Santiago Ramos takes maiden win in first race of FIA F3’s new era

Photo: Pauline Ballet

Santiago Ramos won FIA Formula 3’s season-opening sprint race in Melbourne, as the first outing for the new Dallara F3 2025 car ended behind the safety car.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver resisted mid-race pressure from Hitech GP’s Martinius Stenshorne to take his maiden single-seater win, while Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski finished third on debut. Sunday’s feature race poleman Rafael Camara was involved an early incident and failed to finish.

After lining up from pole, Ramos held off DAMS’ Matias Zagazeta to lead into turn one, and he then benefited from a frenetic battle for second to pull out a five-second advantage before the first lap was completed.

Bilinski initially snatched second after a three-wide squabble into turn three, but then lost out to Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak who completed a bold move around the outside at turn nine. Inthraphuvasak ran wide two corners later and was shuffled back several places, with Stenshorne emerging in second ahead of Bilinski.

Trident’s Charlie Wurz retired in a collision with MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz, necessitating a brief virtual safety car period, while Rodin’s Louis Sharp spun after tangling with Hitech’s Joshua Dufek who was forced to pit for a new front wing.

Ramos’s lead was soon eradicated by a full safety car period shortly after green flag running had resumed due to a collision at turn 11 between Camara and ART Grand Prix duo James Wharton and Laurens van Hoepen which resulted in all three retiring. There was further drama while the safety car was out, as Tramnitz slowed with an issue and pulled into the pitlane.

The leader quickly built a one-second gap again once racing resumed on lap nine, but two laps later that advantage was eradicated in the final sector by Stenshorne. As he defended from his pursuer, Bilinski, Zagazeta and Inthrapuvasak also closed in to make it a five-car lead train.

Stenshorne had a look up the inside of Ramos at turn three on lap 14, and the front three pulled clear on the next tour after Inthrapuvasak prevailed in a squabble for fourth with Zagazeta.

The safety car neutralised the race once more with five laps to go after AIX Racing’s Javier Sagrera and MP’s Bruno del Pino collided on the run to turn six and both slid into the gravel, and the remaining laps ran under yellow flag conditions.

Ramos therefore won ahead of Stenshorne and Bilinski, with Inthrapuvasak fourth and Zagazeta fifth. AIX’s Nikita Bedrin held off VAR’s Theophile Nael for sixth, and Noah Stromstead had looked on course for eighth before damaging his front wing on a kerb while under pressure from behind and tumbled down the order as he pitted.

Campos driver Nikola Tsolov climbed from 16th to eighth ahead of Rodin’s Callum Voisin, who also made a strong recovery from 18th, and Prema’s Noel Leon made up nine places to 10th.

Race results (20 laps)