Formula 3 revealed its new car, the Dallara F3 2025, in the F1 paddock earlier today at Monza on the eve of the title-deciding race for the 2024 season. Find out about its new features and what the paddock thought about it.

By Michael McClure

The Dallara F3 2025 retains much of the same fundamental goals and characteristics of its predecessor, the Dallara F3 2019, but its aerodynamic philosophy aims to bring it in line with the technical regulations overhaul coming to F1 in 2026. It will be used for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 F3 seasons.

The new F3 car will replace the Dallara F3 2019, which has been used for the first six years of F3 in its current guise. Predecessor series GP3 used three cars – the GP3/10, GP3/13 and GP3/16 – for three years each in its nine-year existence.

The new F3 chassis comes just one year after F2’s unveiling of its own new chassis, the Dallara F2 2024. That car shares more similarities with the current generation of F1 machinery, which follow design guidelines used from the 2022 season onwards.

Improved overtaking, sustainability and accessibility have been central to the design process for the new car. Technical advancements include the use of an advanced fuel system by Aramco, developed with the goal of meeting the 100 per cent sustainable fuel standard set by motorsport governing body the FIA for 2025. F2 also plans to use this fuel mix, according to a press release accompanying the new F3 car’s release.

The car also has larger rims that will fit a tyre of a 16-inch diameter, an increase from the 13-inch diameter used thus far. F2 had also increased the size of its tyre in 2020, ahead of even F1’s own switch to 18-inch rubber in 2021.

The new tyres, according to the press release, will include a natural rubber component certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a German environmental nonprofit.

The vehicle control unit installed in the new car will be identical to F2’s, while other minor changes include a switch in gearbox supplier from Hewland to 3MO.

The new car also accelerates from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in 3.0 seconds and from 0 to 200 in 7.7 seconds, a one-tenth improvement on each metric from the old car. All other performance-related aspects remain the same, though the line that reads “compromise between performance and cost effectiveness wherever possible” found on F3’s description of its 2019 chassis’ car and engine was not present in the press release for the 2025 car.

Testing for the new car had been completed over the past few months, beginning with a shakedown in Varano, Italy, at the hands of Tatiana Calderón. The Colombian had also completed the shakedown in Varano for the new-for-2024 F2 car and has continued to be involved in the testing programme, through which the car has completed almost 2,000 kilometres of running.

Another key participant has been Chloe Chambers, currently third in F1 Academy with Campos Racing as a rookie. The 20-year-old American had been testing the previous-generation F3 car fitted with modified parts designed to mimic the 2025 chassis. In a test at Silverstone, she completed 97 laps in two days, while current Van Amersfoort Racing F3 driver Sophia Floersch, the only female competitor to have raced in the current iteration of F3, completed 96 laps behind the wheel of the F2 2024.

In a press conference after the unveiling of the new car, F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel told Feeder Series that Chambers provided feedback on such elements as the steering rack and camber.

“We wanted to be sure that the car was driveable in a certain range of setups. and that’s exactly what Chloe told us,” he explained. “And also we had the same test with Sophia Floersch on the F2 car at the same time to be sure that we had this work on the two cars.

“The feedback was very interesting. Not necessarily positive, but it’s because we really knew where we were and where we wanted to be, and we knew exactly what kind of setups we have to also change to make sure that all drivers would be able to drive this car easily.

“Because we wanted to have different setups depending if you have a driver that has more strength than another one, so even on the sim we knew exactly where we wanted to be. So that was good.”

Teams will receive delivery of their first car before the end of the calendar year, per the press release. The remaining two cars for each team will be supplied in mid-January 2025, ahead of pre-season testing. The opening round of the 2025 season, which features the same 10 venues used this year, will take place 14–16 March in Melbourne, Australia.

Opinions from the paddock

Feeder Series surveyed several figures in the paddock after the Dallara F3 2025’s formal launch to get their initial impressions of what stood out about the new car.

Jenzer Motorsport driver Max Esterson was struck by the fact that there were only three rear wing settings – a considerable reduction from the current number. “The big wheels make it look smaller, which is nice,” he said. “[It] looks more proportional.”

 “It’s taken the good bits and left the bad bits from F2,” Rodin Motorsport driver Callum Voisin said. “If it’s safer, then that’s only for the better.”

AIX Racing driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak took particular note of the differences in the gearbox, rims and wheel sizes. “It’s going to make it more interesting for everyone next year. Every team has to find their new set-up with this car,” he said. “But the car looks great, as I think everyone agrees.”

“It’s going in the direction of the Formula 1, so we are going to have bigger wheels, and the aero is also closer to the Formula 2. I think it’s a mix between the Formula 2 that we have and the Formula 1 we will have in 2026,” Campos Racing team principal Adrián Campos Jr said.

“It’s using the same monocoque than the F2, so that’s positive for the teams because there are other things that we can do from one car to the other.”

“This one’s served its time now, and it was due a bit of a facelift,” said Paul Bellringer, Hitech GP’s F3 team manager. “It’s more in keeping with obviously what happens out there with the new F2. It sort of brings it together.”

“From what the guys have been saying, the testing’s been going quite well with it. It seems quite reliable.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency