driver was competitive towards the end of the afternoon session, holding the fastest time in the final hour before being usurped and dropping to fourth.
As the session drew to a close, he set a 1:28.891 – the second-quickest time of the afternoon, behind Nikola Tsolov who continued his good form from the Jerez test.
After an impressive opening day of testing in FIA F3, Camara’s confidence continued to develop on the second day.
Camara was competitive throughout the morning session and held the fastest time at certain points, but he couldn’t get the better of Mari Boya’s 1:27.209.
The Trident driver set 32 laps before high fuel runs became the focus in the afternoon as the teams worked on race setups.
The running was also uninterrupted throughout the session, which gave the teams the perfect opportunity to maximise the data.
Camara was impressive in FRECA but FIA F3 is a significant step up with the added pressure of racing on the same events as Formula 1.
Ugo Ugochukwu – Best F3 Barcelona post-season test time: 1:27.801
Ugo Ugochukwu has had a lot of attention on him throughout his career, as he became a McLaren junior before his British F4 debut in 2022.
Since then, he ascended the ranks after being competitive in both the British and Italian F4 series. Ugochukwu also raced at the Macau Grand Prix in 2023, gathering valuable experience.
The American driver spent two days with PREMA in Barcelona and was on the pace immediately, finishing sixth in the opening session – just four-tenths off the pace.
Ugochukwu set 27 laps on his first time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in an FIA F3 car, and kept out of trouble after Ivan Domingues caused a red flag after an incident at Turn 3.
The afternoon session on the opening day was less spectacular as the focus for Ugochukwu moved away from the ultimate pace and onto longer runs, setting 34 laps on his way to 20th on the timesheets.
The PREMA driver kept up the momentum during the second day of running, setting 42 laps in the morning and was just a tenth off James Wharton, who contended for the FRECA title.
Ugochukwu set 58 laps in the afternoon, focusing on race runs rather than setting lap times with less fuel. He also set the joint-most laps in the test’s final session.
The American driver may be able to step up to FIA F3 and compete, having already raced in the series at the Macau Grand Prix.
Although the new car and some new circuits such as Albert Park in Australia may present a steep learning curve.
James Wharton – Best F3 Barcelona post-season test time: 1:27.754
Wharton was recently announced as an ART Grand Prix driver for the 2025 season after an impressive campaign in FRECA.
The Australian driver is second behind the champion Camara in FRECA with one round to go at Monza but is already looking ahead to next year.
Wharton set some good lap times over the two-day test at Catalunya breaking into the top 10 on the opening session ahead of Eurocup-3 champion Javier Sagrera.
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The ART driver set 38 laps as he adapted to the car after taking two victories on the same track last time out in FRECA.
In the afternoon on the opening day, Wharton, as well as most of his competitors, focused on the race runs. The Australian finished 23rd in the standings after setting 38 laps once more.
On the second day of the test, Wharton didn’t challenge to the top of the timesheets but set 48 laps in the morning, critically keeping out of trouble. He set his fastest lap time of the test with a 1:27.754 in Spain.