Trident racing driver Rafael Camara was victorious in the opening Feature Race of the 2025 Formula 3 season as heavy rain brought the race to a premature end.
On Lap 18, the red flag was waved after successive laps behind the Safety Car, as the stewards announced the Feature Race would not resume due to the weather.
Therefore, Camara would come back into the pits as the race winner in Melbourne, ahead of his team-mate, Noah Stromsted, to make it a one-two for Trident.
Theophile Nael rounded off the podium places for Van Amersfoort Racing.
VAR’s Santiago Ramos kicked off the 2025 F3 season with victory in an incident-packed Sprint Race as the Safety Car was called into action twice.
Heading into the Feature Race, James Wharton was handed a five-place grid penalty after receiving a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision in the Sprint.
As he failed to finish the race, the time penalty was converted into a grid drop for the following race.
Lining up from pole position was Camara, after he set the fastest lap time during Friday’s qualifying session.
How the first F3 Feature Race of the year unfolded
An unfamiliar sight on the streets of Melbourne, the rain came pouring down onto the track.
The stewards announced minutes before lights out that the formation lap would begin behind the Safety Car, with all drivers set to start the race on the wet-weather tyres.
After four formation laps, a rolling start ensued as Camara made an excellent start, pulling out a sizeable gap to his team-mate as the 30 drivers attempted to navigate the tricky conditions.
With the top 10 remaining unchanged on Lap 1, the Safety Car was brought out once again.
Nikola Tsolov, in the Campos Racing car, squeezed Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin into the wall, with the pair making contact.
Both drivers were left stranded on the grass after the collision, unable to continue.
After the cars were recovered, the racing resumed on Lap 5, as Camara once again nailed the start to continue leading the Feature race.
Heading into Lap 6, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak in the Campos applied heavy pressure to Trident’s Charlie Wurz in sixth place.
By Lap 7, the Brazillian racing driver had pulled out a two-second gap to Stromsted in second place.
On the following lap, Hitech’s Martinius Stenshorne made a late lunge on Prema Racing driver Ugochukwu into Turn 3 to snatch eighth place.
Many drivers struggled to keep the cars on the track as the rain continued to fall down onto the circuit.
On Lap 9, Rodin’s Roman Bilinski barged past Ugo Ugochukwu to move up into ninth place.
The Polish driver battled hard with Stenshorne and Inthraphuvasak for seventh place.
Two laps later, Matias Zagazeta tagged Alessandro Giusti in the MP Motorsport car heading into Turn 13, and the DAMS Lucas Oil competitor received a 10-second time penalty for his actions.
For the second time, the Safety Car was called into action after an incident on Lap 14.
DAMS’ Christian Ho crashed after losing control of his car between Turn 6 and 7, before he was sent careering into the wall.
As a result, Camara lost his significant lead over Stromsted as heavy rain began to fall.
The Safety Car remained on track until Lap 18, when the red flag was eventually shown due to the excessive standing water on the track.
Soon after, the stewards announced that the race would not be resumed as Camara clinched his maiden victory in F3.
The required laps had been completed, meaning full points were to be rewarded.
Trident secured a one-two after Stromsted finished second, ahead of Nael in third place.
Nikita Bedrin finished in fourth, Tim Tramnitz in fifth, and Wurz sixth.
Inthraphuvasak ended the race in seventh, Stenshorne eighth, Bilinski in ninth, and Ugochukwu was the last of the point-scorers in 10th.
With victory at Albert Park, Camara has settled into an early championship lead, ahead of Nael in second and Stromsted in third.
Looking at the Teams’ Championship, Trident have made a good start, residing in first place with VAR in second and AIX Racing in third.
READ MORE: Santiago Ramos wins Melbourne F3 Sprint under Safety Car
