Announcements of new FIA Formula 3 drivers are coming thick and fast as two days of testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain now already underway.
Alongside recent confirmations of young talents such as Ugo Ugochukwu, Louis Sharp and Brando Badoer joining 2025’s F3 grid, there are also a number of other newcomers who are planting their feet firmly on next rung up on the motorsport ladder.
Noah Stromsted
Danish teenager Stromsted has been signed by Trident for what will be his fifth season in single-seater racing. A serial podium-finisher, Stromsted is currently competing in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, in which has taken four top-three finishes to leave him in sixth place in the Drivers’ standings, with just two rounds remaining.
Stromsted has also competed in one F3 weekend already, appearing for Campos Racing at Monza.
Upon his signing, Stromsted said: “I am very happy to join Trident for my debut season in the 2025 FIA Formula 3.
“Their success the past years speaks for itself, I will work very hard to be competitive since the beginning of the season and help the team as much as possible with the development of the new car.
“I would like to thank Trident for their trust and giving me this opportunity, and of course my sponsors, family, coach and management for making this happen.”
Gerrard Xie
Hitech Pulse-Eight have secured the signature of Chinese youngster Xie, who is a proven race-winner in his three years of car racing.
After a dominant debut year in Chinese F4, taking the title with 13 wins from 14, he also won the Formula Renault Super Challenge and finished second in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.
His last two years have been spent with Hitech in the GB3 Championship, winning one race in each season.
Xie said he was “thrilled to be making the step up to FIA Formula 3, and to be doing so with Hitech.”
Tuukka Taponen
Finnish driver Taponen is joining ART and will be another graduate from FRECA, with four victories in the series already under his belt.
It is only his second year in single-seaters, the first seeing him finish runner-up in the Formula 4 UAE Championship.
The Ferrari Academy driver has also had a taste of F3, racing in the Spa weekend this August. An “excited” Taponen said: “They already showed interest in me in the summer, giving me the opportunity to participate in last season’s FIA F3 Spa competition. The team immediately impressed me both on and off the track and it felt like coming home.
“ART GP has a long and successful history and I want to be a part of it in the future. ART GP is a familiar team to us Finns. For example, Valtteri Bottas won the championship with ART GP team before moving up to the Formula 1 series.”
Rafael Camara
Camara is the most successful FRECA graduate, having already sewn-up the title with six wins and a further four podiums. The Brazilian will join Trident, alongside Stromsted.
Another Ferrari Academy driver, Camara finished second in the F4 UAE title in 2022 and third in both Italian F4 and ADAC F4 in the same year.
A confident Camara said: “I’m very happy to join Trident, it is such a great Team and it’s very nice to be part of it.
“I can’t wait to start working with everyone and see what we can achieve together. Of course the expectations are high, I think next year we will for sure be targeting to fight for the championship.
Drivers retained for 2025
Amongst the fresher faces are ones a little more familiar, who will be competing in Formula 3 again for another year.
Trident complete its line-up with Austrian Charlie Wurz, son of former Le Mans winner and F1 driver Alexander. The half-British youngster has been lured from Jenner Motorsport, where he spent his debut year.
Campos has retained Spaniard Mari Boya after a second season in F3, in which he took victory in the Barcelona Sprint, in-front of his and his team’s home fans, having made his F3 debut with MP Motorsport the year previously.
Boya will be joined by Thai racer Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who joins from AIX Racing, his best result coming in Hungary, where he finished second in the Sprint Race.
ART have retained Laurens van Hoepen, the Dutchman impressing with one pole position and a hat-trick of podiums.
Another retention comes from Hitech, who have re-signed McLaren Development driver Martinius Stenshorne. The Norwegian took a debut victory in the Sprint in Melbourne – only his third F3 race.
Stenshorne and Tsolov among fastest in testing
Stenshorne has already set the pace in the first day of testing, setting the fastest time ahead of Boya in yesterday’s afternoon session.
GB3 runner-up John Bennett was third fastest driving a Van Amersfoort, with its sister car driven by Jesse Carrasquedo fourth.
Van Hoepen was fifth, with Joshua Dufek sixth for Hitech. Christian Ho was seventh for Jenzer, Inthraphuvasak eighth, Roman Billinski ninth for Rodin and Stromsted rounding-up the top 10.
Day two saw Nikola Tsolov fastest for Campos, with Boya second once again. Stenshorne continues his good form with third, ahead of Stromsted, Ugochukwu, Inthraphuvasak and Wurz.
Dufek was eighth, with Freddie Slater ninth for Rodin, and Ho in 10th.
