Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
Mclaren junior Brando Badoer will warm up for his maiden FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign with a return to Formula Regional Middle East.
He will reunite with PHM Racing, the team he drove for in FRME last year when he came 10th in the standings with three podiums, before stepping up to F3 with Prema.
The 18-year-old Italian is going into his fourth year in single-seaters, and has been promoted from being an ‘optioned driver’ of the McLaren Driver Development Programme to being a full member for 2025 despite still chasing a first race win.
“Very exited to get back behind the wheel in FRME with PHM Racing. I am already familiar with the team after joining them for the past FRME season and I can’t wait to be back at working together very soon. Let’s push!” said Badoer.
He spent his first two years of car racing in Formula 4, and came sixth in the Italian, Euro 4 and United Arab Emirates championships in 2023. His maiden podium came in the last of those three, as it occurred at the start of the year, three more followed in Euro 4 (now known as E4) and in Italian F4 there were five podiums and a pole position.
Badoer drove for Van Amersfoort Racing that year, and was in its FRegional European Championship line-up for 2024. In that campaign he followed up his three FRME podiums with a run of five runner-up finishes in a row and a pole in the first half of the season. He dropped from third to fifth in the standings after that, as two third places were among only five points finishes in the remaining races.