Stenshorne unchallenged in Monaco for first FIA F3 win of 2025

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Hitech GP’s Martinius Stenshorne claimed a dominant victory in FIA Formula 3’s Monaco sprint race.

Stenshorne snatched the lead off the line before an early safety car period. On the restart, second placed Tuukka Taponen could not stay with Stenshorne, who gradually pulled away for his first victory of 2025.

A slow start for reversed-grid polesitter Alessandro Giusti dropped him back to fourth, with fellow front row starter Stenshorne moving to the front as Taponen got the jump on ART Grand Prix team-mate Laurens van Hoepen to take second. Before he could challenge Stenshorne, yellow flags appeared.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos had made contact with DAMS’ Niko Lacorte while attempting to pass, sending Lacorte spinning. With nowhere to go, AIX Racing’s James Hedley and VAR’s Ivan Domingues, who had problems on the formation lap, made contact with one another and came to a halt on track.

Elsewhere, Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin and Prema’s Noel Leon clashed while fighting, putting Leon out. Nikola Tsolov, who starts the feature race from pole, also had problems and went to the pits where Campos Racing removed his engine cover to inspect the car.

Racing resumed on lap nine of 23, and Stenshore immediately pulled away. He had a peaceful second half of the race, and had a gap of 2.253 seconds at the front by the finish.

Taponen in turn was also unchallenged for second. MP Motorsport’s Giusti had tried to stick with van Hoepen early on, but came under pressure from team-mate Tim Tramnitz. He held him off fourth while also pressuring van Hoepen, and behind them were Trident’s Charlie Wurz and Rafael Camara.

Points leader Camara had started eighth after getting three-place grid penalties for both Monaco races. It was a punishment for lapping too quickly during a red flag interruption in qualifying.

For much of the sprint race, the closest battle was between Campos’s Mari Boya and Voisin for eighth.

Shortly after the restart, Voisin tapped the back of Boya’s car, but no serious damage was done. The pair continued to run nose-to-tail and Voisin’s team-mates Louis Sharp and Roman Bilinski joined the battle. Voisin kept the pressure on but could not find a way through around the tight street circuit.

On the final lap, Voisin attempted a move on Boya, making contact again. This time, Sharp was in position to take advantage, diving past Voisin to snatch ninth.

Race results (23 laps)