Trident’s Rafael Câmara became the first polesitter of the 2025 Formula 3 season in Melbourne, leading a Trident 1-2 with fellow rookie Noah Strømsted. Feeder Series spoke to Câmara after the session to find out what made him so strong on Friday.

By Tori Turner

Entering the season as one of the title favourites, rookie Câmara topped the timing screens Friday afternoon with a 1:34.999, set with 11 minutes left on the clock as much of the grid waited in pit lane.

Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Câmara said he ‘couldn’t ask for more’ to start the season. 

“It was a really good start for the championship. Obviously, it’s still a long way to go. It’s always nice to be P1, but there are still two races to go on Saturday and Sunday,” he said. “We need to keep focused, head down and keep pushing and working hard.”

After the first flying laps around the Albert Park circuit, it was Câmara’s teammate Strømsted who led the way with a 1:35.898 over Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski and Câmara. One-round entrant Nikita Bedrin of AIX Racing then jumped to the lead with a 1:35.873 before Van Amersfoort Racing’s Théophile Naël usurped him just before the 30-minute session’s halfway point.

Most of the field pitted after that except for VAR’s Santiago Ramos, the Tridents and the MPs. While the MPs set their first competitive times of the session, Câmara and his teammates bettered theirs. The Ferrari junior usurped Naël by 0.567 seconds as Mercedes junior Strømsted made it a Trident 1-2 with a 1:35.128, 0.129s off the lead.

Their other teammate Charlie Wurz went sixth overall to make Trident the only team with multiple cars in the top 10, while Ramos put himself 12th to take pole position for Saturday’s sprint race.

Two red flags then interrupted the session and left most drivers unable to improve on their second runs. The first red flag occurred with 5:20 to go after Prema Racing’s Brando Badoer hit the barriers at Turn 2. DAMS’ Christian Ho then came to a halt with a gearbox issue on the run to Turn 3 to trigger the second red flag with 2:36 left on the clock. The session was not restarted.

Naël, who finished third, also had trouble at the end of qualifying. When he left pit lane after the session resumed for the first time, a cooling fan for his airbox remained attached to his car. Naël slowed and returned to the pits once the team alerted him to the presence of the fan. VAR were fined €500 for releasing the Frenchman’s car in an unsafe condition.

Câmara’s pole position came not only on his F3 debut but also his first career race on a street circuit. He had topped practice with a 1:34.652 earlier today, 0.240s ahead of MP’s Tim Tramnitz.

“Since yesterday from the shakedown, [the track] has felt very nice,” he told Feeder Series. “The feeling of being quite close to the walls is quite nice, especially when you do a good lap. I just felt comfortable from the FP and also just more relaxed in qualifying. Everything went pretty smoothly. Also, the car was good straight from FP, just to show the good work we have done with the team in the past.”

Strømsted is likewise racing on a street circuit for the first time but has one prior round of F3 experience from Monza last year.

“It was a bit of an unknown when we arrived, but it’s worked out pretty well,” he said. “The pace has been good and it’s not been bothering me with the walls next to you.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency