After shifting gears to endurance racing following her first FIA Formula 3 campaign in 2020, Sophia Floersch made her return to single-seaters in 2023 with PHM Racing by Charouz. Floersch spoke to Feeder Series after the Barcelona round to discuss her return to F3 and being a part of the Alpine Academy.

By Jim Kimberley

Sophia Floersch is no stranger to FIA Formula 3, spending a season racing in the category back in 2020. But during that campaign, Floersch began exploring endurance racing, joining the all-female Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing LMP2 entry for the final three rounds of the 2020 European Le Mans Series (ELMS). She then left single-seaters entirely and committed to sports cars for 2021, continuing with the Richard Mille outfit in the World Endurance Championship in 2021 alongside a DTM campaign with Audi before returning to ELMS with Algarve Pro Racing in 2022.

Today she is back racing in the single-seater category on the F1 support billing, now with PHM Racing by Charouz. As is the nature of feeder series racing, the championship may be a spec series by design, but things change every year.

After a weekend racing in Barcelona supporting the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, Floersch caught up with Feeder Series to discuss being back in F3 racing and how the switch back is going.

Joining F3 and Alpine

The announcement for Floersch’s return came on 9 February, mere days before the championship’s pre-season test in Bahrain.

“FIA F3 is always really competitive with the young drivers on the grid, but they’re all really experienced,” Floersch said. “They go testing a lot and they prepare for their seasons really good.

“So because there was a pretty short-term decision for me to be back in FIA F3, the preparation was not as we would like it to be, but still, we’re enjoying it.”

Within a week of that surprise came more Floersch news, arguably even more life-changing than rejoining F3: joining an F1 team’s junior academy.

“I’m also together with Alpine. It’s more about the big plan, the big goals.… In the end, it’s all going okay, let’s say.

“Motorsport always has it’s ups and downs. But the grid here is super, super competitive.”

There’s a lot made about the driver academies in motorsport, so Feeder Series asked: “Does it make a difference?”

“For sure, it makes a difference. The way they teach you. The way they explain details to you, which you normally wouldn’t get explained…

“And the amount of people who are working with you to make you a better racing driver is insane and super helpful. Especially when you’re such a young driver or in junior categories.”

Reflecting on Barcelona

Floersch had just stepped out of her final post-session briefing of the Spanish weekend when she spoke to Feeder Series. From two 27th-place starts, she took 21st in the Sprint Race and 20th in Sunday’s Feature Race.

“I gained some positions, had some good fights. For sure, the balance… the car… it’s a big step in the right direction compared to yesterday (Saturday).

“I’m pretty happy with P20. For sure, that’s not where we want to be. But in the end, I think we have to work with more steps, and today was an improvement.

“We’ll keep working forwards from here now and try to end up more in front at some point.”

Formula 3 has a short break as Formula 1 heads to Canada but returns with two sets of back-to-back weekends in July, when Floersch will contest eight races in a single month.

Header photo credit: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency