Mari Boya finished third in the 2025 Formula 3 season, clinching his first feature race win and mounting a late title charge in the process. The Aston Martin Driver Academy recruit spoke to Feeder Series at the season finale in Monza about his three years in F3 and his future plans.

By Daniele Spadi

Boya made his F3 debut in 2023 with MP Motorsport. Despite not scoring in the opening three rounds, he recovered to finish in 17th in the drivers’ standings thanks to one podium and four additional points finishes in the last six rounds.

For his second full campaign in the championship, he switched to Campos Racing with high hopes. Though his pace looked promising throughout the year, the Spaniard only managed to take 15th in the standings, a historic sprint race win on home soil in Barcelona being the highlight of his season.

After spending two years in F3, Boya was looking to move on, but no other plans materialised.

“To be honest, I expected to be in F2 this year,” Boya told Feeder Series during the final round of the F3 season in Monza.

“Already last year, especially testing, we were really good and I felt super strong. I had even in mind to fight for the championship, but at the end, many things happened last year – things that I learned and made me a lot stronger, also to know where were my weakest points and to work on them.”

Armed with that knowledge, Boya ultimately opted to stay in F3 for a third consecutive season, a choice few drivers make. The decision was riskier than usual. F3 was introducing a brand-new car for 2025, making any prior experience with the older model harder to carry over.

“It’s true that as an experienced driver, it was not the easiest thing to do,” he said. “When there is a new car, you are also in a bit of trouble if [for] the team, it’s hard for them to adapt to the new car and what the car is asking. I tried to use my experience to [bring] the maximum I can do to help the team and progress as fast as possible.”

Just as in 2024, Boya looked rapid in pre-season testing, ending the three-day test in Barcelona with the fifth-fastest time overall. He thus entered the opening round of the season looking to fight for the podium, but after a disappointing qualifying session in which he placed 23rd, he left Australia with no points in either race.

He scored 14 points over the next two rounds, but being 13th in the standings, already 59 points behind points leader Rafael Câmara, he had a mountain to climb.

“Starting the season, I expected to be fighting for the championship,” he told Feeder Series. “Together with the team, we are quite experienced, and we know the potential always has been really high. But especially after the first three rounds, it wasn’t the easiest start of the season. It was definitely quite hard, but racing is like this.”

Monaco marked Boya’s breakthrough weekend; he qualified third for the feature race and kept his position to score his first podium in a Sunday race. But Barcelona, where he took his maiden F3 victory in 2024 in the sprint race, proved more challenging after he qualified down in 15th and only scored four points in the sprint.

The momentum once again shifted from the following round at Spielberg, this time seemingly for good. Boya took home four consecutive top-five finishes, including his maiden feature race win at a soaked Silverstone, to re-ignite his championship hopes.

“Except Barcelona, I would say all the rest of the rounds we have been really, really strong. Also in Barcelona, except qualifying, the last set we just missed a bit in that, in a track that I really like,” Boya said.

“I feel we are, every round, getting better and better. I feel really happy with the car and with the team, and also with myself.”

Sitting in fourth at the time with 35 points still to gain on championship leader Rafael Câmara, Boya tried to mount a late title charge. Qualifying 16th at Spa, however, was a setback, especially with Câmara set to start the feature race from second. The race was ultimately called off because of heavy rain, locking the gap between them at 41 points.

Only a standout performance in Budapest and significant trouble for Câmara would have helped Boya keep the fight alive. After qualifying second and finishing seventh in the sprint race, Boya came home second in the feature. It was a good result – but unfortunately for him, Câmara finished 1.937 seconds ahead and got to be crowned champion one round early.

“For sure, fighting for the championship till one point, it was nice,” Boya said.

“To be honest, I never had the impression I was fully fighting for the championship. Maybe if Spa was a bit different, maybe I could have thought about it, because I knew Hungaroring and Spa were really strong tracks for me, I really liked them.”

“But Rafa did an amazing job, especially as a rookie. The first three rounds he made the difference in there, and then he was just managing. I don’t feel then he was maybe the strongest one, but he didn’t need to [be] – he already did the job.”

The title may not have come as Boya had hoped, and he eventually finished third in the championship after a tricky weekend in Monza. But there was a quieter success story underpinning his 2025: a renewed sense of confidence on and off the track.

“Lately, I feel super strong. I am super prepared and I think it was the right thing to do, to stay one more year,” the Spaniard told Feeder Series.

“I started to work with a girl to prepare better mentally. I think that she helped me a lot, not to improve as a driver – let’s say how to perform, how to drive – it’s just to maximise what I’m capable of. Last year I wasn’t maximising myself, and I feel now I am doing much more, and that’s why the results and everything has changed quite a lot.”

The inroads Boya has made have also caught the eye of the Aston Martin F1 Team. The 21-year-old was announced to be the first signing for their new driver academy in June, before the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. The team also supports F2 driver Jak Crawford and F1 Academy’s Tina Hausmann on separate programmes.

The announcement, Boya revealed, was a long time coming.

“It’s something that happened quite long ago, to be honest. I knew it from the last part of last year,” he told Feeder Series.

“But they are an F1 team, and there are many things. They are very busy, and it was a new thing because I am the first one. Sometimes in F1, when you need to create something, it takes some time, and that’s why they were waiting. I even expected to start the year as an Aston Martin driver, and it wasn’t like that. It was just waiting, and it even came after Barcelona, just before the [Austrian] Grand Prix.

“I’m super happy. It was like a bit more relaxed when I knew I was in, and everything after that has been really nice. I’m enjoying the time with them, and also on track, I am feeling really good.”

Ultimately, little in Boya’s day-to-day life changed when he became part of the driver academy.

“Just maybe the weekends are a bit more busy,” he said. “I have to go quite often to the F1 paddock and maybe make some interviews and spend time with them.

“What I know is that after Monza things will change. I will need to do some more things, but they don’t want me to tell a lot more because till the moment, everything is working really nice and they want to keep this dynamic.”

His development as a driver, combined with the experience of Campos Racing, made for the perfect match in 2025. With Boya, runner-up Nikola Tsolov and seventh-placed Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak behind the wheel of their three cars, the Spanish outfit claimed their first teams’ title in the series.

“I knew that the team this winter worked a lot, and for sure the work that they did before Barcelona, that was without any help from us because it was the first time we were on track, and already the car was feeling quite good. So more or less, they did, let’s say, all the hard work,” Boya said.

“After Barcelona and the first races, we start to settle a bit more the car, but since the first try, the car felt really nice, and for sure the work they did during winter was really good. I’m really proud to be in this team. Experienced drivers make the difference, and that’s why we are in a good position now.”

Boya has been an integral part of Campos’ development in the past two seasons – not just in F3 but across all championships the Spanish team is involved in too.

“Last year, I was a bit more involved. I went to support some F4 and Eurocup events,” explained Boya, the 2023 Eurocup-3 runner-up with MP.

“I really like to help young drivers. I spent a good time with them, and also I knew a lot of the team. In Campos, I know nearly all the people from all the categories. I feel really, really good in here.”

Regardless, one thing is for certain: Boya will not continue with Campos, which has filled its F2 and F3 line-ups for 2026. The Spaniard is expected to step up to F2 with Prema Racing, for whom he was testing earlier in the week. He will also rejoin Pinnacle Motorsport for his third and likely final outing in the FIA FRegional World Cup in Macau this coming weekend.

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency